For the second night in a row, we found a movie with a great wind-up, where the characters' actions converge, and the plot points are like a puzzle. "A Matter of Choice"(1963) begins with three separate storylines, intercut and unfolding on the same evening. In the main thread, two young artists, Mike and Tony, head out for an evening of clubbing. They're just off work, still wearing their suits and eager to pick up chicks, or "birds" in the English parlance. They're hardly Romeos, more like a couple of twits, but Mike presents himself as all-knowing where women are concerned. At a coffee house, he engages in one upsmanship with Tony : "Bet I take one home before you do".
Mike does pick up a young woman and brings her back to his flat. He and Tony live next door to each other in the same building. This first thread really serves to show how smarmy the two of them are. Mike tries to seduce the girl by "impressing" her with his art knowledge, then his "philosophy", and when that doesn't work he attempts to drug her drink. She ends up storming off, and the scene's a bit of a red herring, but it's played for light comedy and serves to set up Mike's character. As played by actor Malcolm Gerard, he's hilarious, in a nitwit sort of way.
The second thread involves "Charles Grant" (Ballard Berkeley), a 60ish businessman, and his blonde bombshell wife "Lisa" (Jeanne Moody), who's 30 years younger. He's arranging a corporate takeover, they're going to America to transact it. When he announces this to Lisa, she says she's going to spend the evening with her sister. "I'd like to see her one last time before we leave". This leads to plotline number three, because Lisa actually goes to her boyfriend's apartment. You didn't think she married Charles for love, did you?
"John Crighton" (Anthony Steele), is a swaggering Lothario, too sexy for his shirt. He makes love to Lisa in his Swinging Bachelor Pad, then gets upset when she tells him she's headed to America. "With him of course!" Meaning her husband. "I thought you were going to divorce him so we can get married"? Sigh. When will these guys ever learn? She only wants you for one thing, John. You don't have Charles' money.
John rides with Lisa part way back to her house, intending to be dropped off at a bar. But on the way, Lisa hits a policeman who's been pushed from the sidewalk by the twits. This is the initial convergence of the plot. It will become more entangled, but first we've got to backpedal somewhat. I should explain that it takes 39 minutes - half the movie - to get to this point, a long, drawn out affair without much development. The focus up to now has been on the characters (and the bar hopping), so thank goodness for Malcolm Gerard and the other actors who enliven their roles with sly humor.
What happens with the policeman, is that after they get kicked out of their final bar (for bothering a waitress), Mike and Tony find themselves on the sidewalk. "Where should we go next"? Tony declares he's hungry. "There's an Automat just up ahead", Mike says, referring to what we Americans call a vending machine. It's got sandwiches. Tony drops two bob in the slot and presses the button for tuna salad. But nothing comes out. "It's robbed me"!, he cries, as he shakes the malfunctioning machine. "I want my bleedin' two bob back"! Tony's pretty hammered. A policeman rounds the corner and asks what's going on. When Tony won't calm down, the cop arrests him. But before he can get the cuffs on, that's when Tony shoves him in the street. "It was barely a push"!, he swears to Mike, as they run off after the accident. "I didn't mean for it to happen. I just didn't wanna be arrested. It would kill my mother".......
Things proceed rapidly at this point. Seeing the boys run off, John Crighton gets out of the car and chases them, trapping them down the block in an alley. Tony, terrified by now, picks up a brick and hurls it at John, striking him in the forehead. John goes down, bleeding and unconscious. Tony's now got two assault charges facing him if he's caught (and a murder charge if either man dies), so while he's panicking, Mike thinks fast : "Quick, Tony! Help me carry him. There's a garage open over there". Ahh, the Old Gare-ahge Routine again. They hide John in the garage, close the door, and now they're safe......with a man who may or may not be dead. They can't tell. "He seems to be breathing", Mike notes with hope. Tony's babbling in fright, stunned at how the night's gone wrong, but now it's gonna go a whole lot wronger. A car pulls up to the garage door on the outside. We see a man get out, and Holy Smokes it's Lisa's husband, Charles Grant. The boys have, by sheer chance, hidden in Grant's garage. Now all the threads come together, as they try to remain hidden, with John's unconscious body. Grant is moving around the house, will he open the garage door to put his car inside? Meanwhile, Lisa's down at the police station, answering questions about the accident. "It happened so fast, Inspector. All I saw was two young men and a policeman, then he was in the street". She attests to being alone in the car, lest John be identified as her passenger and the news gets back to Charles. Will he find out she's got a boyfriend? Most importantly, will John or the policeman die? Once the action begins, it's as good a twister-turner as we had with "The Third Alibi", and even though the build-up takes a long time, the journey is a fun one because of the eccentric characters.
I was disappointed to discover that there's next to no information at IMDB on Gerard or Michael Davis, the actor playing Tony, for it is they who give movie it's idiosyncrasies, providing Veddy Brrrittish comic relief as well as cunning criminal ingenuity. The stars are billed as Anthony Steele, Ballard Berkeley and Jeanne Moody, and though they're all good too, they don't have near as much screen time as Our Two Terrific Twits, who steal the show. Interesting that the script was from an original story by Derren Nesbitt, an actor we've seen in several British films of the same period, whose specialty was playing villains.
Two Huge Thumbs Up for "A Matter of Choice". It's highly recommended, the picture razor sharp, and make no mistake - despite the breezy tone in the first half - it's a thriller of the first order. ////
The previous night, we saw an English family held hostage by a killer on the run. In "Bond of Fear"(1956), "John Sewell" (Dermot Walsh), a factory foreman, is taking his family on vacation. They're traveling to France by caravan. "It's the wife's idea", he tells a dubious coworker. "But it'll save on hotel rooms and we'll see the countryside". They depart with their two children, en route to Dover, where the ferry will take them to Calais.
On the way, their little daughter has to pee. Dad pulls over, Mom takes her to the bushes by the roadside. During this stop, their son goes into the caravan to retrieve a map. When he turns to leave, he's confronted by "Dewar" (the great John Colicos of "Star Trek" fame), an escaped murderer, who somehow stowed away during their trip. The news of his escape has made headlines in all the papers. John Sewell was peripherally aware that he was still on the loose, but his mind was on the vacation. When he hears his son scream, however, and runs to the caravan, he recognizes the killer immediately.
Dewar grabs the boy and threatens to shoot. Dad is forced to return to the car and drive on, with Mom and their daughter in the passenger seats. Dewar remains with the son in the caravan. "I'll be watching you through the window", he tells John Sewell. "If you try anything, or stop without my say so, your kid gets it".
He calls all the shots as they drive on to Dover. Twice they hit roadblocks. "Act normal and don't say a word, or remember - the kid dies". Once they get a flat tire and a Good Samaritan stops to help. Mom tries to slip a note to him, which may be of help later on, but soon he's gone and the family are on their own again.
Family against bad guys is a classic motif, and a strong one. I remember as a kid how terrified I was by "Hot Rods to Hell", where a nice American family is tormented by street punks. Dana Andrews as the Dad has to summon the courage to stand up to them, but in the end he does, and the punks are decimated. I thought of "Hot Rods" as a horror film back then, that's how scary it was to me. and of course the ultimate "family against bad guys" movie has got to be "The Hills Have Eyes", where a family crossing the Nevada desert is accosted by another family, a group of inbred cannibals. So yeah, the context has a powerful emotional pull, especially when you have a smirking villain who's never done the right thing in his life, yet now has power over the Decent Family Man, simply because he's holding a gun.
Unlike our other recent thrillers, there aren't any major plot twists. It's all about the family's frightening journey with the killer. But director Henry Cass creates a deep sense of isolation. With the exception of the Good Samaritan, who's now driven away, there's no one to help the Sewells. The police are of course looking for Dewar, but they're far off, condensed at roadblocks and airports. Cass maintains the tension throughout, and the screenplay by is by John Gilling, who directed "Plague of the Zombies".
The climax takes place at the famous White Cliffs of Dover, which look towering up close. I won't tell you what unfolds, but you can imagine there'll be a confrontation. Mr. Sewell is not about to let his family board a ferry and leave the country with Dewar still in their company, and there might be a cop or two around.
Two Big Thumbs Up for "Bond of Fear", and two more for the performance of Colicos, who not only played the leader of The Klingons on Star Trek, but apparently helped create their look with Gene Roddenberry. He's top notch here, as the cold-blooded killer Dewar. This film is also highly recommended.
Well, that's all for today. We've been on a roll with our thrillers of late. Let's see if we can keep it going. Have a great afternoon, I send you tons of love as always! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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