Let's be realistic.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

One of the teachers at Miss Halstead's boarding school is found murdered and Detective Inspector Campbell and Sergeant Harvey from Scotland Yard lead the investigation, Is the killer one of the teachers? Is it one of the pupils? Is it someone from outside the school? It's a fair mystery story that moves along steadily until the poignant ending. It portrays well the pettiness and pressure of a closed human environment.We get to know the teachers, particularly Miss Shepherd who helps a lot with the investigation. Not a fast moving film but a nice study of a certain place and time. It's well directed on a low budget. The scene of the finding of the body is very well handled.Gordon Jackson is solid as D.I Campbell and even better is the beauteous Barbara Murray as Miss Shepherd. There are sparks between those two characters that are entertaining. The rest of the cast are suitable for their roles. The motive for the murder is not a usual one which makes it more interesting. Strangely the ubiquitous Sam Kydd as Sergeant Harvey is uncredited by the film even though he has a large role.Stephen Clarkson only directed a few films which is a shame as he did a good job with this one.

Apart from the '50's sexism, which for the most part is now comical, this isn't too bad a murder mystery.When the body of one of the teachers is discovered dead on the Girlschool's grounds the police are called in. Enter DI Campbell (Jackson) and Sergeant Harvey (Kydd) to solve the crime. However, they are initially worried about solving the case as, "who can figure out the reasons in a woman's mind?"... problems we still suffer from today. They needn't have worried though as Miss Shepherd (Murray) is on the case too. Being a teacher at the school and a lover of mystery novels she takes it upon herself to investigate.One of the good things about this story is that unlike many sleuths, Miss Marple and Father Brown as examples, the police actually utilise Miss Shepherd. It's nice that the "outside" investigator isn't a thorn in the polices side but a help.Gordon Jackson is in his element as a hard-nosed don't hold back copper. You can see elements of his character in The Professionals, George Cowley, coming through in his portrayal of DI Campbell. So this remembrance, for me, helped to submerge me into the film, right from his appearance.This is a well scripted and written story. There are plenty of suspects to be the murderer... in fact, most of the staff at the school could be guilty of the crime. The way the story unfolds is nicely done, though the narration from Miss Shepherd is a little irksome. However, I've never been a fan of the narration - unless it's "The Twilight Zone" style. I think narration should be shown by the camera and not heard. If somebody says, "They were shocked to..." then show them shocked. They're actors, the director should use their skills.That said though, I would recommend this to all whodunnit buffs and murder mystery lovers. It's a short film, at just over an hour in runtime, so would be good for a quick fix. A good afternoon flick for the armchair detectives out there.

You will likely never see this. There's scant market pull for such things, as it is a rather dull movie and relies on conventions that just don't work today. But its interesting. Its quite a bit later than the filmed detective stories that fascinate me so much. Those are from the 30s and are interesting because the experiments actually changed how movies work.Something this late, especially if it is from a small UK studio is merely an echo, but still interesting. In the 30's there was an Hildegarde Withers mystery series that featured what's now called a "primary" school teacher in the US who solves crimes leveraging her teacherness. Its a darn clever notion because in the detective narrative you already are juggling several things: the game between the writer and viewer to invent a reality that makes sense, the role of the detective as a sort of avatar — or not, the role of the camera as a tool of discovery and revealing. All these move into each other and out, perhaps with some noir goddess of fate.Then you often have a second character. In the Holmes story it was an avatar for the writer.The "teacher" experiment is rich in all sorts of possibilities. In the Hildegarde Withers version is was simply played for comedy, the detective played by James Gleason who was a sort of master of frustration as he was outdetected by such a woman. Its like Miss Marple in many ways, but the addition of the teacher role changed it radically.In this case, the detective is a smooth handsome gent not only from Scotland yard but actually from Scotland — which is soon to separate from the UK and is why I selected this film today.The teacher is a senior administrator as a school for prepubescent girls, though all the teachers look to be in their early twenties except one — sort of a giveaway for the mystery. In this case, we have our young woman literally as the narrator who reports to the blond Scot. Her name is Shepherd! Its not an interesting film, nor even an interesting mystery. But it is an interesting experiment in the form.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

Synopsis: An unpopular teacher at an all girls school is found strangled behind the sports pavilion with another teacher's scarf around her throat. An inspector from Scotland Yard and his sergeant arrive to investigate. One of the teachers provides him with the clues that lead to the murderer (another member of staff) but when presented with the evidence that will lead to her discovery the murderer takes an overdose of sleeping tablets and dies.Nicely photographed but talky and dull and, apart from a few MOS exteriors (arriving and departing shots), stays firmly in the same few sets. This film was made in the days when everyone in British movies talked with perfect diction and faultless grammar - indeed in this film characters actually correct each other's grammar. Not a long vowel sound to be heard. Everyone is so po-faced and brittle it hurts. The actors do their thing in the solid, constipated, stiff upper lip, style required at the time.The plot is thin, the characters have no emotional depth but above all it is marred by a weird narrative structure. Parts of the story are voiced over by one of the teachers as she does her own investigation but most of the time the camera follows the Scotland Yard men - it doesn't work....and it beggars belief that a Scotland Yard inspector would arrive at a crime scene, enquire whether anything has been disturbed, then light a cigarette and drop the match on the floor.