''The Franchise Affair'' is a 1951 British

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed by

Lawrence Huntington Lawrence Huntington (1900–1968) was a British film director, screenwriter and producer. Huntington was born in London on 9 March 1900, he directed more than thirty films following his debut feature ''After Many Years'' (1930). He later worked ...

and starring Michael Denison,

Dulcie Gray Dulcie Winifred Catherine Savage Denison, (''née'' Bailey; 20 November 1915 – 15 November 2011), known professionally as Dulcie Gray, was a British actress, mystery writer and lepidopterist. While at drama school in the late 1930s she met ...

, Anthony Nicholls and

Marjorie Fielding Doris Marjorie Fielding (known as Marjorie) (17 February 1892, in Gloucester, Gloucestershire – 28 December 1956, in London) was a British stage and film actress. Marjorie Fielding was the second daughter of John & Ellen Fielding (née Miles). ...

. It is a faithful adaptation of the novel '' The Franchise Affair'' by

Josephine Tey Josephine Tey was a pseudonym used by Elizabeth MacKintosh (25 July 1896 – 13 February 1952), a Scottish author. Her novel '' The Daughter of Time'' was a detective work investigating the role of Richard III of England in the death of the Pr ...

Plot

In a quiet English town, 14-year-old schoolgirl Betty Kane (Ann Stephens) claims that the owners of an isolated house ("The Franchise"), spinster Marion Sharpe (Dulcie Gray) and Marion's mother (Marjorie Fielding), kidnapped and beat her. The police believe Betty's story, but local lawyer Robert Blair (Michael Denison), a bachelor, is sceptical. Risking ostracism from the community, Blair quietly sets about proving the innocence of the two women. The community begin to shun the women as they have already effectively been tried by the local press. Attacks on the house begin: breaking windows and painting graffiti on the walls. A local garage mechanic (Kenneth More) offers to help guard the house. It eventually emerges that Betty was claiming to be 19 and having an affair with a travelling salesman. She planned to explain her absence by a kidnap and chose "The Franchise" house, having seen it over the high wall from the top of a double decker bus. Lawyer Blair asks Marion to marry him, but she declines and after the trial she and her mother go to fly away to Canada. However Robert is sitting in the seat behind her on the plane and surprises them both.

Cast

Critical reception

*''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' wrote, "a great many words are spoken and a great deal of tea is consumed in a low-budget British picture, "The Franchise Affair," which made a bedraggled appearance at the Little Carnegie yesterday. And, as may be readily imagined, the sum total of it all is an hour and a half of sheer boredom, unrelieved by any action or surprise." * Sky Movies wrote, "a neat, well-constructed whodunit - or, rather, was-it-done? - graced by good performances - it was one of several films husband-and-wife team Michael Denison and Dulcie Gray made together - and a leisurely but literate script. Although modest in ambition, the film sustains its drama throughout and there are some fine moments of spicy, English upper-crust wit. Its courtroom scenes also bring a welcome relief from the

Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a c ...

style of histrionics. Star-spotters can't miss

Kenneth More Kenneth Gilbert More, CBE (20 September 1914 – 12 July 1982) was an English film and stage actor. Initially achieving fame in the comedy '' Genevieve'' (1953), he appeared in many roles as a carefree, happy-go-lucky gent. Films from this per ...

in a small role."

References

External links

1951 films 1950s thriller films Films directed by Lawrence Huntington British thriller films British black-and-white films Films shot at Associated British Studios 1950s English-language films 1950s British films {{1950s-thriller-film-stub