Based on a play by Aldous Huxley.
Plot
Henry Hutton is a wealthy man who lives in an English country house
with his crippled wife, Emily, who is looked after by Nurse Braddock.
Their neighbour is Janet Spence, an unmarried woman who looks after her
crippled father and is in love with Henry. She believes Henry loves her but has been hiding it because of Emily.
When Emily dies of what is presumed to be heart failure, Janet declares her love, but Henry is going to marry a younger woman, Doris Mead.
Angry at rejection, Emily hints to Nurse Braddock that Emily might have been murdered. An autopsy is performed and arsenic is found in the body of Emily. Janet testifies that she had never heard Mrs Hutton discuss suicide.
Then Nurse Braddock thinks the death might not be natural and demands an autopsy.
Cast
- Alexander Hay as Henry Hutton
- Elizabeth Wing as Janet Spence
- Fay Kelton as Doris Mead
- Williams Lloyd as Dr Libbard
- Roma Johnston as Nurse Braddock
- Kevin Colebrook
- Joan Letch
- Olga Tennison
- Douglas Kelly
Original play
It was written as a short story then turned into a 1948 stage play.
Other adaptations
The play was adapted for British TV in 1957 as the ITV Play of the Week and 1963 for the ITV Play of the Week.
It was also adapted for US TV in 1953, 1954, and in 1960.
The story was filmed in 1948 as the feature film A Woman's Vengeance.
There were so many versions of this tale, why have an Australian one?
Oh it was also adapted for ABC radio in 1963.
Production
It was filmed in Melbourne. Patrick Barton directed. The television production was written by Norman Gear.
Someone called Norman Gear did the adaptation. I think he was a journalist.
Reception
The Sydney Morning Herald TV critic thought that the adaptation had "little left of this story' s original quality... the action and sets were curiously stiff and limited by TV standards, although some Hitchcock horror close-ups and the background music of a hysterical harpsichord added to its pretensions as a "whodunnit."
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| The Age TV Guide 24 Oct 1963 |
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| SMH TV Guide 28 Oct 1963 p 4 |
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| Canberra Times 1 Jan 1964 p 11 |
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| The Age TV Guide 24 Oct 1963 p 3 |
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| SMH 2 Jan 1964 p 5 |
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