Town on Trial

John Mills - Supt. Mike Halloran
Charles Coburn - Dr. John Fenner
Barbara Bates - Elizabeth Fenner
Derek Farr - Mark Roper
Alec McCowen - Peter Crowley
Elizabeth Seal - Fiona Dixon
Geoffrey Keen - Mr. Dixon
Margaretta Scott - Helen Dixon
Fay Compton - Mrs. Crowley
Magda Miller - Molly Stevens
David Quitak - David
Dandy Nichols - Mrs. Wilson
Raymond Huntley - Dr. Reese

Well-made crime drama that adapts Francis Durbridge's story "The Nylon Murders" for the screen. John Mills leads the ensemble cast with a fine performance that keeps the viewer gripped as the mystery is unravelled and the guilty party revealed. When Molly Stevens (Magda Miller), a blonde-haired good-time girl in the London suburb of Oakley Park is found strangled in the grounds of an elite sports club, Scotland Yard’s Supt Halloran (John Mills) is called in to investigate.

Halloran’s brusque manner soon alienates the locals. He is convinced that the whole town’s middle-class attitude is to blame for the girl's death and meets with a conspiracy of silence when attempting to eliminate a formidable list of suspects. Peter Crowley (Alex McGowen) is the first suspect to be interrogated; a quiet young man who loved the dead woman and was jealous of her other lovers. Next up is Roper (Derek Farr), a blackmailer with a fictitious war record who had an affair with Molly – and also happens to be the club's secretary and obtained Molly membership to a club that would ordinarily be beyond her social standing. Another likely suspect is Dr. John Fenner (Charles Coburn), a doctor who failed to mention that Molly was two-months pregnant on the post-mortem. The final suspect is Dixon (Geoffrey Keen) the town’s mayor.

Soon another murder is committed, Dixon’s daughter Fiona (Elizabeth Seal) is found strangled in a similar fashion in the boot of Dr. Fenner’s car. Halloran discovers that Crowley is mentally ill, and suspecting him of being the man behind the violent deaths traps him using a clever scheme inspired by the Bible quotations found at the murder scenes. In a nail-biting ending, a strained Crowley climbs the steeple of a local church and it’s left to Halloran to coax him down.