Charles Frend directs this film well, but it is dull and pedestrian. Jack Hawkins is in the police force and is trying to track down burglars involved in a killing. Jack Hawkins deserved again a better role, and he goes through the motions and looks tired. Dorothy Alison plays his wife and she deserved a better life other than making him ham sandwiches when he comes home. She is a typical 1950's stereotype of a woman with a single cause; making ' hubby ' happy. She as well as Hawkins are essentially good actors trapped in a dreary system of relentlessly mediocre ' realistic ' British films. But Frend as I said directs well and tries to make the best of the material with quite a lot of outside filming with a lot of authentic details of the period. There is one callous scene where Hawkins interrogates a man on the point of death, while the man's wife waits to visit him. The doctor only intervenes at the man's last gasp, and unseen you can imagine the wife's distress at Hawkins ( in the name of the law ) having his final moments instead of her. Sadly this reflects badly ( for me ) on the lack of humanity back then. I will not give away spoilers on who the killer is, and it is a genuine surprise. A pity about the long haul to get there, and like a lot of these well made main features of British cinema in the 1950's it has too much dialogue, but if you want to see London around that time sit back and enjoy. Sloane Square has not changed one bit, but then conservatism moves very, very slowly. A 5 for the direction and use of brilliant lighting and local colour.
Review of The Third Key
