The Late Edwina Black
- March 1951 (1951-03)
The Late Edwina Black (U.S. Obsessed) is a 1951 British crime film, directed by Maurice Elvey and starring David Farrar, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Roland Culver.[2] The film is a melodramatic murder mystery set in the Victorian era and was adapted from a stage play by William Dinner and William Morum.[3]
Plot
The domineering Edwina Black has just died, and the general feeling appears to be of relief. The local community whispers that her death is a blessing for all concerned, particularly her henpecked widower Gregory and downtrodden personal companion Elizabeth. Unknown to anybody, Gregory and Elizabeth have been lovers for some time, and matters take a serious turn when the local doctor, feeling uneasy about Edwina's sudden and unexpected death, orders a post-mortem. It reveals that Edwina's body is full of arsenic.
Inspector Martin has been instructed to get to the bottom of the case and his suspicions naturally fall on Gregory and Elizabeth, who have motive and opportunity. In the absence of proof, he sets out to trap them, hoping that they will inadvertently implicate themselves. A guidebook to Italy is found in Elizabeth's possession. How does she explain that? A complicating factor arises when it is discovered that the housekeeper Ellen has been keeping secrets of her own, and also had good reason for wishing Edwina ill.
Martin proceeds to drop seemingly innocuous but loaded observations into the ears of the three suspects, hoping to provoke doubts and foster mutual suspicion. This works so well that they are soon apparently falling over themselves to incriminate each other. Martin has to try to untangle the stories to come up with a coherent picture of what actually happened, all the while being aware that he is perhaps being misdirected.
Cast
- David Farrar as Gregory Black
- Geraldine Fitzgerald as Elizabeth Graham
- Roland Culver as Inspector Martin
- Jean Cadell as Ellen
- Mary Merrall as Lady Southdale
- Harcourt Williams as Dr. Septimus Prendergast
- Ronald Adam as headmaster
- Charles Heslop as vicar
- Sydney Moncton as Horace
Production
It was made at Isleworth Studios. The sets were designed by the art director George Provis and the costumes were by Elizabeth Haffenden.
Critical reception
The New York Times called it "the most stifling and farfetched bore to snake across the Atlantic so far this year";[4] the Radio Times called it a "feeble Victorian whodunnit";[5] while Noirish wrote, "for much of the time this is all very well handled, and sometimes with some subtlety."[6]
It was one of 15 films selected by Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane in The British 'B' Film, their survey of British B films, as among the most meritorious of the B films made in Britain between World War II and 1970. They noted that it "was not especially well received at the time, but has worn better than many that were". They praised the four central performers, Farrar, Cadell, Culver and Fitzgerald: "few character actresses can do mean-faced malevolence better than Jean Cadell"; and "the beautiful and underused Geraldine Fitzgerald is particularly fine".[7]
References
- ^ Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p495
- ^ "The Late Edwina Black". BFI. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012.
- ^ "Late Edwina Blake, The (1951) - Overview - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies.
- ^ "Movie Reviews". The New York Times. 29 October 2021.
- ^ David Parkinson. "The Late Edwina Black". RadioTimes.
- ^ "Late Edwina Black, The (1952)". Noirish. 21 March 2015.
- ^ Steve Chibnall & Brian McFarlane, The British 'B' Film, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, pp. 266–67.
External links
- The Late Edwina Black at IMDb
- The Late Edwina Black at AllMovie
- The Late Edwina Black at BFI Film & TV Database
- v
- t
- e
- Maria Marten (1913)
- The Suicide Club (1914)
- The Loss of the Birkenhead (1914)
- Her Luck in London (1914)
- The Idol of Paris (1914)
- There's Good in Everyone (1915)
- Honeymoon for Three (1915)
- Gilbert Gets Tiger-It is (1915)
- Midshipman Easy (1915)
- Gilbert Dying to Die (1915)
- Florence Nightingale (1915)
- From Shopgirl to Duchess (1915)
- Her Nameless Child (1915)
- Home (1915)
- Love in a Wood (1915)
- Fine Feathers (1915)
- Charity Ann (1915)
- A Will of Her Own (1915)
- Meg the Lady (1916)
- Esther (1916)
- Driven (1916)
- Vice Versa (1916)
- Money for Nothing (1916)
- When Knights Were Bold (1916)
- Trouble for Nothing (1916)
- The Princess of Happy Chance (1916)
- The King's Daughter (1916)
- Mother Love (1916)
- Smith (1917)
- The Grit of a Jew (1917)
- The Woman Who Was Nothing (1917)
- Justice (1917)
- The Gay Lord Quex (1917)
- Flames (1917)
- Mary Girl (1917)
- Hindle Wakes (1918)
- The Greatest Wish in the World (1918)
- Goodbye (1918)
- Adam Bede (1918)
- The Life Story of David Lloyd George (1918)
- Nelson (1918)
- Comradeship (1919)
- Quinneys (1919)
- Keeper of the Door (1919)
- Dombey and Son (1919)
- The Rocks of Valpre (1919)
- God's Good Man (1919)
- Mr. Wu (1919)
- The Swindler (1919)
- The Elusive Pimpernel (1919)
- Bleak House (1920)
- The Amateur Gentleman (1920)
- At the Villa Rose (1920)
- The Hundredth Chance (1920)
- A Question of Trust (1920)
- The Tavern Knight (1920)
- The Victory Leaders (1920)
- Innocent (1921)
- A Gentleman of France (1921)
- The Hound of the Baskervilles (1921)
- The Fruitful Vine (1921)
- A Romance of Wastdale (1921)
- The Man with the Twisted Lip (1921)
- The Passionate Friends (1922)
- Running Water (1922)
- Dick Turpin's Ride to York (1922)
- A Debt of Honour (1922)
- The Wandering Jew (1923)
- The Sign of Four (1923)
- Guy Fawkes (1923)
- The Royal Oak (1923)
- Sally Bishop (1923)
- Don Quixote (1923)
- Henry, King of Navarre (1924)
- Slaves of Destiny (1924)
- The Love Story of Aliette Brunton (1924)
- My Husband's Wives (1924)
- Folly of Vanity (1924)
- Curlytop (1924)
- She Wolves (1925)
- Every Man's Wife (1925)
- The Woman Tempted (1926)
- The Flag Lieutenant (1926)
- Mademoiselle from Armentieres (1926)
- Roses of Picardy (1927)
- Tragedy of a Marriage (1927)
- Hindle Wakes (1927)
- The Flight Commander (1927)
- Quinneys (1927)
- The Glad Eye (1927)
- Mademoiselle Parley Voo (1928)
- Balaclava (1928)
- Palais de danse (1928)
- You Know What Sailors Are (1928)
- High Treason (1929)
- The School for Scandal (1930)
- Potiphar's Wife (1931)
- Sally in Our Alley (1931)
- A Honeymoon Adventure (1931)
- Frail Women (1932)
- In a Monastery Garden (1932)
- The Marriage Bond (1932)
- The Water Gipsies (1932)
- Diamond Cut Diamond (1932)
- The Lodger (1932)
- The Lost Chord (1933)
- I Lived with You (1933)
- This Week of Grace (1933)
- Soldiers of the King (1933)
- Love, Life and Laughter (1934)
- Road House (1934)
- Lily of Killarney (1934)
- The Clairvoyant (1935)
- The Tunnel (1935)
- Heat Wave (1935)
- Spy of Napoleon (1936)
- The Man in the Mirror (1936)
- A Romance in Flanders (1937)
- Who Killed John Savage? (1937)
- Melody and Romance (1937)
- Change for a Sovereign (1937)
- Lightning Conductor (1938)
- Who Goes Next? (1938)
- The Return of the Frog (1938)
- Sword of Honour (1939)
- Sons of the Sea (1939)
- Under Your Hat (1940)
- The Spider (1940)
- For Freedom (1940)
- Room for Two (1940)
- Salute John Citizen (1942)
- The Lamp Still Burns (1943)
- Medal for the General (1944)
- Strawberry Roan (1945)
- Beware of Pity (1946)
- The Third Visitor (1951)
- The Late Edwina Black (1951)
- My Wife's Lodger (1952)
- The Great Game (1953)
- Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary? (1953)
- House of Blackmail (1953)
- The Harassed Hero (1954)
- What Every Woman Wants (1954)
- The Gay Dog (1954)
- The Happiness of Three Women (1954)
- You Lucky People! (1955)
- Room in the House (1955)
- Fun at St. Fanny's (1956)
- Dry Rot (1956)
- Stars in Your Eyes (1956)
- Second Fiddle (1957)