hwg1957-102-265704 Review of Web of Evidence

Web of Evidence (1959)

"He used to boast he could spot a criminal a mile away"

[6/10 · 20 April 2023]

Unfortunately the American actors imported into this British movie as the leads, Van Johnson and Vera Miles, don't make much of an impact in the film and their romantic sub-plot is time-wastingly boring. The main plot of the sailor coming to Liverpool to find his father and discovering he was in prison wrongly for murder and thus trying to clear his name is rather routine. The identity of the real murderer comes out of nowhere. The film does have a great British cast though especially Bernard Lee as the father, Anthony Newlands as the newspaper reporter, Emlyn Williams as the Bible quoting businessman and Jean Kent as the perjuring witness. All were effective and deserved more screen time than they got. The location cinematography of the city Liverpool is well done and adds greatly to the atmosphere. Overall the ingredients were there for a fine film but it doesn't quite get the mix right. Not bad though.