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The Price of a Song
Film Pictorial: October 5th 1935


The Price of a Song (1935)
Campbell Gullan Arnold Grierson
Marjorie Corbett Margaret Nevern
Eric Maturin Nevern
Gerald Fielding Michael Hardwick
Dora Barton Letty Grierson
Charles Mortimer Oliver Bloom
Oriel Ross Elsie
Henry Caine Stringer
Sybil Grove Mrs. Bancroft
Felix Aylmer Graham
Cynthia Stock Miss Brush
Mavis Clair Maudie Bancroft
Fox British        Director: Michael Powell,        "A."
Running time: 67 minutes


Plot of this film has probably been inspired by the success of Ten Minute Alibi *, because as a basis there is a very similar idea. So far as the story is concerned, it has been very ingeniously worked out; but its minor details spoil what might have been a very creditable film.

Arnold Grierson, an impoverished clerk, kills his daughter's husband, hoping to re-establish his fortunes with the money which will come to her. He works out an elaborate scheme for a complete alibi and then is given away by the casual whistling of a song which only the murderer could have known. Unforunately, the author has fallen down in his inginuity because he has neglected to provide an alibi which was absolutely water-tight. Notwithstanding this, the film is gripping and the main characters extremely well-cast. Campbell Gullan in particular is excellent.

* This could be a reference to the film of that name also released in 1935 or the play that that film was based on.


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