''Behind the Headlines'' is a 1956

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by Charles Saunders and starring Paul Carpenter,

Adrienne Corri Adrienne Corri (born Adrienne Riccoboni; 13 November 1931 – 13 March 2016) was a Scottish actress. Early life She was born Adrienne Riccoboni in Glasgow in November 1931, the daughter of an English mother (Olive Smethurst) and an Italian f ...

Hazel Court Hazel Court (10 February 1926 – 15 April 2008) was an English actress. She is known for her roles in British and American horror films during the 1950s and early 1960s, including Terence Fisher's ''The Curse of Frankenstein'' (1957) and ...

and

Alfie Bass Alfie Bass (born Abraham Basalinsky, 10 April 1916 – 16 July 1987) was an English actor. He was born in Bethnal Green, London, the youngest in a Jewish family with ten children; his parents had left Russia many years before he was born. He a ...

. The plot revolves around a male and female journalist joining forces to hunt down a murderer. It was made at Southall Studios. The film was based on the novel ''Behind the Headlines'' by Robert Chapman.

Plot

American Paul Banner used to be a reporter working in London. Recently leaving his paper, he has gone freelance, so that he can focus more on chasing down facts and selling his stories once he gets them. He has no regrets in leaving his job as there will be no more deadlines or misguided editors to divert his attention. He starts up a news service, Banners News Agency, whose motto is "ferret out the facts and sell them to the highest bidder." When showgirl Nina Duke is murdered, the press are all harrying the police for statements and facts but Banner hangs back and does a little work of his own to uncover the story. Nina, it transpires, was previously in jail for blackmail, so it is possible that this was why she was killed. Banner initially falls for the affections of rival reporter Pam Barnes, but his true affections lie with his secretary, Maxine. A race to find the killer has Banner trying to get the story that the police cannot.

Cast

* Paul Carpenter as Paul Banner *

as Pam Barnes *

as Maxine *

as Sammy *

Ewen Solon Peter Ewen Solon (7 September 1917 – 7 July 1985) was a New Zealand-born actor, who worked extensively in both the United Kingdom and Australia. At the outbreak of World War II, Solon became a member of the First Echelon, 2nd NZEF that sa ...

as Superintendent Faro *

Trevor Reid Trevor Reid (25 January 190816 April 1965) was an English actor. Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, UK. He acted in 47 films from 1938 to 1965. He died at age 57 in London. Selected filmography * ''Dangerous Cargo'' (1954) - Watson * ''M ...

as Bunting *

Melissa Stribling Melissa Stribling (7 November 1926 – 22 March 1992) was a Scottish film and television actress, who began her acting career as part of a professional group who presented a different stage play each week at the Croydon 'Grand' theatre. She is ...

as Mary Carrick * Olive Gregg as Mrs. Bunting *

Harry Fowler Henry James Fowler, MBE (10 December 1926 – 4 January 2012) was an English character actor in film and television. Over a career lasting more than six decades, he made nearly 200 appearances on screen. Personal life Fowler was born in Lamb ...

as Alfie *

Magda Miller Magda Miller (born Magdalena Ekaterina Antonina Vishinski Klastaites, in 1934) is a Scottish actress. Born in Strathblane, Stirlingshire, she is of Scottish, Russian and Lithuanian descent. She appeared in a number of films in the 1950s, notably ...

as Nina Duke * Arthur Rigby as Hollings * Leonard Williams as Jock Macrae * Gaylord Cavallaro as Jeff Holly * Tom Gill as Creloch * Colin Rix as Bernard * Anita Wuest as Model * Sandra Colville as Waitress * Marian Collins as Nurse * Constance Wake as Receptionist

Production

Director Charles Saunders made '' One Jump Ahead'' (1955), which had many similarities to ''Behind the Headlines''. The story of a news reporter investigating a murder, was again played by Paul Carpenter from a story by Robert Chapman. Saunders specialised in the

B movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

at the Kenilworth Films Production house which turned out 11 mainly crime thrillers between 1948 and 1956.

Critical reception

In its review of ''Behind the Headlines'', ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' concluded, "Weak script and stiff direction offer little suspense in this routine yarn"; whereas the ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' wrote, "... this is elevated above the morass of British crime

B-movies A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...

by a sure sense of newsroom atmosphere that owes more to Hollywood than Pinewood... there's a convincing seediness about the backstage milieu thanks to Geoffrey Faithfull's unfussy photography. It may lack suspense and newsman Paul Carpenter is short on charisma, but there's admirable support from the likes of Adrienne Corri, Hazel Court and Alfie Bass.""Behind the Headlines.'
''RadioTimes''. Retrieved: @4 August 2016.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Chibnall, Steve and Brian McFarlane. ''The British 'B' Film''. London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2009. . * Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. London: Walter de Gruyter, 1999. .

External links

* {{Portalbar, 1950s, Film, London 1956 films 1956 crime films British crime films Films directed by Charles Saunders Films based on British novels Films set in London Films about journalists Films shot at Southall Studios Films about murder 1950s English-language films 1950s British films British black-and-white films English-language crime films