While investigating a murder case, a detective stumbles upon a rare-stamp swindle involving the victim's twin sister.While investigating a murder case, a detective stumbles upon a rare-stamp swindle involving the victim's twin sister.While investigating a murder case, a detective stumbles upon a rare-stamp swindle involving the victim's twin sister.
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Did you know
- TriviaFirst film of John Rhys-Davies.
- GoofsAs the police car gets on the motorway at the end of the start credits the driver says 'why's that' but his mouth says 'why not'.
Featured review
Not very memorable seventies crime drama
The historic riverside town of Windsor, home to the Royal Family, is a popular setting for British films, something due less to its Royal connections than to its closeness to Pinewood Studios. Two other films from the early seventies filmed in the area were "The Road Builder" and "No Sex Please, We're British".
"Penny Gold" is a murder mystery set in the town. A young woman named Diane, the owner of a local boutique, is brutally bludgeoned to death by an intruder in her flat. Her face is so disfigured that she is virtually unrecognisable, but the body is identified by her identical twin sister Delphi. Inspector Matthews of the CID is tasked with investigating the murder and soon realises that matters might be more complicated than they appear at first sight. Diane's killing appears to be linked to a plot to steal a valuable postage stamp, the "Penny Gold" of the title; Delphi works for a firm of stamp dealers owned by the sisters' stepfather.
As another reviewer has pointed out, the seventies were not the most distinguished decade in the history of the British cinema. When they weren't making tacky sex comedies or kitschy horror flicks, British film-makers of the period were often trying to repeat successes of the past, and "Penny Gold" is a crime drama of the sort which could easily have been made ten or even twenty years earlier (although in the fifties or sixties it would probably have been in black-and-white rather than colour). I was reminded in some respects of "Town on Trial", a film noir from 1957 which also deals with the murder of a young woman in a Home Counties town.
"Penny Gold" is not altogether a bad film; there is an ingenious twist which provides Matthews with the solution to the mystery. (At least, it probably seemed ingenious in 1973 before twist endings became overfamiliar through overuse in the eighties and nineties). It is not, however, a film which really stays in the mind and has no acting contributions of any great note, even though it starred some well-known faces. I would not rate it as highly as something like "Town on Trial" which was not only a crime drama but which also made some pertinent points about the complacency and hypocrisy of the English middle classes. 5/10.
"Penny Gold" is a murder mystery set in the town. A young woman named Diane, the owner of a local boutique, is brutally bludgeoned to death by an intruder in her flat. Her face is so disfigured that she is virtually unrecognisable, but the body is identified by her identical twin sister Delphi. Inspector Matthews of the CID is tasked with investigating the murder and soon realises that matters might be more complicated than they appear at first sight. Diane's killing appears to be linked to a plot to steal a valuable postage stamp, the "Penny Gold" of the title; Delphi works for a firm of stamp dealers owned by the sisters' stepfather.
As another reviewer has pointed out, the seventies were not the most distinguished decade in the history of the British cinema. When they weren't making tacky sex comedies or kitschy horror flicks, British film-makers of the period were often trying to repeat successes of the past, and "Penny Gold" is a crime drama of the sort which could easily have been made ten or even twenty years earlier (although in the fifties or sixties it would probably have been in black-and-white rather than colour). I was reminded in some respects of "Town on Trial", a film noir from 1957 which also deals with the murder of a young woman in a Home Counties town.
"Penny Gold" is not altogether a bad film; there is an ingenious twist which provides Matthews with the solution to the mystery. (At least, it probably seemed ingenious in 1973 before twist endings became overfamiliar through overuse in the eighties and nineties). It is not, however, a film which really stays in the mind and has no acting contributions of any great note, even though it starred some well-known faces. I would not rate it as highly as something like "Town on Trial" which was not only a crime drama but which also made some pertinent points about the complacency and hypocrisy of the English middle classes. 5/10.
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- JamesHitchcock
- Jun 16, 2023
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Details
- Runtime1 hour 27 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.75 : 1
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