Review: Suspect

Professor Peter Cushing leads a scientific team including Tony Britton, Virginia Maskell, and Kenneth Griffith. They’re conducting experiments on super bugs that could work to eliminate bubonic plague and other epidemics. Sewell and the rather impatient Britton would like to publish, but the Minister of Defence (Raymond Huntley) believes that publishing their findings could potentially lead to the bugs getting in the hands of those who wish to do national harm. Just to make sure Cushing and co. stay in line, the Minister employs the services of security officer Thorley Walters, who isn’t quite as daffy and absent-minded as he might appear. Walters in turn enlists Griffith to be his mole on the inside of the laboratory. Whilst Cushing reluctantly accepts the Minister’s order, the rather indignant and hot-headed Britton takes another tact entirely. Sir Ian Bannen plays Maskell’s double-amputee partner in a passionless relationship (she tends to his medical needs, but they’re no longer romantically involved), a relationship in which Britton rather selfishly intrudes on. Donald Pleasence plays a shifty-looking recent acquaintance of Bannen at the local pub, who says he might be able to assist Britton on publishing matters.

 

AKA “The Risk”, which unlike “Suspect” (which has nothing to do with anything here), at least applies to dialogue spoken in the film. A jolly good stab at the kind of virus outbreak/espionage sci-fi/drama thing that is rather commonplace in films and TV these days. Co-director brothers Roy and John Boulting (John being the director of the terrific all-star effort “The Magic Box”, whilst Roy served as producer on John’s well-liked “Brighton Rock”) and screenwriter Nigel Balchin (adapting his own novel) get a real helping hand here from a pretty amazing supporting cast of familiar faces from British cinema, especially genre pictures.

 

Lead actors Tony Britton (kind of a poor man’s Richard Burton) and Virginia Maskell are OK, with the latter being far more likeable than the rather condescending Mr. Britton. Seriously, Mr. Britton can fuck right off with his condescending attitude towards the disabled. Even for the early 60s, that’s just foul, and having him admit it’s foul doesn’t make it excusable. Sorry, but as a paraplegic myself it rankled me to no end. It’s the supporting cast that provide the real entertainment here, you’ll see lots of familiar faces throughout if you know your 50s-60s British character actors. Top acting honours probably go to an embittered and moving Ian Bannen in one of his best and earliest showings. It’s to the underrated Irish character actor’s credit that he creates a slightly more complex character than just the pitiable disabled guy. He’s seriously mixed up, and the longer the film goes on, the more he worries you, and the less you’ll probably like him. Whatever you make of him and his actions/motives, he’ll haunt you long after the film is finished (Then again, Mr. Britton is a bit of a worry too, isn’t he?). Thorley Walters, Peter Cushing, Raymond Huntley, and a more briefly seen Donald Pleasence steal their every scene. Third-billed Cushing took a break here from working in the horror genre, but playing a dedicated and passionate scientist is nonetheless well within his wheelhouse. He pops in and out of the film from time to time, but is rock-solid whenever given the chance as essentially the moral compass of the film. Huntley is equally solid as the Minister for Defence, frequently butting heads with Cushing and (particularly) Tony Britton. Does the Minister have the nation’s best interests at heart here, or is there more going on? You’ll have to see to find out. Thorley Walters pulls off a seemingly impossible task by giving an eccentric performance without being so showy that it’s distracting or incongruous in what is otherwise a very dour, serious film. I don’t know how he manages to do it, but he nonetheless makes it work. Pleasence (known for being an eccentric scene-stealer himself) only has a few small scenes in the film, but that’s all he needs to convey that his character is up to something disreputable. Kenneth Griffith can usually be counted on to provide some hammy eccentricity, but cast as one of the scientists here he does a fine, if colourless job as one of the least eccentric and colourful characters in the film. At the other end of the scale, comedy legend Spike Milligan certainly doesn’t underplay his role as a dim-witted janitor who gets insulted by a lab chimp early on. He’s not in the film much, so the schtick-y role isn’t particularly incongruous, and he plays it just fine. Look out for character actors Geoffrey Bayldon and Murray Melvin in tiny roles, the former at the very end of the film, and the latter a mere walk-on as someone who assists Bannen at one point.

 

I like that the Boultings and Balchin manage to juggle all of these characters in a fairly short film without really short-changing anyone. Yes, Cushing’s character pops in and out a bit, but his character ultimately isn’t needed all that often. He’s essentially the voice of reason, and this plot depends on the voice of reason not being centre stage very often if at all. It wouldn’t work otherwise. I also need to give credit to the terrific editing job done at the finale, really clever stuff there.

 

One for fans of old British character actors, this interesting if slightly dry thriller is made enjoyable by a really good supporting cast. Ian Bannen in particular will make you sit up and take notice with a wonderfully embittered, tortured turn as a disturbed double-amputee. A bit dated, but otherwise well worth looking out for. This may have been designed as the quickly-made, low-budget, second-half of a double bill but it’s actually a pretty damn good thriller-drama.

 

Rating: B-