Murder Will Out

BFI Most Wanted: the hunt for Britain's missing films

Directed by Roy William Neill, 1939

A jade collector and former doctor is accused of marrying for wealth by his wife's family. When he purchases a rare piece of jade from China, his friends and associates start disappearing.

Paul and Pamela Raymond (John Loder and Jane Baxter) make a shocking discovery.

Credits

Director Production Company Producer Executive Producer Screenplay Original Story Photography Studio	R. William Neill Warner Brothers First National Productions R. William Neill Sam Sax Austin Melford, Brock Williams, Derek Twist R. William Neill Basil Emmott Teddington Studios
Cast: John Loder (Dr Paul Raymond); Jane Baxter (Pamela Raymond); Jack Hawkins (Peter Stamp); Hartley Power (Campbell); Peter Croft (Nigel); Frederick Burtwell (Professor Morgan); William Hartnell (Dick); Ian MacLean (Inspector)
66 mins, 5,999 feet, sound, black & white.

Why are we so keen to find it?

A typical example of the escapist murder-mysteries made in the late 1930s, Murder Will Out was playing in cinemas when WWII broke out. It's the type of supporting feature that would become outdated as the film industry ground to a halt in late 1939, before reinventing itself as a major propaganda tool for the war effort.

The film assembles a cast performing roles that would be unrecognisable to audiences only a few years later. Jack Hawkins veered between principal roles and supporting character actor in this period. He appears here as a double-crossing thief, a contrast to his later star persona as an icon of British chivalry, although it hints at the twist on that persona in his 1960s films such as The League of Gentlemen (1960). William Hartnell has a supporting role as comic stooge - a far cry from the tortured souls and authoritarian figures he would make popular in the 1940s.

What's it about?

Taken from a review in Kine Weekly, 10 August 1939:

"Peter Stamp, an agent, purchases a piece of Chinese jade for Dr. Paul Raymond, a collector, and reports that attempts have been made to steal it, and on his own life. Mystery notes signed in Chinese and threatening death begin to arrive at the doctor's house. He and his wife, Pamela, have an engagement to go to the opera, and leave Stamp alone in the house. With a presentiment of disaster, they return early. They hear a shot and see Stamp's body lying on the pavement outside but it has disappeared before they have time to reach it.

Professor Morgan, a friend who has accompanied them from the opera, calls in a private detective, Campbell. Morgan apparently, too, is shot and mysteriously disappears, and Campbell suffers the same fate. Later Pamela receives a letter threatening that if she does not take £20,000 to a certain house her husband will be killed. She does so and the crooks, who turn out to be Stamp, Morgan and Campbell, make a getaway in a plane. As a result of a fight over the spoils, the machine crashes."

Last seen?

The London trade show played on 27 July 1939 and a nationwide release followed in mid-August. The Monthly Film Bulletin review appeared in the September 1939 issue, suggesting that the film's theatrical run coincided with the outbreak of war. The review references the film's "now not-so-novel black-out," a reminder of the uncertain era when it was shown.

What else do we know about it?

Sharing many of the creative team behind Teddington's comedy thrillers, Murder Will Out could be seen as the flipside to two other titles on the BFI's Most Wanted list, The Vulture and The Viper. But this is less a comedy-thriller, more a thriller with some comedy scenes.

The screenplay team included Derek Twist, an all-rounder who cut The 39 Steps (1935) for Hitchcock and The Edge of the World (1937) for Michael Powell, going on to produce and write the terrific Angels One Five in 1952. Co-writer Brock Williams, who was part of the team on The Vulture, was a scriptwriting stalwart for over 30 years. And Austin Melford had his hand in huge hits from the era, including George Formby's Let George Do It! in 1940.

The direction and story for Murder Will Out was by Roy William Neill, who also directed The Viper. A Hollywood director in the silent era, he returned there following the outbreak of war and became director and producer on many of Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes films in the early- to mid-1940s.

Does anything survive?

Only a selection of production stills survive. Interestingly, some of the action stills seem to contradict what we know about the film from the synopsis. Jack Hawkins, for example, seems to be at the gunpoint of one of his accomplices - is there no honour among these thieves?

Reviews

Today's Cinema has the most extensive review and seems to cover most bases in a fair if not wholly celebratory write-up:

"In the early stages, the story of this Teddington production appears to have the quality of being quite ingenious, but we must admit that after a careful building up of an atmosphere of mystery, with an acceptable element of suspense leavened by a popular brand of Cockney humour, the denoument seems rather facile and the climax, whilst spectacular, a little too urgent in disposing of the criminals without any apparent realisation of the whole truth being brought to the hero and heroine."

The frustration with the swift ending - the criminals perishing in an air crash - was shared by other areas of the press. The Monthly Film Bulletin complained that "the climax is abrupt and unimpressive," despite "the atmosphere of mystery [being] well built up in the opening sequences, which are distinctly intriguing." Kinematograph Weekly agreed that the "picture tends to lose its grip towards the end, and the ending itself is too palpably contrived and remote from the rest of story and characters," adding a final dig: "One begins, too, to suspect the real solution too early."

But all celebrated the dramatic opening sequence, with Jack Hawkins' Peter Stamp acquiring jade in a Chinese city under Japanese fire. For Today's Cinema, "This Oriental flavour, incidentally, is one of the most successful angles in building up the atmosphere of mystery with an important and effectively portrayed Chinese characterisation that unfortunately gets no mention on the cast list." The rest of the cast get some praise, although John Loder and Jane Baxter were evidently underused. The MFB regrets that the script left them "little scope for acting", while Today's Cinema echoed that they were given "little opportunity to display dramatic ability."

The Kinematograph Weekly earns the final word for its perceptive assessment of the film's position: "smoothly narrated and packs sufficient gripping action to hold up the second feature end of the bill in popular halls and industrial areas."

Dylan Cave, Curator (Fiction), BFI National Archive

You can find more about British films of the late 1930s, including entries on surviving films and video clips for users in UK schools, colleges, universities and public libraries, at BFI Screenonline. You can also view similar titles at the BFI Mediatheques.