Tom Macaulay
Early adaption of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four as part of the Theatre 625 series.
The wife of a rubber plantation owner must put her marriage problems on hold when her family is forced to defend themselves during a native uprising.
A devoted family man tries to help a beautiful alcoholic showgirl with her life, and becomes the the only suspect when someone else murders her.
Director Anthony Asquith, working in the style of a Hitchcock whodunit, deftly moves between multiple points of view in this gritty look at life in a seaport town. Jean Kent stars as Agnes "Astra" Huston, a fortune teller at a run-down fair, who is found strangled in her bedroom. As the police question five suspects their interactions with her are shown in flashbacks from their point of view.
Young Viscount Tony Pym wangles National Service leave on the pretext of standing as a Tory candidate for a local seat held by his family for generations. The request is a ruse to enable Pym to marry his wealthy American fiancee while she's still in England, but his masterplan backfires when he finds himself swept into an election campaign and beaten by Labour's Mr Cleghorn – who is then made a peer. In an attempt to save face, Pym decides to stand again – as a socialist. It all proves too much for the Pyms' loyal, true-blue butler, Mr Beecham...
Determined, independent Bridie Quilty comes of age in 1944 Ireland thinking all Englishmen are devils. Her desire to join the IRA meets no encouragement, but a German spy finds her easy to recruit. We next find her working in a pub near a British military prison, using her sex appeal in the service of the enemy. But chance puts a really vital secret into her hands, leading to a chase involving Bridie, a British officer who's fallen for her, a German agent unknown to them both, and the police...paralleled by Bridie's own internal conflicts.
