Three Cases Of Murder

(1955) ***1/2

The film is, as you can tell from the title, an anthology of three horror/thriller shorts. Each short has a different director. Considering the subject matter, and the cool camera work, the film feels very much like you sat down to watch three straight episodes of The Twilight Zone.

Orson Welles, featured as the titular Lord Mountdrago in the third story is by far the biggest name in the cast. Mountdrago is the Secretary of Foreign Affairs who is gradually driven insane by nightmares, the target of a hex by a fellow politician after Mountdrago humiliates his colleague in front of Parliament. This chapter was nominally directed by George More O'Farrell (a guy who has More O'Names than you do), though it will come as a surprise to nobody who is familiar with the career of Orson Welles that after three days of making suggestions, Orson muscled his way into essentially directing the rest of the shoot. It's hardly a loss - the camera work and pace are great, and the story is an excellent vehicle for Orson's acting. He infuses Mountdrago's waking moments with great arrogance. To Mountdrago's dreams, Orson's acting has all the panache and daring of a circus clown.

But with Orson appearing in only the third story, the film thrives largely on the performance(s) of Alan Badel, who appears in all three. The variety of characters he portrays demonstrates strong dramatic range. He brings a manic Mad Hatter energy (I thought of that adjective probably because of the silly hat he's wearing for much of the story, but it fits) to the role of an inhabitant of a painting come-to-life. He plays a secondary, and more conventional role in story 2 - a helpful bartender. His performance as the vengeful member of Parliament haunting Lord Mountdrago's dreams is a neat hybrid of the two.

I'm not sure what about this film warrants a spot in Criterion. It's a few years after Orson Welles's highest profile work (Citizen Kane, The Stranger, The Lady From Shanghai, and The Third Man were all released in the 40s) and, limited as my knowledge of British film may be, none of the names of anyone other than Orson Welles were familiar to me. All the same, I said earlier on that the film reminded me of a collection of Twilight Zone eps, and it's worth pointing out that Three Cases Of Murder preceded Twilight Zone by four years. It's possible that the film was an influence on Rod Serling's directorial style. All three stories are competently directed and acted, and on the whole it's a fun ride.