Alec Coppel turned this story into a play, book (A Man about a Dog), radio play, novel and script – and why not? It’s an intriguing concoction, about a doctor determined to knock off his wife’s lover. After an odd scene at the beginning where some boffins at Newton’s club talk about England’s decline in the post-war period, we go to Newton’s house. He surprises his cheating wife (Sally Gray) and her American lover (Phil Brown), who were supposed to be at a concert – they thought he’d be out. He pulls a gun on them; Grey calls up a friend and tries to establish that she was at the concert, but it’s no good for Newton. He tells Brown he’s going to kill him. Grey grabs his gun, fires – it’s blank, Newton took the bullets out, Grey sooks off to bed. Apparently he did it to humiliate Grey and make her leave… which is convoluted, but then Coppel sometimes was. We leave Newton and Brown, then cut to some time later… after another scene at the Club, more talk about England’s decline, we establish that Grey has just received a letter from Brown – he’s not dead after all. Then we see Newton do some stuff in a lab and visit an isolated house… he’s got Brown chained up in the basement.
It turns out Newton has abducted Brown, kept him alive long enough so his disappearance is accepted, then will dissolve his body. He’s going to test it on his wife’s dog, Monty, who has followed Newton – but since this is a British film and there’s no way a dog is going to die, the dog escapes Then when the dog is reported missing, an inspector (Naunton Wayne, one of the duo from The Lady Vanishes) turns up investigating. This means Newton leaves Brown alive for a while longer.
This is an entertaining little B movie, with an intriguing if not quite believable set up, and an excellent cast. Newton is a great mad doctor, Gray a convincing tramp, Wayne a refreshingly different cop; the real surprise is Brown, who I’ve never seen in anything before – no matinee idol, but he’s very good, especially as he goes progressively crazy. Lots of dialogue along the lines of “this is how to commit the perfect murder” and Newton tormenting Brown and saying he’s got a reprieve… It’s certainly not as elegantly plotted as say, Dial M for Murder (you never quite buy it why Newton doesn’t knock off Brown), but it’s fun to watch.
There's some great noir-ish lighting, too, plus music from Nina Rota. The censor’s influence is presumably why at the end Newton doesn’t kill himself and Brown survives – and there’s a comic beat where Brown is reunited with the dog. Coppel also served as dialogue director. (Oh and Stanley Baker apparently has a small role but I must have blinked and missed him.)
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