''The Strange Affair'' is a 1968 British

crime drama 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 ...

film directed by David Greene and starring

Michael York Michael York OBE (born Michael Hugh Johnson; 27 March 1942) is an English film, television and stage actor. After performing on-stage with the Royal National Theatre, he had a breakthrough in films by playing Tybalt in Franco Zeffirelli's ''Ro ...

Jeremy Kemp Edmund Jeremy James Walker (3 February 1935 – 19 July 2019), known professionally as Jeremy Kemp, was an English actor. He was known for his significant roles in the miniseries ''The Winds of War'' and ''War and Remembrance'', the film ''The ...

and Susan George.

Plot

Peter Strange (

) is an idealistic young police recruit who gets mixed up with the machinations of the tough and jaded Scotland Yard Detective Sergeant Pierce (

). Pierce is trying to arrest a gang for drug smuggling and later murder, but is thwarted respectively by a corrupt colleague and an unconvincing witness. Strange is shocked by finding the dead body of a murdered informant he knew and is himself brutally assaulted. Meanwhile, Strange is having an affair with Frederika ( Susan George), a minor who he does not know is part of a

pornography Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

ring; her supposed aunt and uncle film and photograph her sexual encounters from behind a one-way mirror. (Susan George was 17 at the time the film was shot.) Pierce obtains copies of photographs of Strange's sexual encounter with Frederika and threatens to expose him to his superiors, ending his career, unless Strange plants some heroin on one of the gang. Strange reluctantly agrees, despite planning to leave the force anyway, as he is disillusioned by the failure to catch and convict the drugs gang. Pierce's planting of evidence is revealed and he is convicted of perverting the course of justice and jailed.

Cast

as Peter Strange *

as Pierce * Susan George as Frederika 'Fred' March * Jack Watson as Quince *

George A. Cooper George Alphonsus Cooper (7 March 1925 – 16 November 2018) was an English actor and voice artist. He died in November 2018 at the age of 93. Early life Cooper was born in Leeds, the son of William and Eleanor (née Dobson) Cooper. His father ...

as Kingsley *

Barry Fantoni Barry Ernest Fantoni (born 28 February 1940) is a British author, cartoonist and jazz musician of Italian and Jewish descent, most famous for his work with the magazine ''Private Eye'', for whom he also created Neasden F.C. He has also published ...

as Charley Small *

Jeremy Wilkin David Jeremy Wilkin (6 June 1930 – 19 December 2017) was an English actor, best known for his contributions to the television productions of Gerry Anderson. Born in Byfleet, Surrey, Wilkin emigrated to Toronto, Ontario, Canada after completi ...

as PC Wills *

Rita Webb Olive Rita Webb (25 February 1904 – 30 August 1981), later known as Olive Rita Thompson, was an English character actress, mainly in comedy roles. She was the eldest child of Henry Augustus Webb (1880–1926) and Rose Jeannette Keysor. She had ...

as Charley's Mum *

Madge Ryan :''She is sometimes confused with American actress Fran Ryan.'' Madge Winifred Ryan (8 January 1919 – 9 January 1994) was an Australian actress, known for her stage and film roles in the United Kingdom, including London stage productions of ' ...

as Aunt Mary *

Nigel Davenport Arthur Nigel Davenport (23 May 1928 – 25 October 2013) was an English stage, television and film actor, best known as the Duke of Norfolk and Lord Birkenhead in the Academy Award-winning films '' A Man for All Seasons'' and '' Chariots of F ...

as Defence Attorney * Artro Morris as Inspector Evans * Patrick Connor as Sergeant Mac

Production

Filming

It was shot at

Twickenham Studios Twickenham Studios (formerly known as Twickenham Film Studios) is a film studio in St Margarets, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, that is used by various motion picture and television companies. It was established in 1913 by Ralph ...

and on location around

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Brian Eatwell Brian Eatwell (1 June 1939 – 20 January 2007) was a British art director.Stephens p.99 He designed the sets for a number of British and American films and television programmes. Selected filmography * ''The Shuttered Room'' (1967) * ''Just Li ...

Critical reception

Allmovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...

wrote: "a fragmentary "'60s" interpretation of a straightforward Bernard Toms novel...Like many British films of its period, it seems more concerned with inducing pop-art headaches than simply telling its story. * '' Time Out'' wrote: "a well-written anecdote about police manners and methods, straight out of some TV cop series, but as viewed by Greene's wilfully wayward camera, it becomes a bizarre, quirkishly funny thriller which laces its documentary surface with a fine grain of fantasy. Much of Greene's later work disappointed, but here he displays a visual flair (gang violence in an echoing warehouse, murder among the wrecked cars in a scrapheap, seduction in a fantastically opulent boudoir) that would not entirely have shamed Welles in his Lady from Shanghai mood. * ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote: "If the muscular and sexy goings-on are excessive and irrational on occasion, some of the principals lend credible, physical support to their characterizations. Michael York...is properly personable and confused as the harried Strange. Susan George, a comparative newcomer who is pert, snub-nosed and pretty, makes eroticism a pleasure, even if her sudden switch from promiscuity to Strange's everloving girl, remains a mystery. Jeremy Kemp is convincingly neurotic as the indomitable sergeant...They all prove that "The Strange Affair" is where the sensational action is, even if it is entirely strange and unbelievable.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Strange Affair, The 1968 films 1968 crime films British crime films 1960s English-language films Films directed by David Greene Films scored by Basil Kirchin Films based on British novels Police detective films Paramount Pictures films Films set in London Films shot in London Films shot at Twickenham Film Studios Films with screenplays by Stanley Mann Films produced by Stanley Mann 1960s British films