Man Accused (1959) User Reviews

Pleasant Surprise

[gerry1019 · 7/10 · 20 December 2007]

The Danziger Brothers were a much maligned production group making what used to be called Quota Quickies. Not all of their films were that bad and this is one of the better ones.

The movie opens with the engagement party of a rich,just coming of age, heiress to an engineer who is a bit of a stranger in town.Also attending the party is the old family lawyer who brings along a friend, an insurance investigator.

The insurance guy recognises the groom to be as a notorious jewel thief who operated in Latin America. And yes, the bride will be inheriting some fabulous jewels and the groom to be did indeed work in Latin America.

From then on the production is not particularly original but certainly entertaining enough to keep you occcupied for the hour or so the movie lasts.

Not bad except for one silly cliché near the end.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 1 April 2012]

A rich young lady is about to marry. However, at her engagement party, an insurance investigator announces that he recognizes the fiancé--he's a man who has likely killed two previous fiancées in order to steal their jewels!! She naturally doesn't believe the story but soon the evidence all seems to point to the boyfriend. And, eventually, the police end up arresting the guy for not just robbery but murder. Can there be more to the story than this?!

This is a very low budget British film--sort of like a British B-movie due to its production values and short running time (slightly less than an hour). However, unlike what you might expect from a B, it's a pretty good little mystery. In fact, I might have given it a score higher than 6 if the writing had been excellent throughout. However, there were two portions that were very rough. First, when the film began, there was too much exposition. They tried to tell the back story TOO FAST--and it sounded very unnatural. They should have just doled out this information slowly instead of the clumsy conversation at the start. Second, late in the film, a wrongly accused man is EASILY able to convince others to help him escape from jail--and it's remarkably easy. And, he wraps everything up perfectly!! This is so clichéd--and it wasn't necessary. They easily could have had the man in prison convince the authorities to investigate his theory of the real culprit--and arranged for a fake escape so they could monitor this final showdown. Or, they could have simply INVESTIGATED THE CASE and discovered the bad guy and not used these stupid clichés. It's sad, as they really had a dandy film here--but it just got a bit sloppy at times.

One cracking "B" film after another

[howardmorley · 7/10 · 12 June 2017]

My wife and I were entertaining my younger sister for lunch when there was a loud thud onto the downstairs carpet by the front door.It was the very memorable 1961 British "B" film DVD of "House of Mystery" (1961) starring Peter Dyneley which I had been expecting.After my sister had left and while my wife was teaching one of her pupils downstairs, I went upstairs and played the aforesaid DVD and when it was finished I turned on Youtube on my computer and saw "Man Accused" (1959) with Ronald Howard which turned out to be another cracking British cast "B" film from 1959.

How I love to see these old films, as for someone like me born in 1946, they remind me of my youth.For example how rewarding to see a vintage MG sport car again! OK they didn't have safety belts but had gull wing mudguards."Man Accused" was showing on YT for only 48 hours so I could not miss it.No I won't provide a spoiler in case another YT viewer wishes to see it.Other users have outlined the plot but it was gratifying to see actor Robert Dorning who often played a stooge to Tony Hancock in his half hour comedy shows on TV in the 1950s.And yes I too did wonder about "Ian Fleming" in the credits but another user above advises it was not the author of the James Bond franchise but another of the same name!Very watchable, I rated it 7/10 being about one hour+ in accordance with "B" move lengths in the 1950s.

It's not half bad, but only goes so far in both drama and filming

[secondtake · 17 July 2011]

Man Accused (1959)

A slight affair, well enough done to keep you going, but not so well written, and a bit of a contrived plot. But hey, it's less than an hour, and is as distracting and convincing as most good television (at the same length).

Is there anything remarkable here, any actors to appreciate, anyone behind the scenes? Not that I can find. Here in the US were are familiar (some of us) with the smaller studios like Republic and Monogram who were making B-movies, some of which are pretty interesting (and a bit different from the larger studio fare). "Man Accused" is a British small studio film, produced by the Danzigers, and it had the same role, aimed at both the second feature slot and at television. In fact, this is shot not in widescreen (which had become essentially standard by 1959) but in normal old 4:3 ratio, probably with t.v. in mind.

You might notice one actor is named Ian Fleming, and no, it's not the famous Fleming, Ian Fleming of James Bond fame, but an Aussie actor. That would have been fun. And the leading woman, who is a bit too cheerfully insistent throughout, is Carol Marsh, who played a wonderful Alice in the 1949 "Alice in Wonderland."

"would never trust a man who drinks or a woman"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 6/10 · 14 June 2017]

'Man Accused' was a low budget mystery story produced by the legendary Danziger brothers, Edward and Harry, and directed by Montgomery Tully concerning a woman who begins to have doubts about the probity of her fiancé when a jewel robbery and murder take place. Is he guilty or not? The film is mainly set in one house with a few location shots and comes in at just under an hour. Is it any good? Well, it is bearable.

As the two main leads Ronald Howard (as Bob Jenson) and Carol Marsh (as Kathy Riddle) are colourless but they are supported by good players like Ian Fleming, Robert Dorning and Stuart Saunders. Catherina Ferraz as the suspicious housekeeper is good value. Albert Elms was responsible apparently for some of the music.

As a time filler it could be worse.

you can make it through an hour

[blanche-2 · 5/10 · 28 April 2013]

"Man Accused" is a very short B movie from England starring Ronald Howard (Leslie's son) and Carol Marsh. Marsh plays a young woman about to marry Howard. She's warned by an insurance investigator that her fiancé has been engaged before, and the women are found dead from suicide and their jewels gone after he breaks up with them. Kathy (Marsh) refuses to believe any such thing, but when Bob (Howard) starts asking about her mother's jewels, she becomes nervous. The investigator agrees to stay the night near the safe - he is later found dead, the jewels gone, and Bob's alibi doesn't hold up.

Though boring, it's a passable film. Marsh isn't very good. Howard didn't seem to have much in the way of range. The movie is easy to figure out.

It's short and I'm kind of a sucker for these black and white English mysteries.

Awful

[richardchatten · 2/10 · 13 June 2017]

The Danziger Brothers had a dreadful reputation during the late fifties and early sixties, but this is the first of their quickies that I've seen that truly lives down to their ill repute. It's so stilted it resembles a parody, and nobody seems to have told director Montgomery Tully about the invention of the close up (it was probably shot so quickly he didn't have time for them); even the location sequences are uninteresting.

Poor Carol Marsh - so memorable in 'Brighton Rock' and 'Dracula' - is left to founder by her director, and this proved to be her last film. The most suspenseful aspect of the film is whether it's going to opt for the boring option of making handsome Ronald Howard innocent after all; if he'd turned out to be guilty it might have justified the film's existence, but even the title - 'Man Accused' rather than, say 'Man Suspected' - makes it rather obvious how things are going to turn out.

However I'll give it an extra star for the fact that it did deliver a few surprises towards the end; plus an observation worthy of a Harry Enfield spoof that the real jewel thief "would never trust a man who drinks or a woman. Too erratic."

Unremarkable thriller

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 1 April 2021]

Another cheapie or 'quota quickie' from Montgomery Tully. This one has a stock and slightly unsympathetic male lead as played by Ronald Howard, whose forthcoming wedding to a beautiful young woman is stymied when sinister events involving his past in South America are uncovered. Carol Marsh, of Hammer's DRACULA fame, is the female lead and much better than Howard; the best performer in the film to my mind. The rest plays out at speed and if unremarkable then at least it's never dull.

B movie good for an hour

[filmalamosa · 5/10 · 6 January 2013]

Girl's fiancé is set up as a jewel thief by the real thief. This is a very short very low budget silly little attempt at some mystery or film noir---it doesn't quite cut it.

It was a passable way to spend an hour if your time is short.

I agree with another reviewer they could have improved the story a lot. The prison escape was so silly, man it must be easy to dupe British police.

I thought the nanny did it---so the plot was somewhat successful in twisting things around.

Recommend if you only have an hour---I mean it is better than most of the garbage out there---still I have my standards... a 5 at best.

Nice Idea Rushed Through

[boblipton · 5/10 · 3 May 2020]

At the party celebrating Carol Marsh's engagement to Ronald Howard, an insurance investigator tells her that she's going to be marrying a Mexican jewel thief. Miss Marsh knew Howard had spent time in Latin America, but she thought he was an engineer. Nonetheless, she agrees to let the man guard the safe at night. In short order, he is murdered, the jewels go missing, only to turn up in Howard's car, and he's missing too.

This typically cheap Danziger Brothers production doesn't waste any time on frivolities like character exposition, and Miss Marsh's certainties switch from one extreme to the other depending on what the story needs to happen. Still, it's a pleasure to watch Howard perform. There's one scene in which he's draped over an armchair, in exactly the pose his father, Leslie Howard, used in PYGMALION.