Morning Call (film)
| Morning Call | |
|---|---|
 U.S. theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Arthur Crabtree |
| Written by | Bill Luckwell Paul Tabori |
| Produced by | John Bash |
| Starring | Greta Gynt Ron Randell |
| Cinematography | Walter J. Harvey |
| Music by | John Bath |
Release date | 1957 |
Running time | 75 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Morning Call (U.S. title: The Strange Case of Dr. Manning) is a 1957 British thriller film, directed by Arthur Crabtree and starring Greta Gynt and Ron Randell.
Plot
The rich and successful Dr. Manning is called out in the middle of the night to visit a private patient. He never returns and the next morning his wife Annette (Gynt) finds him missing. Soon after, she receives a ransom note demanding £5,000 for his release. The police are alerted and soon Annette is trying to deliver the money to various drop-off points specified by the kidnapper in telephone calls to her. The police keep watch, hoping to catch the kidnapper in the act of retrieving the money, but every attempts ends in failure as he fails to show up, realising the locations are being watched. Annette hires a private detective Nick Logan (Randell) to make his own investigations.
Manning is found dead, and the police decide to use Annette as bait to catch his killer. They publicise that she has heard his voice in the phone calls and will be able to identify it if she hears it again, hoping that the threat will flush him out in order to try to get her out of the way. Logan now begins to work together with the police, and they finally succeed in cornering the killer, who reveals a surprising motive for his actions.
Cast
- Greta Gynt as Annette Manning
- Ron Randell as Nick Logan
- Garard Green as Gil Stevens
- Bruce Seton as Inspector Brown
- Peter Fontaine as Fred Barnes
- Virginia Keiley as Vera Clark
- Robert Raglan as Plainclothesman
- John Watson as Plainclothesman
- Brian Sunners as Freddie
- Wally Patch as Wally
- David Lander as Dr. George Manning
- Charles Farrell as John Karver
Production
The film was originally cast with George Raft and Bella Darvi as the leads, but Raft reportedly pulled out, citing dissatisfaction with the script. The producers claimed that Raft was insistent on his character having a romantic involvement with the leading lady, which they could not accept as they felt it would unbalance the plot and be seen as incongruous by audiences. For undisclosed reasons, they also decided to let Darvi go.[1]
References
- ^ "Raft dislikes script, leaves British film" Spokane Daily Chronicle, 20-02-1957. Retrieved 14-10-2010
External links
- Morning Call at IMDb
- Morning Call at BFI Film & TV Database
