Dead Man's Evidence (1962) User Reviews

Slightly plodding but enlivened by a good ending

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 17 September 2016]

The best thing about this low rent spy film from cheapie director Francis Searle is that it was filmed on location in Ireland, so we get to see some nice rural locations around Dublin instead of the usual studio-bound settings. Conrad Phillips is the erstwhile hero, a spy who is sent to discover the identity of a fellow agent discovered washed up on the beach in Dublin. He soon uncovers a hotbed of intrigue and must piece together the puzzle in order to finish his mission.

DEAD MAN'S EVIDENCE is very much an average film for the genre, hampered by the cheapness of the budget and a slightly plodding feel to the story. Phillips isn't the most exciting of leading men, although he does have one of the loveliest actresses accompanying him: Jane Griffiths, whose early death at the age of 45 remains one of cinema's forgotten minor tragedies. She's fantastic here, really sparkling in her vibrant part. The one place that DEAD MAN'S EVIDENCE is excels is at the ending, which contains a massive twist I didn't see coming, and is very novel for this genre of film-making.

Unexciting Bottom Of The Bill Thriller

[malcolmgsw · 4/10 · 26 July 2010]

Conrad Phillips plays an investigator who is sent to Ireland to investigate the death of a colleague who is found dead on a beach in Ireland.Most of the film takes place in Ireland so that allows for all the usual stock Irish characters.The main mystery at first seems to be centered around the fact that although the dead man is pictured wearing a ring on his finger it is not on his body in the morgue.also it transpires that his body could not have been washed ashore at the place it was due to the tides.Conrad starts acting in a rather peculiar manner which tells us that he is not really what he seems.In the end it turns out that in fact he is a counter agent.Quite frankly by the end you are unlikely to care as this becomes a rather dull second feature with few saving graces.

Mediocre

[boblipton · 5/10 · 27 November 2019]

Secret Agent Conrad Phillips is sent to track down turncoat Ryck Rydon, who's rumored to be in Ireland. When he arrives, there's a corpse on the beach, believed to be Rydon, but he's not sure. While he flirts/interrogates Jane Griffiths, a couple of newshound try to find out the story for their paper.

It's a rather dull spy drama from director Francis Searle, although it does include some nice location shooting by Ken Hodges and a nice twist ending. Everyone seems adequate to the rather boringly written roles, and Phillips is overwrought in this pre-Bond world of spy craft without gadgets. As far too often seems the case in 1960s British dramas, the score by Ken Thorne tries to drum up a sense of excitement that the on-screen action rarely justifies.

Dull, but nice scenery and music

[lucyrf · 2/10 · 8 November 2020]

Mainly filmed on location in Ireland, where one car a day passes the pub, if you're lucky.

Baxter is sent by his bosses to investigate a dead frogman washed up on the beach. It was found by a young girl, Miss Howard (what was she doing there?), and a reporter and photographer just happened to be on the spot. There's a mysterious beardie in a bungalow who's employing the (female) photographer as a fellow spy. Is the dead man a double agent last seen in Berlin? Baxter and Miss Howard stay in the same rather staid hotel in the nearest town as they wait for the inquest. The reporter and photographer hang around, ostensibly on the scent of a story.

1963 wasn't a great year for fashion, and all the women wear frumpy styles, big coats and awful hairdos. Staff at the hotel and airport have very English accents. The only "Oirish" is attempted by a barmaid and the mortuary attendant. Everybody smokes all the time, and drinks all day. Miss Howard becomes a bit giggly after her tenth gin and bitter lemon.

The sound was so bad that I turned on the subtitles. Miss Howard in particular EMphasized one word in every sentence but died away for the rest. The subtitler gave up on an Irish barman in a lonely pub where the last showdown takes place. We shall never know what he was saying. However, we are helpfully told when the soundtrack becomes sinister, menacing or resolutive.

Overall, it is like a substandard Francis Durbridge enacted by the Charles Vance players (the worst amateur troupe I have ever witnessed). The music is the best thing about this dreary movie - with a few genuinely lovely Irish folk tunes at the beginning.

Tiresome British b-pic spy yarn with a good twist ending but, by the time it comes, one is so bored to care.

[jamesraeburn2003 · 1/10 · 30 December 2015]

British intelligence agent, David Baxter (Conrad Philips), is sent to the Irish Republic to investigate the death of a double agent - found washed ashore on the coast - who was suspected of selling information to the Russians. But is the dead man really who British intelligence think it is?

Tiresome British espionage drama from quota-quickie veteran director Francis Searle who made scores of indifferent b-pic thrillers throughout the fifties and sixties. It seems a lot longer than its running time - its brief moment of excitement coming at the end where the identity of the double agent is whom you'll least expect it to be but, by then, you'll be so bored that you won't care or - very likely - you'll have fallen asleep. There is virtually no action, no suspense and in the main its all chat and its a great pity because the Irish setting is quite well conveyed thanks to the lighting of Ken Hodges who gives the film a lot more production value than it deserves.

Dull, pedestrian and forgettable 60's spy yarn

[geoffm60295 · 4/10 · 31 October 2021]

Conrad Philips plays the secret agent trying to uncover the reason for the murder of a British spy who's been washed up on a beach near Dublin. Phillips is an uninspiring lead, and like the rest of the cast simply goes through the motions without expending too much energy. The film is far too heavily laden with tedious and polite dialogue, accompanied by a prodigious amount of smoking and drinking in hotels and bars. The lack of action and a convincing dramatic narrative means the film wanders aimlessly from scene to scene with one dimensional characters, who seem to drift in and out without rhyme or reason. The only compensations are the picturesque views of the beaches and the coastal surroundings. This is strictly a low grade 'B' film and a time filler before the main feature.

Flaccid, Garrulous 'B' Movie

[richardchatten · 1/10 · 24 October 2019]

I saw this movie on TV when I was 12 and remembered only the beginning and the end, without even realising that they belonged to the same film! Which tells you all you need to know about the uninvolving hour of talk that separates the two.

The makers apparently went to the expense of location filming in Ireland, but you wouldn't know it, since most of the 'action' comprises the usual uninvolving 'B' movie exchanges in hotel rooms and foyers; with the notable exception of an atmospheric night scene in a mortuary.

As usual the women are the most memorable feature, Veronica Hurst as a girl reporter and the late Jane Griffiths in what appears to be a very bad wig as the lady who found the body in the opening sequence but despite what we are told doesn't seem particularly fazed by it. And I would have liked to have seen more of publican Maureen Halligan, who unfortunately only has the one scene.

One to miss!

[JohnHowardReid · 3/10 · 28 September 2013]

This British quota quickie "B" movie seems to run four hours, instead of sixty-five minutes. It's all talk, talk, talk and no action. Despite location filming, production values are minimal. The story is so irretrievably juvenile that even on its own half-baked level, it comes across as stupid and illogical. The two girls – Jane Griffiths and Veronica Hurst – are reasonably talented and well worth watching, but with the exception of Bruce Seton, the other actors and the direction by Francis Searle match the screenplay – fifth rate at best! Incidentally. this was not Bruce Seton's last film, as is stated elsewhere in IMDb. That last film was actually Doctor Syn, Alias the Scarecrow (1963).

An interesting, relistic spy movie

[prelibation · 9/10 · 7 January 2023]

The complain I hear most about old movies is the "slow pace" . The audience was conditions over the last decades to faster and faster action, cuts lasting a fraction of a second, jumps from scene to scene that can make one nauseous. But nothing like this happens in real life and a more pedestrian pace is not only more realistic, but much more rewarding.

So if we ignore the "slow pace" we have here a good solid story slowly reaching its solution. And really everything is going in favour of the movie: good acting, good photography, authentic locations. And like any movie from some 60 years ago, it is an interesting document, a time capsule with the real objects (not fake props), the real customs and details. We usually do not see this in the anachronistic period movies made decades later.

From the very first image of the classic British binoculars, the WW2 Bar & Stroud Cf41, to the scenes of the Dublin airport with the Vickers Viscount airplanes - it is all as authentic as it can be for the early 1960s.

Dead Man Uninspiring

[daoldiges · 5/10 · 23 March 2023]

Dean Man's Evidence brings with it a fairly broad cast of performers that have the misfortune of having to work with a rather bland and uninspiring script.

The film's location takes place in Ireland and the cinematography does offer the viewer some beautiful vistas that are quite lovely. Even with a weak script the two male leads are unable to elevate the action as they both turn in rather tepid performances. In addition to the beautiful scenery this film does also include some unique locations as well. However, there is far too little in the way of suspense on display in Dead Man's Evidence that would suggest this as a must see.

"Bodies don't interest Paul, only the story behind them"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 5/10 · 24 October 2022]

A dead frogman is found on a beach in Ireland. A British agent is sent to investigate. Most of the movie is talky but the plot is interesting enough to hold one's attention and the surprising ending is quite plausible. Our main lead is played by Conrad Phillips and he is a little leaden but fortunately we have Jane Griffiths, Veronica Hurst and Maureen Halligan on the distaff side to liven up the proceedings. Bruce Seton is also solid as usual but unfortunately only had one scene. The best part is the location shooting in beautiful Ireland by lighting cameraman Ken Hodges, Otherwise there are bland interiors on studio sets. It was a bearable film but could have done with more excitement.

The mystery of the dead unidentifiable frogman who wasn't just washed up

[clanciai · 8/10 · 21 February 2023]

This is a peculiar thriller which will lead you the wrong way all along. A dead man is washed ashore on the coast of Ireland, and Conrad Phillips is sent over to establish if it is the spy long since believed dead who now really is dead or not. The corpse is too unidentifiable for anyone to be able to identify, but for the case of a ring found on his hand which then is missing. The girl who found the body denies having seen any ring, but then she is upset by finding it has been stolen from her. All these winding threads leading away from the mystery - we actually never learn who the dead man was - serve only to mystify and mislead the audience from any possibility to get on the right track, and Conrad Phillips is most misled of all. There is a conclusion which will take everyone by surprise including Conrad Phillips.

Good B movie fare

[dk_bell · 8/10 · 8 August 2023]

This is an always interesting spy yarn of sorts where a search for a traitor takes on various twists and turns.

Its set in Ireland where a dead body attracts various folks to find out who is "no more".

The acting is fine and Jane Griffiths gets to wear a rather lovely dress in the last third which brightens things up a lot.

There are a few surprises along the way and a neat ending that i have one complaint about - it doesn't really understand the geography of Ireland. As i think the tale starts near Dublin but doesn't end there.

Definitely worth an hour or so of your time if old B movies are your thing.