I wanted to like GRAND NATIONAL NIGHT: it's one of those low rent British murder mysteries filmed at Nettlefold Studios in Surrey, incorporating various familiar faces from British film and TV into its cast. The story is an intriguing one in which a horse owner's absolutely horrible wife is accidentally killed by him one night; he covers up the crime, and is subsequently investigated by a local detective.
The first half of this production is effective, painting a dysfunctional relationship between everyman hero Nigel Patrick and his harridan of a wife (Moira Lister, suitably vile). It's in the second half where things fall apart: Michael Hordern (who still looks old, even in the early '50s) appears as the detective, and there's a hell of a lot of questioning going on. The outcome of the film is genuinely surprising, but the journey there just doesn't grip your attention. The inspiration for this one seems to have been Hitchcock's DIAL M FOR MURDER but while that film had you on the edge of your seat throughout, this one has you sliding off it entirely as you fall asleep.
The first half of this production is effective, painting a dysfunctional relationship between everyman hero Nigel Patrick and his harridan of a wife (Moira Lister, suitably vile). It's in the second half where things fall apart: Michael Hordern (who still looks old, even in the early '50s) appears as the detective, and there's a hell of a lot of questioning going on. The outcome of the film is genuinely surprising, but the journey there just doesn't grip your attention. The inspiration for this one seems to have been Hitchcock's DIAL M FOR MURDER but while that film had you on the edge of your seat throughout, this one has you sliding off it entirely as you fall asleep.