The Third Alibi

Laurence Payne - Norman Martell
Patricia Dainton - Helen Martell
Jane Griffiths - Peggy Hill
Edward Underdown - Dr. Murdoch
John Arnatt - Supt. Ross
Humphrey Lestocq - Producer
Lucy Griffiths - Miss Potter
Cleo Laine - Singer

Taut b-movie thriller produced on a low budget at Walton Studios that made up part of the ‘Kraft Mystery Theater’ shown by NBC in America in the early 1960s. Adapted by producer Maurice J Wilson from the play Moment of Blindness by Pip and Jean Baker, the story never lets up for a second and the fiendishly slick plot culminates in a well-worked twist-in-the-tail conclusion. Second-feature director Montgomery Tully directs the story satisfactorily with little flair and the film cannot belie its stage origins, but the undistinguished cast of Laurence Payne, Jane Griffiths and Patricia Dainton, in her final film before early retirement, produce a competent display that bestows the yarn with a degree of substance.

Composer Norman Martell (Laurence Payne) feels trapped in a deteriorating middle-class marriage to his loving wife Helen (Patricia Dainton), and consequently has started a clandestine affair with her divorced sister Peggy (Jane Griffiths). Eventually the flighty Peggy tires of her role as the furtive mistress, and when she falls pregnant with Martell’s child, demands he confront his wife and demand a separation. Meanwhile, Helen has been having tests with her doctor and is shocked to discover she has a terminal heart condition – she requests that Dr. Murdoch (Edward Underdown) does not disclose the news to her husband.

When Martell confronts Helen with the shock revelation that he wants a divorce and that Peggy is expecting his child, his wife steadfastly refuses to ever give him a divorce. As a result Peggy and Norman come to the conclusion they have only one alternative left open to them – to murder Helen. The philandering husband and his pregnant lover plot the elaborate death of his wife and rely upon tape recordings, witnesses and a caravan dweller on the hillside that overlooks the Martell home for their alibis. Unfortunately for the murderous duo all does not go according to plan when Helen overhears their scheming.