The Woman in Question (1952)

Strong and Moving!

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Despite a tendency to be overshadowed by the likes of Carol Reed, David Lean, etc, Puffin Asquith was arguably the finest all-round Director to emerge from England turning out consistent high quality product unlike Reed, for example, whose early work was risible. By the mid forties Asquith was on a roll and between 1945 and 1952 he turned out six exceptional movies, The Way To The Stars, While The Sun Shines, The Winslow Boy, The Woman In Question, The Browning Version and The Importance Of Being Earnest. The first was an Original Screenplay by Terence Rattigan, the next two were adaptations of plays by Rattigan, the fourth was an Original by John Cresswell, the fifth was another adaptation of a Rattigan play and the sixth was by Oscar Wilde. Jean Kent featured prominently in two of the six, this one, and its successor, The Browning Version, a masterpiece and one of the finest films ever produced in England. Beside Rattigan and Wilde the name John Cresswell gets lost in the shuffle and perhaps rightly so; this was his first screen credit and though he achieved a dozen or so more this was arguably his finest hour and even that was a rip-off of Rashomon. It was arguably Jean Kent's finest performance and she revelled in the chance to play Astra the Gypsy Fortune Teller who failed to foresee her own demise and who was five women in one, depending on whether it's Hermione Dabbely, Dirk Bogarde, Susan Shaw, Charles Victor or John McCallum who's describing her. Baddely and Victor provide strongest support with Bogarde so inept that one wonders how he was able to sustain a career - his American accent is so ludicrous that eventually (presumably as a bow to his limitations) he is forced to admit that he hails from Liverpool which is even more ludicrous as he sound pure Home Counties. McCallum and Shaw appear to have struck a private wager on who can deliver the hammiest performance and honours are about even. Despite all this it remains a highly watchable effort.

This film is a slightly below average detective movie which passes the time if you've nothing else to do. As with many similar black and white films of the era "The Woman in Question" offers an insight into post-war Britain, but it doesn't hold a candle to "Brighton Rock" which, like this film, also has a seaside setting.The story takes a while to get started, but Jean Kent is excellent as the murder victim as described to the police by different witnesses. Hermione Baddeley also does well in a dull and overlong role as neighbour Mrs Finch, whose son discovers the murder. There is a small twist right near the end, but it is hardly much of a surprise and the film ending is abrupt and disappointing. 5/10

For the first twenty minutes or so, the film feels like a run-of-the-mill investigation film noir, but then it takes a unique spin, providing five different accounts of the events. It is quite interesting to watch from there on in, even though the male characters are rather thin and flat - the investigators in particular. The conclusion is also a bit disappointing and it is all a bit overly melodramatic at times, but the core of the picture - its middle section - is really quite strong, and that is what causes this film to be much better than the average piece of crime investigation film noir out there.

At first sight,"woman in question" seems to be a whodunit with a Georges Simenon flavor thrown in.The form seems intriguing,presenting twice some scenes,first from the witnesses' point of view,then from the main characters ' themselves.That's why we have five different portraits of the same woman.She 's so many women that we do not know if she is for example the nice little pet lover who falls for the birdman or the slut whom her sister depicts.Actually the trick is not new at all:see "citizen kane" ,which remains unsurpassed for that matter.And I could mention at least a dozen of movies which follows the same pattern.The crime and the flashbacks recall Marcel Carné's "le jour se lève" (1939).The plot is never really exciting and the final revelation downright disappointing,even if there's a good twist:the scene begins with one of the suspects the culprit and ends up with another one.Although at the top of the credits,Dirk Bogarde is only a supporting actor here.Another disappointment.