Moviecut—Trent's Last Case

Herbert Wilcox was to nepotism what Horlicks is to bedtime; having directed his wife, Anna Neagle, in numerous ho-hum movies he now signs up daughter Pamela Bower to write a ho-hum screenplay and just to square the circle the film was released by Republic whose CEO Herbert J. Yates wasn't above featuring his own untalented wife Vera Ralston as leading clown in several films. That's all that's really worth saying about this static, unimaginative and largely inept squandering of celluloid. Again Orson Welles receives prominent billing for ten minutes screentime and no doubt the rest of the competent cast envied him as they got stuck with the full ninety minutes. For insomniacs and Late, Late, Late show addicts only.

With an acclaimed murder-mystery novel that had a great subversive, twist ending as its source, "Trent's Last Case" should've been cracking entertainment. Alas, the director is Herbert Wilcox who had a lengthy and largely successful career but even his popular films haven't aged well due to his pedestrian, uninventive style and he's a forgotten figure today. His patented conservative, dreary direction largely sinks this film almost immediately. The early segment at the coroner's inquest is so boring one struggles to maintain interest. The film does improve a bit though once Trent begins to investigate and challenge the official version of events. And there are some nice performances from a very good cast. Orson Welles displays another of his vivid characterisations in his brief role. John McCallum gives an impressive performance as someone with plenty to hide; his facial reactions when Trent reveals he knows most of his secrets makes the scene quite compelling. However, overall this film is a major disappointment. The final scene which tries to be both a revelation of who the actual murderer was AND be a romantic ending is especially poorly handled.

An enjoyable whodunnit. As I write I am watching said film on Talking Pictures TV. Saturday, 26/09/2020, @ 14.22.

Agatha Christie considered this intrigue one of the best ever written, and it certainly is. The mystery is deep here, and as it gradually is unravelled you are in for any number of surprises. The actors are outstanding, with Michael Wilding as the detective intruding on the private lives of the young widow Margaret Lockwood and the man who loves her, who is the prime suspect, while Orson Welles as the victim provides an impressing finale as he enters in the final flashback. Miles Malleson plays an important part as a reluctant participant in the plot, while the story is what really matters. Herbert Wilcox' direction is faultless but very formal, giving the film a somewhat conventional character - there is no cinematography to speak of, while music plays an important part - Eileen Joyce has a moment as a performing pianist, and the film score is by Anthony Collins, who is also seen acting as a conductor - one of his rare appearances on film. After having reached the end of the story, and Michael Wilding closing his last case as Trent, yuo just have to agree with Agatha Christie about the marvellous windings of this plot.

TRENT'S LAST CASE is another adaptation of an old mystery novel previously filmed twice in the 1920s. It's notable for featuring Orson Welles in a supporting role, although when I say supporting I really mean it; he only gets about ten minutes of the running time to himself. The rest follows amateur sleuth Michael Wilding around as he attempts to prove that an apparent suicide was really murder. Margaret Lockwood gives great support as the dead man's wife and there's even a small role for Kenneth Williams playing a Welsh gardener, of all things. The film betrays its literary origins by being very talky and lacking in real incident, and the mystery's solution is rather contrived, but it still serves as representative of its era.

I am sure my summary above confused you. Let me explain. Although "Trent's Last Case" is not a terrible film, I would have rather it have been bad because at least it would have been interesting (albeit in a bad way). Instead, the film just meanders....and none of it seemed very interesting. The film begins with the death of some dude. Everyone is a Brit...so why does it later turn out the dead man is an American (Orson Welles). Well, that isn't important...but it did perplex me. Anyway, everyone thinks it's a suicide and the inquest rules it as such. But a dogged detective (Michael Wilding) has reason to believe it was a murder. After he finds the murderer (about halfway through the film), the movie backtracks to explaining why it occurred...though I was bored by this and especially by Welles' overblown performance (subtle it wasn't). Overall, competently made but really, really uninteresting.

All the characters just talk and talk till the proverbial cows come home.There is hardly any action and when it does occur it is talked over by one of the characters.Unfortunately by this stage of his career Herbert Wilcox had clearly lost whatever touch he had in the first place.After his success with Anna Neagle in the forties he turned out one dud after another in the fifties and by the end of the decade he was bankrupt.Quite frankly this film is more akin to a radio play than a film.I suggest that for say 5 minutes you turn down the picture brightness and just listen.You will not miss a thing.There is absolutely nothing cinematic about this film.The only point of suspense is how long are we going to have to wait for Orson to appear and how long will he appear for.Other than that the only pleasure in this film is seeing a very young Kenneth Williams and Miles Malleson with an odd wig and an even stranger beard.Looks like an inverted ice cream cone.

"Trent's Last Case" is not a classic, but it's a nice little cozy mystery. It is well-plotted, and by watching it a second time you can see how well the entire story hangs together (though the very last twist does not really change the essence of the story - but maybe that was precisely the point). There is also a distinguished British cast (Margaret Lockwood is accurately described within the film as "very beautiful, dark, and self-possessed"), plus an eccentric and quite fascinating turn by Orson Welles, who despite his third billing appears only in the last half-hour, in flashbacks. The director doesn't do anything phenomenal, but he doesn't do anything wrong, either; the settings are opulent but do not overwhelm the story. I believe most genre fans will enjoy this one. **1/2 out of 4.

One other reviewer stated this so well: "If it weren't for the presence of Orson Welles as the ostensible murder victim in Trent's Last Case, this rather indifferent British murder mystery would be consigned to blessed obscurity. For that the rest of the cast should be grateful." I agree. Not only was I bored to death it took me 3 weeks to get through this thing a few minutes at a time. The film look nice. All the male leads are charming. The female lead is gorgeous, but has little to do except mourn, play the piano, and look sad some more. When Welles does appear (in flashback); he quite over the top and you WANT him to die. Our detective doesn't do very much and somehow gets the girl in the end. Bah!