Suspect (1961 film)

Suspect is a 1961 Australian television play. It was originally made for HSV-7 then presented as part of the General Motors Hour It was produced by Peter Cotes, who had made Long Distance. [3]

"Suspect"
The General Motors Hour episode
Episode no.Season 3
Episode 1
Directed byIan Jones
Teleplay byPeter Cotes
Based onplay by Edward Percy and Reginald Denham
Produced byPeter Cotes
Original air date3 June 1962 (Sydney, Melbourne)[1]
7 October 1962 (Brisbane, Adelaide)[2]
Running time90 mins
Guest appearance(s)

Joan Miller

Cotes adapted the play Suspect by Edward Percy and Reginald Denham which was based on the Sandyford murder case.[4][5]

Plot

The son of Mrs Smith (née Maggie Wishart) is about to marry a doctor's daughter. A press baron, Sir Hugo, arrives who thirty years ago covered a trial where Maggie cut up her mother and father with an axe. Maggie claims she's innocent... but is she telling the truth?

Cast
  • Joan Miller as Mrs Smith
  • Kenneth Burgess as Rev. Alfred Combermere
  • Moira Carleton as Goodie McIntire
  • Michael Duffield as Dr. Rendle
  • Patsy King as Janet
  • Clement McCallin as Sir Hugo
  • Frederick Parslow as Robert
  • Bettina Welch as Lady Const

Production

The play had been adapted for US TV in 1948[6] and 1952[7] and for British TV in 1939,[8] 1946[9] and 1958.

The show starred Cotes' wife, Joan Miller, who had performed in the play on British TV for the BBC in 1958.[10]

It was one of four productions Cotes made in Australia, the others being Long Distance, Candida, and Shadow of the Vine. He said he would have made more but for the credit freeze, which was blamed for a failure to find sponsors.[11] While Long Distance was shown while Cotes was in Australia, they other three were not broadcast until months later.[12]

Reception

The Bulletin called it "lunacy... most of the cast borrowed their dramatics from a time when over acting for the silents set the universal style... a fusty, trivial play. Condemnation must extend to those who accepted it as suitable for television, billed it as a thriller, designed a set that dominated most of the action, and made this worse by camera work that frequently gave the setting nine-tenths of the picture.".[13]

The Age said it "commanded attention."[14]

References
  1. Marshall, Valda (3 June 1962). "TV Merry Go Round". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 58.
  2. "Television for 1962" (PDF). GMH People. May 1962. p. 7.
  3. "Peter Cotes Drama Out of Storage". The Age. 31 May 1962. p. 8.
  4. "Fear". The Age. 31 May 1961. p. 7.
  5. Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  6. 1948 US TV Version at IMDb
  7. 1952 US TV Version at IMDb
  8. 1939 British TV version at IMDb
  9. 1946 British TV version at IMDb
  10. 1958 British TV version at IMDb
  11. "Credit Squeeze Hits Plans for Drama". The Age. 20 July 1961. p. 11.
  12. "Peter Cotes Drama Out of Storage". The Age. 31 May 1962. p. 8.
  13. Roberts, Frank (16 June 1962). "LOOK HOMEWARD PIGEON". The Bulletin. p. 56.
  14. "Joan Miller Outstanding". The Age. 7 June 1962. p. 13.


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