Good movie but grossly overrated

Best movie ever!

Awesome Movie

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Very good script by Gilliat based on a novel. Likable protagonists and support characters, as well as nearly-likable villains in a wonderful cast who work pleasingly together. I'm glad Barnes, not Redgrave (apparently as originally planned), fell into the role of "Stephen." Barnes is gentlemanly distant and professional, but obviously protective of Lockwood as friend and client. Redgrave might have handled the role in a cheesier, more intimate manner, not appropriate in this quiet script. Livesey provides a friendly but professional touch as Barnes' policeman flat-mate.Refreshing to see characters interact without sturm und drang for a change, in well-paced unfolding of Barnes' defense of Lockwood.Enjoyed this movie very much. There aren't many that succeed in first gear - maybe "A Canterbury Tale" is another such, but there aren't many others.

Initially this movie was set to star Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave, fresh from their success in "A Lady Vanishes" but something happened and Barry Barnes turns up as the earnest young lawyer who has a belief in the young nurse - he's okay but lacks Redgrave's charisma.After being cleared of a murder charge Nurse Graham (Lockwood) is confidant that her acquittal will be able to secure her another nursing post - but people remember the old saying "where there's smoke, there's fire"!! One day she finds a mysterious package, it is a "help wanted" section of a newspaper with a "nurse required" ad circled (that she didn't even question who would have sent it was a major hole in the story but oh well...). And since Emlyn Williams, who specialized in sinister spivs had already made an appearance at her trial, it had his handy work all over it!! Ann applies but sick of rejection uses the name Ann Lovell: she is given the job with no references and, surprise, surprise, Williams plays Tracy, the supercilious butler and also, no surprises, you know exactly where the movie is heading!!Tracy is involved with Mrs. Bentley (Margaretta Scott) whose invalid husband takes to Ann (even changing his will!!). Although he doesn't realise it, he is not long for this world and the dynamic duo think that by hiring Ann, whose nursing career is already in tatters, they have found the perfect "patsy" for their scheme. The murder seems foolproof and once again Ann is on trial for her life - all seems lost, people have heard "I didn't know he'd changed his will" all before!! - until Stephen comes up with an ingenious twist - but will it work!!Not really a work to hold up to Reed's best ie "The Fallen Idol" but despite some plot holes it runs smoothly, thanks to a solid cast. Margaret Lockwood is perfect as Ann, not really grasping what is happening to her but for me it is Emlyn Williams as the nasty Tracy who rivets the viewers attention!!Highly Recommended.

Most film fans will have seen "The Wicked Lady"(1945) before they see this 1940 film.It was surely in playing roles like nurse Anne Graham which convinced casting directors and producers that Margaret Lockwood would be ideal in her most famous role as Lady Barbara Skelton & Highwaywoman. Another reviewer mentions prejudice and it shows that society still believes "there is no smoke without fire".To get a job (even though you have been aquitted of murder) especially in a caring job like nursing, it is sad that it is necessary to change your name because prejudice lingers on in the mind of society.However in Hollywood U.S.A. and in other rich countries, it cynically seems that if you are rich and famous you can never be found guilty of a serious crime let alone serve time in prison when one can afford high priced lawyers to get yourself aquitted.So often the lower (and impecunious) social orders feel the full weight of the law.But here Anne Graham's lawyer for once is the hero.He bamboozles the villain to give himself away to justice using a neat bluff in court!Nice to see Roger Livesey playing the detective.His most remembered role is the doctor in "A Matter of Life & Death"(1946) and "The Secret Life of Colonel Blimp" both Powell & Preesburger films.

Core to the plot is the extent to which a justifiable acquittal at a trial nevertheless prejudices the accused's future life. Given modern day concerns over sensational press coverage this is an issue as valid today (probably more so) than it was in war-time Britain. But the film does not follow this line, rather it presents us with a good old-fashioned courtroom drama, culminating in a finale of which Perry Mason would have been proud. Quite how the hero lawyer manages this stretches the judicial imagination somewhat, especially with a flawed witness, whose evidence clinches the outcome, not having to testify from the witness box.Despite these reservations this is an enjoyable enough production which canters along at a good pace without any pretensions to high art. And it was nice to see some early work from two actresses, Irene Handl (particularly malevolent as the first "victim") and Kathleen Harrison, who both went on to greater things in post-war British TV.