Julia Arnell, a high-priced model, is murdered when she accidentally interrupts a diamond heist while returning her dress to the fashion shop. The remainder of the movie is seeing if the bad guys are going to get caught and how Keith Andes, who has been falsely accused, will clear himself. Michael Gough and Edwin Richfield have great chemistry as the bad guys. Hazel Court and Jean Aubrey are cute as sisters helping Andes clear himself. The movie itself while having an interesting plot lacks suspense or tension. The musical score is horrible. Okay as a time waster.
11 Reviews
Model For B Movie
boblipton20 November 2018
Merchant mariner Keith Andes is in London to speak with the ex-fiancee of his dead brother. When she turns up dead in the middle of a jewel robbery by fashion house head Michael Gough, he is clunked on the head and framed. It's up to him to try and prove his innocence with the help of Hazel Court.
It's a fun little B mystery, directed by Terry Bishop, with lots of pretty girls and several brief, eccentric characters. Gough is suave as the bad guy whose well laid plans for the robbery go awry; George Benson is fun as the boring and slightly boorish industrialist dating the model; and Charles Lamb has a nice little bit as a lock keeper, making sure he pockets a tip while saying he shouldn't have. Andes is a trifle suave and perfunctory as the innocent man accused as murder, but at 70 minutes, it's great to watch the tightly written how-catch-him movie wind its way through the plot
It's a fun little B mystery, directed by Terry Bishop, with lots of pretty girls and several brief, eccentric characters. Gough is suave as the bad guy whose well laid plans for the robbery go awry; George Benson is fun as the boring and slightly boorish industrialist dating the model; and Charles Lamb has a nice little bit as a lock keeper, making sure he pockets a tip while saying he shouldn't have. Andes is a trifle suave and perfunctory as the innocent man accused as murder, but at 70 minutes, it's great to watch the tightly written how-catch-him movie wind its way through the plot
Julia's dress to die for
wilvram26 May 2015
Cult stars of horror films, Hazel Court and Michael Gough, have leading roles in this thriller, set in the glamorous world of haute couture. Gough is Kingsley Beauchamp, head of a West End fashion house, who's planning to steal some valuable jewellery that's on loan to him. Keith Andes is the American Merchant Navy officer visiting the salon to meet his late brother's girlfriend, played by Julia Arnall. Returning an expensive dress, borrowed for her night out, she surprises the robbers in the act and is fatally stabbed by Beauchamp's chauffeur. Guess who's then fitted-up for the murder?
For a thriller, this is acutely lacking in pace and tension and so doesn't really work. The cast are some compensation for this, however. Keith Andes gives a strong performance in the lead, bringing some credibility to the sort of character the script has lying shocked and injured in hospital, then immediately tearing around all over London, despite being a total stranger in the city. There's the poise, allure and glamour of Hazel Court and Julia Arnall; Patricia Jessel as Beauchamp's designer and associate, Madame Dupont, good old Edwin Richfield playing the murderous chauffeur, Alfred Burke as a crooked bod named Podd, and not least, Michael Gough himself in full villainous mode. Hence my slightly generous rating.
For a thriller, this is acutely lacking in pace and tension and so doesn't really work. The cast are some compensation for this, however. Keith Andes gives a strong performance in the lead, bringing some credibility to the sort of character the script has lying shocked and injured in hospital, then immediately tearing around all over London, despite being a total stranger in the city. There's the poise, allure and glamour of Hazel Court and Julia Arnall; Patricia Jessel as Beauchamp's designer and associate, Madame Dupont, good old Edwin Richfield playing the murderous chauffeur, Alfred Burke as a crooked bod named Podd, and not least, Michael Gough himself in full villainous mode. Hence my slightly generous rating.
A not so good, nor so bad forgettable UK crime movie.
searchanddestroy-110 May 2009
Warning: Spoilers
It's a movie among hundred of others that I have just seen. And I absolutely want to comment it before the story erases itself out of my mind.
I had not this problem with such little master pieces such as PRIZE OF ARMS or ROBBERY; perhaps because they were both starring Stanley Baker?
Yes, sir. This topic about an innocent bystander accused of both a jewel robbery and murder is flat, boring, tepid at the most. And so long...Even if the running time is only 73mn. And the great - and poor - Michael Gough can't save it. What a shame.
But I won't argue any longer. I know that many UK thrillers from this decade are often in this scheme.
And, whatever I tell about them, I'll continue to watch these movies.
I had not this problem with such little master pieces such as PRIZE OF ARMS or ROBBERY; perhaps because they were both starring Stanley Baker?
Yes, sir. This topic about an innocent bystander accused of both a jewel robbery and murder is flat, boring, tepid at the most. And so long...Even if the running time is only 73mn. And the great - and poor - Michael Gough can't save it. What a shame.
But I won't argue any longer. I know that many UK thrillers from this decade are often in this scheme.
And, whatever I tell about them, I'll continue to watch these movies.
Lively Potboiler
richardchatten17 February 2020
I've always wondered how somebody throwing a knife can propel it with sufficient force and accuracy to embed it in someone (or a door or wall if they miss), but that particular feat is again accomplished when the model in this film is murdered.
Whatever. A good cast scurry about this lively potboiler made with nonchalant competence and scripted with a sense of humour.
Whatever. A good cast scurry about this lively potboiler made with nonchalant competence and scripted with a sense of humour.
lacks originality
malcolmgsw17 November 2015
An American comes to London to look for the girl friend of his dead brother.He finds her modeling in a haute culture salon.Unfortunately for her she interrupts thieves looting the safe of diamonds on behalf of the crooked boss of the salon.The American is knocked out trying to confront the thieves and to nobody's great surprise he is suspected by the police of having committed the murder.As is usual in these type of films he is at the forefront of bringing the gang to justice.Despite the best efforts of both Michael Gough and Hazel Court this film never raises the level of excitement above mediocre at best.Too much of this film seems to have been borrowed from similar films of the same era.
Typical 'wronged man' B-flick
Leofwine_draca13 May 2020
Warning: Spoilers
MODEL FOR MURDER is one of those potboiler thrillers that were popular in British cinema throughout the 1950s. I'm happy enough with it as it offers prominent roles for two big stars of British horror cinema, my first love; Hazel Court plays the glamorous assistant to the American import lead Keith Andes, while Michael Gough is the usual shady character. The plot is slightly murky and over complicated, with a model interrupting a robbery and getting a knife in her back for her troubles. What follows is a typical 'wronged man' type thriller with notably low levels of suspense, plodding cops, and character stars like Alfred Burke popping up briefly. Not bad, but far from the best this genre had to offer.
It's a very mundain murder for a model murder mystery.
mark.waltz15 April 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This British B film starts off pretty good introducing all the characters involved in a fashion show for London design house where the top model of the day,
Julia Arnall, has a knife tossed into her back when she comes across the robbery in her home. The viewer gets to see that occur so there's no mystery, and that's after all the suspects have been introduced, some nice, some not, and in this case, Arnall isn't a nasty sort who deserves something like this to happen to her. The only thing is that she happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and for visiting naval officer Keith Andes whose brother was once engaged to her, having the murder weapon on him as well as a necklace she was wearing makes him suspect number one.
Andes came along just as the murder occurred, was knocked out and placed in a vehicle which conveniently crashed, putting him in the hospital and on the local police's top suspect list. Hazel Court, who works for the firm where the fashion show takes place, come to his aide to help him prove his innocence. It starts off good but begins to drag, and the people involved in the murder are definitely out of the slimiest kind. The most interesting elements of the film are the characters, typical pretentious sorts involved in the fashion industry, including Arnall's latest male companion who is about as romantically interested in her as Clifton Webb was in Gene Tierney in "Laura". Watchable, but it would have helped had there been a bit more mystery rather than just the suspense of how Andes would get out of his predicament.
Andes came along just as the murder occurred, was knocked out and placed in a vehicle which conveniently crashed, putting him in the hospital and on the local police's top suspect list. Hazel Court, who works for the firm where the fashion show takes place, come to his aide to help him prove his innocence. It starts off good but begins to drag, and the people involved in the murder are definitely out of the slimiest kind. The most interesting elements of the film are the characters, typical pretentious sorts involved in the fashion industry, including Arnall's latest male companion who is about as romantically interested in her as Clifton Webb was in Gene Tierney in "Laura". Watchable, but it would have helped had there been a bit more mystery rather than just the suspense of how Andes would get out of his predicament.
Not bad thriller set in the world of haute couture
lucyrf19 February 2020
Unfortunately 1959 was a simply terrible year for fashion. Hazel Court and the actress playing her sister Nancy are forced to beetle around in frumpy "sack back" dresses and bucket hats, while the star model gown is a vulgar creation in gold lame. The girl playing the brother's ex-fiancee is good, with her rank starlet voice and industrialist boyfriend.
The villains, Gough, Burke and Richfield give their usual sterling performances.
I think those dresses really were called "sacks".
The villains, Gough, Burke and Richfield give their usual sterling performances.
I think those dresses really were called "sacks".
Cheap B film which is a bit of a yawn
geoffm6029529 December 2021
Another 1950's low budget B film, which features American actor, Keith Anders as seaman Dave Martens, who while on shore leave, takes time out to investigate the death of his brother. In his search to try and get to the bottom of his brother's death, he quickly becomes involved with the world of London's haute couture, where he meets fashion designer Sally Meadows, top stylist Kingsley Beauchamp and Madame Dupont, who is the financial backer of a shady fashion company. Our American hero quickly becomes the number one suspect over some stolen diamonds as well as being implicated in the murder of the fashion model who was actually wearing them. Keith Anders as Dave, works hard to inject some energy and style in what is a very dull and implausible storyline. Michael Gough is miscast as the the sinister and suave criminal in chief, since he seems to be overwrought for most of the scenes, and indeed spends most of his time constantly giving everyone a maniacal stare. However, Alfred Burke and Edwin Richfield, who starred in so many B films in supporting roles do a fine job as the two 'low life' individuals working for Gough, but despite their best efforts, the weak storyline and the unconvincing acting of Gough, makes it a yawn.
Fashionable Murder
tynesider19 February 2020
An old-fashioned thriller with American Keith Andes as an American ship's officer mixed up with fashion models and scoundrels like Michael Gough and Edwin Richfield. Entertaining if implausible. And when does the First Mate of a merchant ship (oil tanker?) leave the ship on arrival in port? Never in my experience, they have work to do.
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