Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Wanted for Murder Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 27, 2021

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Cast a Dark Shadow / Wanted for Murder.

Considering their vaunted reputation as such a reserved and polite people, Brits certainly have a penchant for Murder Most Foul, if I might be permitted to co-opt a film title from one of the Margaret Rutherford Miss Marple outings (a title which is itself lifted from Hamlet). Miss Marple's creator Agatha Christie may be the best remembered British author of murder mysteries, but this appealing double feature from Cohen Media Group's Cohen Film Collection imprint proves she wasn't the only one, and in fact wasn't the only female one. Both Wanted for Murder from 1946 and Cast a Dark Shadow from 1955 are based on stage plays, and in the case of Cast a Dark Shadow, a play written by Janet Green, who also gave the world Midnight Lace . Wanted for Murder has a different claim to fame in its authorship department, albeit in this case regarding one of the adapters of Percy Robinson and Terence De Marney's play, co-scenarist Emeric Pressburger, who had already begun his vaunted partnership with Michael Powell, but who was here on a "holiday" of sorts, before returning to Powell to deliver the one-two punch of A Matter of Life and Death and Black Narcissus.

If Agatha Christie looms large in the annals of British murder mystery fiction writing, Alfred Hitchcock probably reigns supreme as one of the titans of British film directing in the suspense genre, which of course frequently features murders. While Wanted for Murder came out in 1946, it kind of weirdly presages two later Hitchcock films, at least in passing, which may lead some to wonder whether Hitch saw it at some point and filed away a few ideas for future use (despite the fact that Hitchcock had no overt input on the writing of either of the films I'm about to cite). These perhaps admittedly tangential referents include Strangers on a Train, which features a memorable sequence involving a merry go round at a carnival, which is also part and parcel of this film. Perhaps a more obvious tether can be made with regard to what is generally considered to be Hitchcock's last masterpiece, Frenzy, from 1972, in that both that film and Wanted for Murder feature a serial killer who prefers strangulation as his method.

Kind of interestingly, both this and this film's disc mate Cast a Dark Shadow, as well as both of the Hitchcock films mentioned above, kind of controvene one central tenet of a so-called "murder mystery" by offering absolutely no mystery with regard to who is doing the murdering. In this case, it's the suave but obviously unbalanced Victor Colebrooke (Eric Portman). In a way, the character of Colebrooke would have been perfectly at home in any number of Hitchcock films, since he has both the debonair if poisonous qualities of Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) in Shadow of a Doubt combined with the kind of sociopathological manchild proclivities of Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) in Strangers on a Train.

The film perhaps has an underlying illogic in that despite his obvious bizarre emotional outbursts, Colebrooke has somehow still managed to attract a seemingly sweet and normal woman named Anne Fielding (Dulcie Gray), who seems blithely unaware of how patently weird her boyfriend is. The fact that there's a potential new suitor in the form of Jack Williams (Derek Farr) makes this film's denouement a foregone conclusion. There's also a kind of quasi-police procedural aspect playing out largely in the form of a Chief Inspector named Conway (Roland Culver), though fans of My Fair Lady might be more interested in a lowly sergeant played by Stanley Holloway, who memorably received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor as in the inimitable father of Eliza Dolittle, Alfred.

Wanted for Murder Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Wanted for Murder is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cohen Film Collection, an imprint of Cohen Media Group, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.34:1. Cohen doesn't provide any technical information on the transfer, other than the front cover of this release stating it offers "two fully restored film noir classics" and the back cover listing "a new 2K restoration. . .from the Cohen Film Collection." Cast a Dark Shadow bore the imprimatur of the British Film Institute as among its restorers, something that's missing here, and that may account in part for a somewhat less consistent looking presentation. There is a somewhat blanched look here at times that can make blacks a bit on the milky side, and there is also a generally less consistent level of fine detail. Some of the dimly lit material, notably the whole carnival sequence and some "tube" scenes in London's subway system suffer from a lack of shadow definition. On the whole, though, this is a decently detailed looking transfer that doesn't offer any huge problems, though it definitely looks more worn and aged than its disc mate. My score is 3.25.

Wanted for Murder Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Wanted for Murder features an LPCM 2.0 Mono track that is pretty noticeably boxy and thin sounding, something that is perhaps especially apparent with regard to the supposed "piano concerto" by composer Mischa Spoliansky that is utilized. The piano cues in particular can sound a bit brash and bright, as can some crowd scene clamor, as in the carnival sequence. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly, though, with no real problems to mention. Optional English subtitles are available.

Wanted for Murder Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Cohen has packaged these together on one disc with the following minimal supplements. Both of the trailers listed below are new, not archival, and advertise Cohen's restorations.

• Cast a Dark Shadow Trailer (HD; 2:05)


• Wanted for Murder Trailer (HD; 1:22)

Wanted for Murder Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Wanted for Murder offers a great showcase for an imperious if emotionally unbalanced Portman, but the main story is pretty hackneyed and despite a few angst ridden moments, there's really not much suspense as to how things are going to work out. This transfer doesn't have quite the same consistent contrast and detail levels as Cast a Dark Shadow, and the audio is a little tinny sounding as well, for those who are considering a purchase.