Eyewitness - Donald Sinden

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

directed by Muriel Box
UK 1956

Murder melodrama directed by Muriel Box and produced by her husband Sydney. The minor suspenser has several threads but unfurls with a good sense of timing and provides both excitement and light-hearted moments of humour. Donald Sinden, a rather bland leading man, successfully attempts a very different character role, conveying all the ruthlessness of the cold-blooded killer. There’s also a fine supporting role from Nigel Stock as a deaf safe-breaker.

Following a row with her husband Jay (Michael Craig), Lucy (Muriel Pavlow) heads into town to cool-off and drops-in at the local cinema. When exiting the cinema she breezes past the manager’s office and witness’s two burglars robbing the safe and assaulting the manager, both men pursue Lucy into the street but she’s knocked over by a bus and taken to a local hospital. The two thieves are ruthless Wade (Donald Sinden) and nervy safecracker Barney (Nigel Stock), and when they discover she survived the accident the duo try to get into the hospital and kill her.

Excerpt of review from Britmovie located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: 14 August 1956 (London)

Reviews DVD Reviews

DVD Review: VCI - Region 1 - NTSC

Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	VCI Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	1:19:15
Video	1.66:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.88 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Audio	Dolby Digital 2.0 & 5.1 (English)
Subtitles	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: VCI Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.66:1 Edition Details: • None DVD Release Date: November 20th, 2012 Keep Case Chapters 13

Comments

Muriel Box won an Oscar with her husband Sydney Box for writing The Seventh Veil in 1945 and went on to become a director with her husband producing. Two of her films can be considered British noirs - Street Corner (aka Both Sides of the Law, 1953) and Subway in the Sky (1959), but Eyewitness, written by The Clouded Yellow and Midnight Lace author Janet Green, has too many light touches to be considered one, despite some noir moments.

The film comes to DVD from VCI as part of The Rank Collection. The film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1 with anamorphic enhancement, but transferred from PAL source. The transfer looks solid, a bit soft in spots, but still with good contrast. The mono audio is fine, with no distortions and there are English subtitles available. There are no extras provided for this disc.

- Gregory Meshman

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