Girl in the News (1940)

This has three strong ingredients for a murder mystery - Carol Reed in the chair, Sidney Gilliat at the typewriter and Margaret Lockwood on top form as the nurse "Anne Grahame". The latter is looking after a cantankerous old woman who is found dead by poisoning. Lockwood is tried for the murder, but is ably defended by "Stephen Farringdon" (Barry Barnes) and acquitted. In order to avoid the stigma, she changes her name to "Anne Lovell" and starts to look after another old person - this time one whose wife is having a fling with their chauffeur. When he dies, suddenly, Lockwood's past catches up with her and, naturally, the police led by Roger Livesey ("Sgt. Mather") - who just happens to be the flatmate of "Farringdon", who himself has now become a bit of her beau - set out to arrest her so the race is on to establish just who did what to whom. The pace is good; the performances from Lockwwod, Barnes and Livesey engaging - with a bit of help from a rather aloof Margaretta Scott as the scheming widow "Bentley" and a brief, but cleverly touching, contribution from Mervyn Johns - the blind barber! The courtroom scenes allow for a bit of Felix Aylmer and Basil Bradford before an ending that all came too quickly, and did rather let it down. It doesn't hang about, though and is well worth a watch.