Wicked Wife
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Bob Mcnaught
Nigel Patrick
Moira Lister
Beatrice Campbell
Betty Ann Davies
Michael Hordern
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Babs Coates prefers the glamour of the city to her husband Gerald's staid life as a horse trainer in the country. After winning a considerable sum at the Grand National race, Babs goes to Liverpool to see Jack Donovan, her latest lover. When Donovan informs her that he considers their affair inconsequential, she becomes enraged and, jumping into his car, drives home to Chillington. Still smarting from the rejection, Babs has a bitter quarrel with Gerald in which she attacks him with a knife, forcing him to overpower her and knock her unconscious. In Liverpool the next morning, Babs's body is found slumped over the steering wheel of Donovan's car. While identifying the body, Gerald meets Inspector Ayling, who is investigating Babs's death. After Donovan is found to have a foolproof alibi, Ayling goes to Chillington to question Gerald. Once the inspector leaves, Gerald, in a panic, confides to his friend, Joyce Penrose, that he had had an argument with Babs the previous night: After knocking Babs unconscious, Gerald, thinking that he may have killed her, dumped her body into Donovan's car, drove her back to Liverpool and then took the train home to Chillington. Later, Ayling returns to question Gerald further. When a railroad ticket from Chillington to Liverpool, dated the night of the murder, is found in the pocket of Gerald's raincoat, Ayling is on the verge of arresting Gerald when the coroner phones to inform the inspector that Babs died of a heart attack. Still convinced of Gerald's guilt, Ayling is about to take him back to Liverpool for further questioning when Buns Darling, a family friend who had had lunch with Gerald previous to the inspector's arrival, comes to the house and explains that he had accidentally picked up Gerald's raincoat at the restaurant and left his behind. Realizing that the ticket was in Buns's coat pocket and not Gerald's, the inspector, lacking other evidence, has no other choice but to drop the case against Gerald.
Director
Bob Mcnaught
Cast
Nigel Patrick
Moira Lister
Beatrice Campbell
Betty Ann Davies
Michael Hordern
Noel Purcell
Colin Gordon
Gibb Mclaughlin
Barry Mackay
Leslie Mitchell
Richard Grayden
May Hallatt
George Sequira
Ernest Jay
Russell Waters
George Rose
Harold Goodwin
Arthur Howard
Edward Evans
Maria Mercedes
Crew
Jack Asher
Gitta Blumenthal
Anne V. Coates
Beatrice Dawson
Harold Fletcher
Harry Gillan
John Greenwood
Betty Lee
H. W. Lindop
Muir Mathieson
George Minter
George Minter
Denis O'dell
Fred Pusey
Phil C. Samuel
J. B. Smith
Mort Spencer
Val Valentine
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The British release title of this film was Grand National Night, the name of the play on which it was based. According to contemporary sources, producer George Minter's company, Renown Pictures Corp., Ltd. had a pre-production arrangement with Allied Artists for the production and release of the film. Although the Variety review notes that the stage play was later adapted as a radio play, no information about that broadcast has been found. According to the 1953 Variety review, the film's running time was 81 minutes when it was shown in London. Actors Nigel Patrick and Beatrice Campbell were married to each other in real life.
