Trent’s Last Case – 1952 | 90 mins | Crime, Drama | B&W

Plot Synopsis

The famous novel by E C Bentley gets the full Herbert Wilcox and Anna Neagle production treatment in this humdrum contemporary whodunit that is almost devoid of suspense Michael Wilding is remarkably insipid as Trent the detective and breezes through the film, and co-star Margaret Lockwood handles her role coolly and capably but is given little material to work with.It’s left to the incomparable Orson Welles who dominated proceedings in a brief role, though experienced scene stealer Miles Malleson also contributes greatly throughout. Trent’s Last Case was previously filmed as a silent in 1920 and a part-talkie in 1929 by Howard Hawks.

When the dead body of Sigsbee Manderson (Orson Welles),an American financial tycoon is found in the grounds of his Hampshire mansion,shot neatly in the left eye by a revolver that he had given his English secretary John Marlowe (John McCallum). The coroner’s verdict is suicide but Phillip Trent (Michael Wilding) – famed painter, newspaper reporter but above all: crime investigator – is uneasy. Sent down to cover the story despite being on the verge of retiring, he soon concludes that Manderson was murdered.Suspicion falls on Manderson’s society wife, Margaret (Margaret Lockwood), who had been treated appallingly by her husband and possessed an admirer in Marlowe.  Trent pieces the clues together,but a few twists are revealed in the mystery before it reaches its conclusion.