The Secret Partner

Loved it! This was more than a worthwhile view, but of course I'm partial to mysteries so my rating of 10 may be too high for some. But the movie had me guessing throughout, and the ending was absolutely superb, as I was thrown for a loop. The movie was very clever and darn right sneaky how it ended! I Loved it!

Stewart Granger plays John Brent, a man you feel really sorry for throughout much of the movie. It seems he's a successful businessman and yet his life is an apparent mess. His wife has left him and he's being blackmailed by a spineless drunk dentist. Could things get worse? Absolutely. But how and how he tries to extricate himself....you'll just have to see that when you watch this British thriller.

The film manages to work well for quite a few reasons. The acting is really very good, the writing clever and imaginative and the director managed to infuse the film with a nice brooding mood. Overall, a film that should be higher rated than it currently is...and well worth your time.

The Secret Partner is one of the few films to show at length what it was like to go to the dentist and have treatment under gas, something that everyone in the 40s and 50s would have experienced but is now unknown to present generations. It is a very authentic reconstruction, although when Stewart Granger comes round before being given "the truth drug" it is very unlikely he would have had enough of his wits about him that quickly to follow his plan to fool the dentist. I certainly could not on the times I had gas. But for a low budget film it is an excellent story and has a good ending. I am not a great fan of Stewart granger but enjoy this film, pity it is not out on DVD

Very few crime films end on a tragic note, especially if the plot does not involve deaths and maiming. This is one such example. The last shot of the film--a long shot--of the protagonist walking alone arouses the viewers pity.

The film seems to infer that the bad guys remain bad and end up losers. Today such stories would seem sociologically incorrect to film. The plot of the film is rather good and would provide the viewer with his/her money's worth.

The last half hour of the film not only entertains but is quaintly philosophical. Haya Harareet's ("Ben Hur"'s Esther) character is a fascinating study of love for her husband and what she decides to do is even more poignant and elegant. Stewart Granger and Bernard Lee (M of the early James Bond films) perform well, but the ultimate heroes are the story writers (David Pursall and Jack Seddon) and the director Basil Deardon who make the film fairly above-average entertainment.

A good thriller,which loses steam halfway through ,but regains its interest in the last thirty minutes,thanks to a very good unexpected twist.Yes there was such a thing almost fifty years ago.

An aging Stewart Granger portrays a wealthy British Bourgeois with a shady past whose marriage with Nicole (the beautiful Haya Harareet,famous for her part of Esther in "Ben Hur") is on the rocks. His dentist blackmails him ,and around him ,everybody may be a potential danger.The plot involves drugs,robbery,a soon-to-be-retired cop and plenty of foggy views of London in a bleak black and white.It's not in the same as league as Hitchcock,but it's quite entertaining.