The best Basil Dignam’s thriller movies
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best Basil Dignam’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about Basil Dignam.
10 Rillington Place
7.5/10
The story of British serial killer John Christie, who committed most or all of his crimes in the titular terraced house, and the miscarriage of justice involving Timothy Evans.
A Lizard in a Woman's Skin
6.8/10
Carol Hammond, the sexually frustrated wife of a successful London lawyer, is having bizarre, erotic dreams about her uninhibited neighbour, Julia Durer, who presides over noisy, sex and drug filled parties in the house next door. One night, Carol dreams culminate in violent death and she wakes to find her nightmares have become reality - Julia has been murdered and Carol is the main suspect. Was she set up, or did she really do it?
Twisted Nerve
7/10
Hywel Bennett stars as Martin Durnley, a rich but damaged Oxford University drop-out with a hatred of his banker stepfather, played by Frank Finlay. His mum babies the boy, a consequence of Martin's elder brother, a Down Syndrome sufferer (or 'Mongoloid' - or even 'mentally backward' as they say here), being in full-time care, and the doctors having warned Martin's parents not to have any more children - just to be on the safe side. Too late: troubled mummy's boy Martin, with his cuddly toys and penchant for smashing his own reflection, appears to have proved the doctors misgivings.
Sapphire
7.2/10
Two Scotland Yard detectives (Nigel Patrick and Michael Craig) investigate the murder of a young woman of mixed race who had been passing for white. As they interview a spate of suspects -- including the girl's white boyfriend and his disapproving parents -- the investigators wade through a stubbornly entrenched sludge of racism and bigotry. Director Basil Dearden won a British Academy Award for his deft, sensitive hand at the helm.
Suspect
6.1/10
A government team researching cures for plague find their results put on the Official Secrets list. One of their number is so incensed by this that he lets the maimed and jealous companion of a female colleague draw him into what, technically, could be a treasonable act.
Corridors of Blood
6.4/10
An 1840s British surgeon, experiments with anesthetic gases in an effort to make surgery pain-free. While doing so, his demonstration before a panel of his peers ends in a horrific mishap with his patient awakening under the knife; he is forced to leave his position in disgrace. To complicate matters, he becomes addicted to the gases and gets involved with a gang of criminals, led by Black Ben and his henchman Resurrection Joe.
The Depraved
5.3/10
Fed up with her wealthy but abusive husband, Tom (Basil Dignam), young English homemaker Laura Wilton (Anne Heywood) conspires with her lover, American Army captain Dave Dillon (Robert Arden), to have her boozy spouse meet an "accidental" demise. But a nosy copper (Denis Shaw) suspects foul play, and soon the lovers' crafty scheme deteriorates into fear, distrust and betrayal. Paul Dickson directs this vintage noir thriller.
The Counterfeit Plan
6/10
An escaped murderer flees France to England, where he forces an ex-forger, now established as a reputable estate owner, and the forger's daughter who knew nothing of his past, to counterfeit 5-pound notes for mass distribution around the countryside.
The Secret Partner
6.6/10
A shipping tycoon with a record becomes a suspect when money goes missing from the company vault.
Where the Spies Are
5.6/10
A local doctor is recruited as a cold war spy to fulfill a very important secret mission in the Middle East, only to experience that his mission is complicated by a sexy female double agent.
The Narrowing Circle
5.4/10
A journalist is framed for the murder of a rival and has to prove his innocence, whatever the cost.
