Death Goes to School (1953) User Reviews

Decent little B movie

[tony-70-667920 · 7/10 · 27 July 2016]

This is the only feature directed by Stephen Clarkson. It's hard to see why, as he does a good job, and co-wrote the script with Maisie Sharman. I'm grateful to Renown and their Talking Pictures TV for the chance to see this rare film.

A teacher at a south of England girls' school is murdered, and since she had a talent for angering her colleagues, there are plenty of suspects. The investigation is led by Inspector Campbell from Scotland Yard. He's a dour Scot with a chip on his shoulder (he'd definitely have voted for independence!) but fortunately he's played by Gordon Jackson, who's always a sympathetic presence. I saw him play a villain in another Renown offering, I think "The Delavine Affair," and he didn't ring true.

One reviewer complained about the cut-glass accents, but given the date and milieu they're to be expected. The Queen still talks like that, and I agree it's irritating, but not as irritating as the inaudibility of so many modern American actors, which makes you wonder why their scriptwriters bothered writing dialogue.

"Death|" is unusual for a British B of the '50s is that there's some humour. When Campbell asks Miss Shepherd what book she's been reading she says "Death in Seven Hours", the book by Ms Sharman on which this film is based. She then needles the inspector by saying that an amateur sleuth solved the mystery. This gives the audience a clue, as later she solves the mystery before him, though to be fair that's because she'd seen something and not told him about it.

All in all, an enjoyable way to spend 64 minutes.

Classic British Mystery

[nova-63 · 7/10 · 19 November 2009]

The scene is a girls school where a pupil discovers the strangled body of her teacher. The dead woman had made many enemies at the school during her stay so there is no shortage of suspects. Scotland Yard arrives with Inspector Campbell (Gordon Jackson) in charge of the investigation. Key to the probe is a small ladies footprint found at the scene of the crime, prompting Inspector Campbell to believe the woman was murdered by another staff member.

The print I saw was clear and crisp and the production values nice for a low budget British mystery. The cast was solid but not spectacular in their work. The screenplay is somewhat staid and lacking an energy. The film tells the story from the viewpoint of the Police Inspector and a young schoolteacher who is under investigation. This crossing of views should deliver a interesting journey, yet it remains quite sedate.

I enjoyed this film. It was nice to see Gordon Jackson in a lead role and it was nice to discover a rare, old British mystery. This is not a lost gem, but a nice film for fans of British mysteries, like myself.

"A Killer Strikes in a World of Women"!!!!....

[kidboots · 7/10 · 25 May 2011]

....so says the poster - in other words, a murder is committed in an all girls school. With a title like "Death Goes to School" full marks to theatre owners, trying to get patrons into the cinemas. Before he was Hudson, the very devoted butler who "knew his place" in the TV series "Upstairs, Downstairs" Gordon Jackson was a familiar face in a score of British films. This movie gave him a rare lead and it is easy to see why (it was a rare lead). Well, he wasn't exactly "Mr. Personality" - he had no quirkiness of character that would make his Inspector Campbell memorable.

A body is discovered behind the school playing fields - it is Miss Cooper, a teacher who has no friends at the school, in other words, everyone's a suspect!!! The only clue is a footprint of a size 5 shoe!! Dour Inspector Campbell from Scotland Yard is onto the case right away - and the teachers are onto him too - "he's so big and strong, so masterful" etc and they try to make an impression. As each Mistress is interviewed a picture is drawn of Miss Cooper and it is not pretty - she is hard to get along with, is forever picking fights with the other staff members and seems to have a dislike of children!!!

One of the mistresses, Miss Shephard, seems to be the real detective of the movie and armed with inside knowledge from staff and students, has her own ideas about who is the murderer. Her investigations take her out of the school, away from the teachers and into the homes of the parents. Gordon Jackson gives his usual solid, "no frills" performance. Barbara Murray (Miss Shepherd) was a newcomer who went on to have a more productive career in television with shows such as "The Power Game" and "The Plane Makers".

Petty Intrigues

[richardchatten · 7/10 · 20 April 2020]

Produced by former director Victor Hanbury, who died the following year shortly after 'fronting' for the blacklisted Joseph Losey on the even more histrionic 'The Sleeping Tiger'. This is also a fascinating artefact from the buttoned-down early fifties (with a conclusion involving assisted suicide that possibly encountered problems with the censor), adapted by Maisie Sharman from her own novel 'Death in Seven Hours' (1952), published under her pseudonym Stratford Davis.

Set in a girls' school in which the repressed passions of both staff & pupils have long ago reached boiling point; murder being the result (an outlet already manifest in the psychotic violence being displayed by the belles of St. Trinian's)!

"The children must always come first"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 7/10 · 1 August 2018]

One of the teachers at Miss Halstead's boarding school is found murdered and Detective Inspector Campbell and Sergeant Harvey from Scotland Yard lead the investigation, Is the killer one of the teachers? Is it one of the pupils? Is it someone from outside the school? It's a fair mystery story that moves along steadily until the poignant ending. It portrays well the pettiness and pressure of a closed human environment.We get to know the teachers, particularly Miss Shepherd who helps a lot with the investigation. Not a fast moving film but a nice study of a certain place and time. It's well directed on a low budget. The scene of the finding of the body is very well handled.

Gordon Jackson is solid as D.I Campbell and even better is the beauteous Barbara Murray as Miss Shepherd. There are sparks between those two characters that are entertaining. The rest of the cast are suitable for their roles. The motive for the murder is not a usual one which makes it more interesting. Strangely the ubiquitous Sam Kydd as Sergeant Harvey is uncredited by the film even though he has a large role.

Stephen Clarkson only directed a few films which is a shame as he did a good job with this one.

The children's hour.

[ulicknormanowen · 18 October 2020]

This is typical whodunit in the grand tradition of Agatha Christie (but definitely inferior to her best murder mysteries ): a place where a murder was committed and where everyone's a suspect,for everyone bore a grudge against the strangled victim .

And the suspects are all teachers in a girls school , that is people who should be models to their pupils ; using flashbacks is quite derivative,but it allows us to make acquaintance with these women who are not exactly the persons they claim to be .

This is OK murder mystery and the murderess 's motive makes sense .

Shame to ruin a pleasant book

[cornico · 4/10 · 11 December 2008]

All I can say, is this movie was taken from a book written by the author Stratford Davis - and it didn't do her justice. Yup, a little background. The male name Stratford Davis was actually the pen name of a female with the birth name Maisie Sharman who wrote several books under the male name just so she could be published during the thirties. She later penned several more books under the name Miriam Sharman (last name was real until she married a Bolton in Hampshire, and then went under the name Miriam Bolton for several screenplays for the BBC). The reason I know this trivia about a little known author is simply because she was my great-aunt on my maternal Grandfather's side. I have collected several of her books from her later periods (50's and 60's); and while they would never be on a par with Conan Doyle or P.D. James, I found them enjoyable for a short bout of escapism.

A solid, 50's whodunit.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 5 September 2016]

The Police are called to an all Girl's school, when a teacher is found dead, said teacher is a deplorable individual, upsetting each and every one of her colleagues, and also guilty of being heavy handed with her pupils. Suspicion is cast on her colleagues, the staff room is a place full of suspects, the police suspect music teacher Miss Shepherd, who takes it upon herself to find the miscreant,

I'm very much a fan of 50's British B movies, and an even bigger fan of whodunits, this goes some way towards satisfying the demands. I thought the film began in very good fashion, the premise was interesting, and Miss Shepherd made an interesting amateur sleuth, the film looks nice, it's well filmed, if a little clunky. Some of the dialogue is a little flat, and the attitudes towards women seem more like 600 years old then 60, but the film's main stumbling block is the ending, it felt like suspense built for 57 minutes, they ran out of time and had to come up with an ending quickly, it was a shame, as the first three quarters of the film I really enjoyed.

Solid performances all round, I don't think you'd say anyone dazzles, Gordon Jackson's Inspector Campbell is probably the most well rounded character.

Enjoyable enough, 6/10

Studio bound British whodunit.

[junk-monkey · 3/10 · 20 May 2005]

Synopsis: An unpopular teacher at an all girls school is found strangled behind the sports pavilion with another teacher's scarf around her throat. An inspector from Scotland Yard and his sergeant arrive to investigate. One of the teachers provides him with the clues that lead to the murderer (another member of staff) but when presented with the evidence that will lead to her discovery the murderer takes an overdose of sleeping tablets and dies.

Nicely photographed but talky and dull and, apart from a few MOS exteriors (arriving and departing shots), stays firmly in the same few sets. This film was made in the days when everyone in British movies talked with perfect diction and faultless grammar - indeed in this film characters actually correct each other's grammar. Not a long vowel sound to be heard. Everyone is so po-faced and brittle it hurts. The actors do their thing in the solid, constipated, stiff upper lip, style required at the time.

The plot is thin, the characters have no emotional depth but above all it is marred by a weird narrative structure. Parts of the story are voiced over by one of the teachers as she does her own investigation but most of the time the camera follows the Scotland Yard men - it doesn't work.

...and it beggars belief that a Scotland Yard inspector would arrive at a crime scene, enquire whether anything has been disturbed, then light a cigarette and drop the match on the floor.

Alistair Sim and Margaret Rutherford Could Have Done Wonders For This Film

[andyrobert · 7/10 · 14 August 2020]

Despite the flaws in the script and the improbabilities of this film, it comes over as a very good and uncomplicated murder mystery, with the only clue being the heel print of a size 5 shoe in the soil behind where the assailant may have stood behind the victim.

Despite the low budgeted production values, the film still had me guessing right up to the very end, leaving a conclusion that even the detectives were not able to come to.

It was surprising to see Gordon Jackson in one of his earlier films. He was a very fine actor and, at first, I thought that he was probably miscast in this film, but as his character developed you could clearly see why he was chosen for this role.

I am also surprised why the film was never remade, as with the right actors and director, the film could have become one of the great British classics.

The dark side of St Trinian's?

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 9 October 2015]

DEATH GOES TO SCHOOL is a low rent British murder mystery that provides a neat counterpoint to the more popular hilarity of the ST. TRINIANS movies, which were just taking off during the decade. The production company was the little-known Independent Artists, who knocked out a few quota quickies before moving into TV production in the 1960s. The excellent NIGHT OF THE EAGLE is undoubtedly their best (and well-known) production.

This story is a typical murder mystery with a couple of sleuths in an all-girl school, hot on the trail of a murderer who took down the headmistress by strangulation with a scarf. All they have is a footprint to go on, but they soon uncover a hotbed of hatred and false identity, and they must piece together the clues to discover the one responsible.

The film features a leading role for a youthful Gordon Jackson as the no-nonsense detective and the ubiquitous Sam Kydd (who's uncredited for some reason) as his right hand man. The characterisation is slim, and the denouement is rather unremarkable, but the plot remains focused throughout. The all-girl school setting is a good one that Hammer would later use in the likes of LUST FOR A VAMPIRE in the 1970s. This film was shot at the attractive Merton Park Studios in Wimbledon, later the setting for the obscure Michael Gough horror, THE CORPSE.

A Quick Fix Murder Mystery.

[P3n-E-W1s3 · 6/10 · 21 January 2018]

Apart from the '50's sexism, which for the most part is now comical, this isn't too bad a murder mystery.

When the body of one of the teachers is discovered dead on the Girlschool's grounds the police are called in. Enter DI Campbell (Jackson) and Sergeant Harvey (Kydd) to solve the crime. However, they are initially worried about solving the case as, "who can figure out the reasons in a woman's mind?"... problems we still suffer from today. They needn't have worried though as Miss Shepherd (Murray) is on the case too. Being a teacher at the school and a lover of mystery novels she takes it upon herself to investigate.

One of the good things about this story is that unlike many sleuths, Miss Marple and Father Brown as examples, the police actually utilise Miss Shepherd. It's nice that the "outside" investigator isn't a thorn in the polices side but a help.

Gordon Jackson is in his element as a hard-nosed don't hold back copper. You can see elements of his character in The Professionals, George Cowley, coming through in his portrayal of DI Campbell. So this remembrance, for me, helped to submerge me into the film, right from his appearance.

This is a well scripted and written story. There are plenty of suspects to be the murderer... in fact, most of the staff at the school could be guilty of the crime. The way the story unfolds is nicely done, though the narration from Miss Shepherd is a little irksome. However, I've never been a fan of the narration - unless it's "The Twilight Zone" style. I think narration should be shown by the camera and not heard. If somebody says, "They were shocked to..." then show them shocked. They're actors, the director should use their skills.

That said though, I would recommend this to all whodunnit buffs and murder mystery lovers. It's a short film, at just over an hour in runtime, so would be good for a quick fix. A good afternoon flick for the armchair detectives out there.

A Detective Inspector Calls

[boblipton · 5/10 · 29 January 2020]

A teacher is found dead on the school grounds. Local police investigate, decide it's murder, and call in Scotland Yard in the person of Scottish Gordon Jackson.

It's a classic English mystery, with Jackson interviewing the faculty, finding they all quarreled with the dead woman, and gradually coming to realization of the murderer, but unable to locate a key piece of evidence. Meanwhile, teacher Barbara Murray is thinking hard about the case.

There's very little to expand the movie, co-written by director Stephen Clarkson and Maisie Sharman from a novel by Miss Sharman. There are only three or four shots beyond small sets, and the cheapness shows in lack of characterization. Nonetheless, it's a fair puzzle mystery.

The Teaching

[tedg · 12 January 2007]

You will likely never see this. There's scant market pull for such things, as it is a rather dull movie and relies on conventions that just don't work today.

But its interesting. Its quite a bit later than the filmed detective stories that fascinate me so much. Those are from the 30s and are interesting because the experiments actually changed how movies work.

Something this late, especially if it is from a small UK studio is merely an echo, but still interesting. In the 30's there was an Hildegarde Withers mystery series that featured what's now called a "primary" school teacher in the US who solves crimes leveraging her teacherness. Its a darn clever notion because in the detective narrative you already are juggling several things: the game between the writer and viewer to invent a reality that makes sense, the role of the detective as a sort of avatar — or not, the role of the camera as a tool of discovery and revealing. All these move into each other and out, perhaps with some noir goddess of fate.

Then you often have a second character. In the Holmes story it was an avatar for the writer.

The "teacher" experiment is rich in all sorts of possibilities. In the Hildegarde Withers version is was simply played for comedy, the detective played by James Gleason who was a sort of master of frustration as he was outdetected by such a woman. Its like Miss Marple in many ways, but the addition of the teacher role changed it radically.

In this case, the detective is a smooth handsome gent not only from Scotland yard but actually from Scotland — which is soon to separate from the UK and is why I selected this film today.

The teacher is a senior administrator as a school for prepubescent girls, though all the teachers look to be in their early twenties except one — sort of a giveaway for the mystery. In this case, we have our young woman literally as the narrator who reports to the blond Scot. Her name is Shepherd! Its not an interesting film, nor even an interesting mystery. But it is an interesting experiment in the form.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

Whodunnit the year when Elizabeth became our queen

[howardmorley · 5/10 · 7 October 2013]

I could only award this 1953 film 5/10.As the diner guest in Basil Fawlty's restaurant at "Fawlty Towers" said when asked by Basil "Did he like his meal?" he responded, (the way I felt when I saw this film today with my wife, an ex-teacher at a primary school); "Well it was adequate".So I appear to damn the film with faint praise but look at the obvious production budget.In the year of the coronation most British cinemas showed a cartoon, Pathe news, a "B" feature before "the big "A" picture" and I suspect this would have been a "B" picture then.We must therefore expect cheaper relatively unknown actors/actresses and virtually no locational shots filmed outside the studio system.Indeed the only actors I recognised were:Gordon Jackson, Sam Kydd, Beatrice Varley and Barbara Murray, hardly household names then and probably unknown to our American friends who saw this film.

Now having got the carping out of the way did it have some good points?Well yes, the screenwriters managed to keep "whodunnit" right to the end but the motive for murder was not sufficiently evident to me.There would be a job awaiting Miss Shepherd in the police if she wanted to give up music teaching but having teaching in my family, it tends to get into your blood.

More Suited to radio

[malcolmgsw · 5/10 · 13 July 2015]

This murder mystery is so talkative and filmed in such an uncinematic fashion that one has to conclude that it would be more satisfyingly performed as a radio play.Gordon Jackson and Sam Kydd come to a girl's school to investigate the murder of one of the teachers.It turns out that she is highly unpopular and thus there are many possible suspects.However it is Barbara Murray who gets there ahead of the police in working out who is the killer.The motive being rather risible.She then suggests that the murderer takes a nap for which there are some sleeping pills available.She warns her however not to take too many,thus implying that she would be doing everyone a favour if she were to end it all,which she duly does.So it all ends with a bit of a whimper.

Adding "rid" to the three r's.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 16 March 2022]

This adequate British second feature deals with the murder of a teacher at a girl's school (Pamela Alan) whom nobody, including the students, like, and indeed in seeing through flashbacks, Alan was a very unpleasant person. One of the students finds her body while they are at recess, and when inspector Gordon Jackson arrives, he finds out that pretty much everybody on the faculty had an argument with her before she was murdered. He also discovers several lies, and several of the teachers give their own evidence to point the finger at a possible suspect. A lot of Intrigue pops up in the short period of time of the initial investigation, especially about the personal lives of several of the teachers that they were trying to keep secret.

A very enjoyable and intelligent but generic quota quickie from the golden age of British cinema teachers of very well spoken cast, and Jackson is very good as he looks at each suspect, initially it's missing some because their shoe size doesn't match the print he found near the body. Barbara Murray is the most familiar of all the other cast members, and thus, she gets about the title billing and the majority of focus in the investigation. For fans of the "St. Trinian's" filns, this will be a nice little dramatic co-feature, completely unrelated. The musical score over the credits indicates that the film will have comic elements, but it does not. Still satisfying for the low budget film that it is, add a realistic viewpoint as to why coworkers who allegedly have a common goal still don't always get along.

Bad teacher

[Prismark10 · 4/10 · 9 November 2017]

Death Goes to School is a low budget B film but with several familiar faces that would become well known later on television dramas.

The body of Miss Cooper is found behind the school playing fields. The police reckon everybody is a suspect as everyone disliked her, one teacher stated that she was no good to the children.

It is one of the teachers, Miss Shepherd (Barbara Murray) who does the proper detective work and figures out who the killer might be before Detective Inspector Campbell (Gordon Jackson.) Character actor Sam Kydd provides solid support to Jackson.

There is a bit of humour, plenty of chauvinistic attitudes and the whole thing is a little flat.