ianlouisiana Review of The Strange Affair

The Strange Affair (1968)

" 'ello, 'ello, 'ello!"Pc Strange gets stitched up by the C.I.D...........

[9/10 · 3 August 2006]

Bernard Thoms,the author of the original novel from which "The Strange Affair" was adapted ,served for years in the Met Police and knew what he was writing about."Noble Cause Corruption" was a term later coined to describe the practice of "improving" the evidence against career criminals in order to secure a conviction.Its advocates point out how the law is balanced so heavily in favour of the accused that it is almost impossible to convict a cunning and ruthless professional whilst staying within the rules of evidence,its detractors that the individual's rights must take precedence over those of The State and that the might of the Legal Establishment should not be brought to bear on an ostensibly innocent person without some very strong caveats. The unfortunate PC Strange finds himself between a rock and a hard place (as many an officer has done before and since),a fairly innocent victim in the battle between good and evil(or two sorts of evil,if you will ). The character of the quite mad DS Pierce bears more than a passing resemblance to the notorious Sergeant Challenor,scourge of West End villains in the fifties and early sixties."Tanky",as he was called, worked 16 to 18 hours every day taking care of business.He hated the protection gangs and they in turn hated and feared him.He was a big bad detective,even the stipendiary magistrates who struck fear into most young coppers in the West End were wary of him."I don't mind getting my hands dirty",he used to say,"what's your problem?". Rumours of his rather cavalier approach towards due process only served to bolster his reputation.Then ,in a moment of over-confidence, he pushed the envelope a little too far and co-erced two young PCs to fit up a couple of lads arrested at a demo against the King and Queen of Greece .He picked a brick up off the street,broke it in two and gave them a half each,"Here's a little present from Uncle Harry",he said benignly.Unfortunately for him and the two officers it was proved that the two men had never met prior to being arrested and that the weapons that had been allegedly found on them were two halves of the same brick. After ranting about wanting to be the first policeman on the moon DS Challenor was found unfit to stand trial.The two Pcs arguably far less guilty went to prison.Whether this happened at the time Mr Thoms was at West End Central I couldn't say,but it is certainly a not dissimilar scenario to the one in the movie. Police officers continually confront moral dilemmas of this type during the course of their careers and it is far too easy for those outside the arena -as it were -to make judgements with absolutely no appreciation of the circumstances they might find themselves in,very often due to circumstances beyond their control.PC Strange is clearly an honest,dedicated and well-meaning man,yet he is co-erced into helping D.S Pierce fit up some extremely dangerous and unpleasant thugs. Perjury,conspiracy to pervert the course of justice......you can imagine the unfortunate young officer's bowels turning to water as the supercilious defence counsel throws the accusations at him. Mr Michael Yorke ,naive and eager-to-learn,is very fine as PC Strange. Miss Susan George rather sweet as his Circe.Mr Jeremy Kemp and Mr Jack Watson are excellent as the mad detective and his mirror image/nemesis. This is the film to watch if you want to know what it was like to be in the Met in the sixties. Comparatively little-known,"The Strange Affair" stands head and shoulders above any other British cop movie .