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Re: Indicator

Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2018 11:57 am
by mistakaninja
Costa wrote:Anyone know from which film is this clue for next batch?

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swo17 wrote:I assume that film's title is a reference to like a nightclub or something in an old noir but I'm not finding anything on that front.
mistakaninja wrote:The mob place in the '54 Dragnet film was called The Hot Spot, but that was colour too. I Wake Up Screaming was originally called Hot Spot, but it was a reference to the electric chair rather than anything specific in the picture.

Guessing this turned out to be Town on Trial. The synopsis on TCM reads,
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"Following a lead from a matchbook found in Molly's rooms, Halloran stakes out a local roadhouse..."
Haven't seen the picture, but that seems to fit.

Re: 50 Town on Trial

Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2021 9:53 am
by Dr Amicus
Crikey, this is a bare thread!

I watched this last night and was rather pleasantly surprised. It's a really solid 1950's thriller which uses the generic conventions to reveal the contradictions and hidden secrets behind the facade of respectable middle class Englishness in the course of a murder investigation. John Mills is great as the detective, tougher and more cynical than might normally be expected from him, and Charles Coburn is the standout amongst the various suspects as the local doctor (with secrets - like everyone else). You can see echoes from the less salubrious end of B thrillers - as well as elements associated with later work such as Psycho, gialli and even Broadchurch. Oh, and John Guillermin's direction keeps things stylish and fast paced (the opening shot is fantastic) - you can see why he successfully made a move to much bigger films later in his career.

I haven't dipped into the extras yet, but they look promising and I'll update when I do.

Re: 50 Town on Trial

Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2021 11:31 am
by MichaelB
It's so bare that it doesn't even include disc specs!

So here you go:

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TOWN ON TRIAL
(John Guillermin, 1957)
Release date: 19 March 2018
Limited Edition Blu-ray (World Blu-ray premiere)


Investigating the murder of a young woman in a small English town, a brusque Superintendent (John Mills – Hobson's Choice, Ice Cold in Alex, Young Winston) discovers that virtually everybody he encounters has something to hide. Setting the template for British crime thrillers for decades to come, director John Guillermin’s audacious, often salacious, drama is untypical of mainstream British cinema of its time, and can be seen as both a direct antecedent of the Italian giallo and a blueprint for David Lynch's Twin Peaks. Town on Trial is a rare treat which is ripe for rediscovery.

INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES
• High Definition remaster
• Original mono audio
• The John Player Lecture with John Mills (1972, 96 mins): archival audio recording of an interview conducted by Margaret Hinxman at London’s National Film Theatre
• Barry Forshaw on ‘Town on Trial’ (2018, 20 mins): an appreciation by the author of British Crime Film: Subverting the Social Order and Brit Noir
Adventure in the Hopfields (1954, 59 mins): director John Guillermin’s Children’s Film Foundation drama starring Mandy Miller (The Snorkel)
Shooting Hops (2018, 7 mins): focus puller Alec Burridge discusses working with John Guillermin and the production of Adventure in the Hopfields
• Original theatrical trailer
• Image gallery: original promotional material
• New English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Limited edition exclusive 36-page booklet with a new essay by Neil Sinyard, extracts from the original campaign book, a profile of actor Barbara Bates, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits
• World premiere on Blu-ray
• Limited Edition of 3,000 copies

#PHILTD050
BBFC cert: 12
REGION FREE
EAN: 5037899071250

Re: 50 Town on Trial

Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2021 4:43 am
by Dr Amicus
Well, I've gone through the extras apart from the Mills talk and they're a solid collection. The Barry Forshaw piece is interesting and doesn't overlap much with Neil Sinyard's essay, although both have similar views on the film itself. Adventure in the Hopfields is a charming, very 50s, piece - a young girl breaks her mother's favourite china dog and, leaving only a letter, goes off with some neighbours on a hop picking work-break in order to earn enough money to repair or replace it (no child labour laws in operation...). If only a group of thieves or smugglers were using the derelict windmill nearby as a store than this would be typical Blyton fare - but there is a nicely handled climax
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where our lead is trapped in the windmill as it burns.
The Burridge memories are quite sweet, if necessarily brief, but an odd thing about the film is the opening title card informing us this is the 1972 version - were there amendments made before TV screenings? Or music rights issues? I understand from Wiki that the film was considered lost and rediscovered in a rubbish bin in 2002 but the dates there don't tie up either.

Re: 50 Town on Trial

Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2021 4:59 am
by MichaelB
As far as I'm aware, the 1972 cut is the one that survived, and that's what was rediscovered in 2002. Nobody seems to know precisely what the differences were; there's no paper record, and of course no surviving print of the other version for comparison purposes.