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Post by jamesvincent on Mar 11, 2024 15:38:29 GMT
Hello everyone,
We found this article while clearing out an archive.
I can find absolutely nothing about this film online and wonder if anyone may know what happened to it?
Thought I'd post here before reddit.
Thanks!  |
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Post by richardfitzgerald on Mar 11, 2024 18:34:31 GMT
Very strange ! The murder plot seems similar to the first episode of Scotland Yard - but that was from the 50s and this is 1977 (I guess)
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Post by Mark Tinkler on Mar 11, 2024 18:48:57 GMT
the cutting is from 4 July 1977 - this from a Newscastle newspaper called The Journal though the London Evening Standard ran exactly the same story.
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Post by Robert Clark (rcgreybeard) on Mar 11, 2024 20:13:07 GMT
It's this:
BFI identifier188574
TitleThe Hand of Fate (Original)
Crime Casebook (Alternative)
Production companyWillis World Wide ProductionsSynopsisAbout a newsaper seller who murders his wife. (Synopsis)CreditsProduction Company: Willis World Wide Productions
CastJohn Laurie
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Post by jamesvincent on Mar 11, 2024 20:37:05 GMT
It's this: BFI identifier188574 TitleThe Hand of Fate (Original) Crime Casebook (Alternative) Production companyWillis World Wide ProductionsSynopsisAbout a newsaper seller who murders his wife. (Synopsis)CreditsProduction Company: Willis World Wide Productions CastJohn Laurie
Thank you, I never thought to search the BFI, IMDB let me down today!
I can't find anyone who holds the film, and I'm wondering if it was wiped off the face of the earth after the court case. A bit of a mystery. Can't find it on any missing film lists.
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Post by John Green on Mar 11, 2024 22:18:42 GMT
Hope you find some answers, James.
It reminds me that there's British fiml, can't remember the name, which starts with an announcement to the effect that "The villain, Arnold J.Westkt, should not be confused with one Arnold J.Westkit of Sidcup road Balsover."
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Post by Robert Clark (rcgreybeard) on Mar 12, 2024 0:03:45 GMT
A quick google of the alternative name gives this at StudioCanal: www.studiocanal.de/title/crime-casebook-1976/Translating from German it seems to say CRIME CASEBOOK Short film color 1976 , 28min Crime, film noir Directed by David Eady Starring John Laurie , Avis Bunnage , Ivor Dean , John Paul 30 years after the war, the skeleton of a woman is found in a London construction pit. Is it a bomb victim or was it murder? The police ask retired Inspector Parkin for help. Then crime reporter Percy Hoski gets help Further searching for that title prompts a post by Ray Langstone on the Missing Believed Wiped facebook group pointing to these people www.parkcircus.com/film/110562-Crime-Casebook?fbclid=IwAR0AwPsh7AVAE_NISnyUql5ApJwKMoA8e6K8OUbYNDLyiq6RYyQj24IRZKEwho apparently hold a print. Percy Hoskins, Chief Crime reporter of the Daily Express, compiled his casebook in a book entitled No Hiding Place! |
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Post by Ray Langstone (was saintsray) on Mar 12, 2024 5:20:46 GMT
A quick google of the alternative name gives this at StudioCanal: www.studiocanal.de/title/crime-casebook-1976/Translating from German it seems to say CRIME CASEBOOK Short film color 1976 , 28min Crime, film noir Directed by David Eady Starring John Laurie , Avis Bunnage , Ivor Dean , John Paul 30 years after the war, the skeleton of a woman is found in a London construction pit. Is it a bomb victim or was it murder? The police ask retired Inspector Parkin for help. Then crime reporter Percy Hoski gets help Further searching for that title prompts a post by Ray Langstone on the Missing Believed Wiped facebook group pointing to these people www.parkcircus.com/film/110562-Crime-Casebook?fbclid=IwAR0AwPsh7AVAE_NISnyUql5ApJwKMoA8e6K8OUbYNDLyiq6RYyQj24IRZKEwho apparently hold a print. Percy Hoskins, Chief Crime reporter of the Daily Express, compiled his casebook in a book entitled No Hiding Place! ....that would be me.... in a much smaller area of coincidence I was researching this very film yesterday when this post was made! This would explain why the film is so hard to track down. I am pretty positive that Studio Canal have the master for it, and the reason that it's so hard to track down is because it was pulled from circulation because of the lawsuit. Great research all round, thank you all.  (Incidentally John Laurie was from my adoptive homeland of Dumfriesshire....) |
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Post by Peter Stirling on Mar 12, 2024 10:42:42 GMT
Still seems a bit of a mystery as also interesting is who this film was aimed at? ie.TV? www.imdb.com/title/tt3213354/reference/As by 1976 I think cinemas were no longer showing a complete programme package of main picture /B picture and various shorts and news items..just the main picture in many cases. So I wondered how it got commissioned if it was for TV as they would have expected a series. If it was a one off then it was an expensive loss for all concerned. |
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Post by jamesvincent on Mar 15, 2024 9:40:36 GMT
Excellent, I'd happy they didn't destroy it. I wonder if it'll ever be seen again though?
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Post by Ray Langstone (was saintsray) on Mar 15, 2024 21:03:39 GMT
While this was made in the 1970s, some sister films, also of short duration and made by the same studio and under the name Crime Casebook, were given a showing on HTV.
Hand of Fate was not broadcast.
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Post by jamesvincent on Mar 25, 2024 23:14:42 GMT
While this was made in the 1970s, some sister films, also of short duration and made by the same studio and under the name Crime Casebook, were given a showing on HTV. Hand of Fate was not broadcast. It makes you wonder where on earth he saw it!
I've had no luck in getting access to it. You'd think, due to the story, it would have some interest in being shown somewhere... maybe one for an event?
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