Death in High Heels
{{Short description|1947 British short film by Lionel Tomlinson}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Death in High Heels
| image = Death_in_High_Heels_film_Opening_titles_(1947).jpg
| caption = Opening titles
| director = Lionel Tomlinson
| producer = Henry Halsted
| based_on = Death in High Heels by Christianna Brand
| writer =
| narrator =
| starring = Don Stannard
Elsa Tee
Veronica Rose
| music =
| cinematography = Stanley Clinton
| editing =
| studio = Marylebone-Hammer Productions
| distributor = Exclusive Films
| released = {{Film date|1947|07|18}}
| runtime = 48 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget =
| gross =
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2014}}
Death in High Heels is a 1947 British second feature ('B'){{Cite book |last=Chibnall |first=Steve |title=The British 'B' Film |last2=McFarlane |first2=Brian |publisher=BFI/Bloomsbury |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-8445-7319-6 |location=London |pages=73}} crime film directed by Lionel Tomlinson (credited as "Tommy Tomlinson") and starring Don Stannard, Elsa Tee and Veronica Rose.{{Cite web |title=Death in High Heels |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150004561 |access-date=23 September 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20090116084925/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/11568 BFI {{pipe}} Film & TV Database {{pipe}} DEATH IN HIGH HEELS (1947)] It was based on the 1941 novel of the same title by Christianna Brand. It was a very early Hammer Films (here Marylebone-Hammer) production and was released through Exclusive Films, Hammer's original incarnation. Its brief running time causes it to barely qualify as a feature in some reference books. It is today considered a lost film.Johnson, Tom (1996). Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography. North Carolina: McFarland. p. 25. ISBN 0-7864-0034-X.
Plot
Magda Doon, who works at a luxury Bond Street dress shop, is murdered. It turns out that the poison which killed her was in fact intended for her unpopular colleague Agnes Gregory. Detective Charlesworth investigates, finding that every member of the staff seems to have something to hide.
Cast
- Don Stannard as Detective Charlesworth
- Elsa Tee as Victoria David
- Veronica Rose as Agnes Gregory
- Denise Anthony as Aileen
- Patricia Laffan as Magda Doon
- Diana Wong as Miss Almond Blossom
- Nora Gordon as Miss Arris
- Bill Hodge as Mr Cecil
- Kenneth Warrington as Frank Bevan
- Leslie Spurling as Sergeant Bedd
Reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The acting of most of the cast is stilted and the only three who seem at all happy in their parts are Don Stannard as the handsome Charlesworth, Leslie Spurling as his assistant, and Bill Hodge as an effeminate dress designer. There is an overabundance of dialogue and, for a murder mystery the film lacks suspense."{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1947 |title=Death in High Heels |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305803876 |journal=The Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=14 |issue=157 |pages=77 |url-access=subscription |via=ProQuest}}
Kine Weekly wrote: "Its plot contains ingenuity and its de luxe dress shop atmosphere is not without glamour, and between the two it manages to triumph over a slightly amateurish script."{{Cite journal |date=5 June 1947 |title=Death in High Heels |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2826317333 |journal=Kine Weekly |volume=364 |issue=2092 |pages=26 |url-access=subscription |via=ProQuest}}
Picture Show wrote: "Artificial, unconvincing melodrama, heavily laden with dialogue."{{Cite journal |date=1 November 1947 |title=Death in High Heels |volume=52 |issue=1327 |pages=11 |id={{ProQuest|1879616089}} |magazine=Picture Show}}
In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "poor", calling it an "unconvincing thriller that hardly does justice to the author's original novel."{{Cite book |last=Quinlan |first=David |title=British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 |publisher=B.T. Batsford Ltd. |year=1984 |isbn=0-7134-1874-5 |location=London |pages=203}}
References
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