source: Noose for a Lady

Moviecut—Noose for a Lady

Noose for a Lady

Dennis Price plays the urbane and English gentleman on leave from colonial Uganda where he is a district commissioner. However, when he goes to visit his cousin in a quaint English village, he finds to his horror that she is in prison, waiting to be hanged for poisoning her husband. The storyline is very much in the same mould of an Agatha Christie crime novel, with Price playing the sleuth, investigating all the potential suspects in the village. I enjoyed this low budget film as the acting is first rate and the dialogue is convincing, albeit somewhat dated for today's audiences. The ending of the film is rather theatrical and staged, as Price gathers all the suspects in one room stating that one of them is the murderer. However, despite this cliched scene, it's a film that is well worth watching just to see the incomparable Dennis Price in a role where he doesn't play the villain.

NOOSE FOR A LADY is a rather typical murder mystery of the era, one that goes through the motions while perhaps lacking the kind of gravitas that the best of the genre tends to have. What is nice is seeing Dennis Price playing a good guy rather than the usual caddish or sleazy characters he essayed during this era (and beyond). He plays the cousin of a condemned woman, fresh from hunting criminals in Uganda, who visits a number of suspects as he tries to solve the murder case that could see his own flesh and blood led to the gallows. A well-judged supporting cast allows for nice performances from Esma Cannon, a shifty Charles Lloyd Pack and farmer Robert Brown, and it certainly succeeds as a box-ticking enterprise.

A really neat little thriller, the story plays fair and the killer comes as a real surprise. The cast work well together and Dennis Price is a reliable lead as the solver of the crime. Well worth 90 minutes of your time.

I saw this movie once as a child and it has always escaped me . For a long time i thought i just imagined it , that it never existed , then i saw it again some 20 years later . Its not a great film by any means but i think it attains classic status solely on the dialogue and filming techniques . I mean how can you not like a grainy black and white film with poor lighting and extreme closeups with dialogue like ."Ive called you all here because the killer is amongst you, here in this room " " the killer is...." then the light goes out and there is a shot ... and then ... well you will have to see this movie to find out how it ends.. its a classic.. If any one has seen ths recently please let me know...I will be forever in your debt....

Dennis Price once again plays detective in this entertaining murder mystery.He plays a relation of a murdered man who finds that the man's wife has been convicted of murder and is facing execution.He joins forces with the murdered man's stepdaughter to track down the real murderer.The problem is that the local poacher who saw the murderer creep away from the house is himself murdered.Then Charles Lloyd Pack who looks as if he has an important clue has a stoke and dies in hospital.So with time ticking away all the usual suspects are assembled together,and believe it or not they include Esme Cannon..I have to say that the identity of the murderer is cleverly disguised,I did not guess write and was put off the scent by some very effective red herrings.So although essential a supporting feature the cast writing and direction make this into a very effective low budget thriller.