A Matter of Choice

1963 British film by Vernon Sewell

3 July 1963 (1963-07-03) (UK)

Running time

79 minutes^[1]CountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglishBudget£23,671^[2]

A Matter of Choice is a 1963 British black and white drama film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Malcolm Gerard, Michael Davis, Anthony Steel, Jeanne Moody and Ballard Berkeley.^[3] The screenplay was by Paul Ryder based on an original story by Sewell and Derren Nesbitt.

It was one of a number of low budget British films Steel made in the 1960s while based in Rome.^[4]

Plot

Mike and Tony are two youths out looking for girls and entertainment. After a chaotic evening, they accidentally knock a policeman into the path of a car. As they flee the scene the male passenger, John Crighton, runs after them. Mike throws a brick at Crighton and he collapses unconscious. Panicking, they move him to the unlocked garage of a nearby house, owned by businessman Charles Grant, and anonymously call an ambulance. Crighton, a diabetic, subsequently dies in hospital. When the police arrive Grant discovers that his wife Lisa has been having an affaire with Crighton.

Cast

Malcolm Gerard as Mike
Michael Davis as Tony
Anthony Steel as John Crighton
Jeanne Moody as Lisa Grant
Ballard Berkeley as Charles Grant
Penny Morrell as Jackie
Lisa Peake as Jane
James Bree as Alfred
George Moon as Spike
Richard Bebb as waiter
Garard Green as shopkeeper
Frank Pettitt as police sergeant
Frank Shelley as police doctor

Production

Sewell called the film "a disaster":

I had been working with this man and, I had said, "I won't work with you again." And he writes to me, he says, "Look here, I've got a contract, I can make your story, 'Matter of Choice.'" I said, "No, absolutely out, absolutely out!" He said, "Well, would you sell me the script?" I said, "That, I will do," and I sold him the script. Then his wife rings me up and says, "Vernon, I'm in a desperate position. George can't get the film floated without you, and if he doesn't do it, this is our last chance, he's going to kill himself." I should have said, "Well let him do it" but I didn't. I said, "Well now, OK, if I do this, is it going to be, (this, this, this and this?)?" She said, "Yes, it's all wonderful." Of course when I got to it, the sets were terrible, the whole thing was a disaster, disaster. I don't think it appeared at all, I don't think it was ever shown. The idea of the story was good, but, you see, it had to be – he said he had a find, a wonderful new star, and I gave her the sack the first day, couldn't work. Tony Steel was in it and was pissed all the time. Oh it was a disaster... a bloody awful movie, because the thing was buggered up.^[5]

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This very moral tale, dependent for its dénouement on the thundering coincidence that assembles all five characters in the same mews flat, is slow as a thriller and despite its incursions into social realism, notably in the portrayal of Mike and Tony, unexciting on any other level."^[6]

Home media

The film was released on DVD, paired with Jungle Street (1960), by Odeon Entertainment in 2008.

References

^ "A MATTER OF CHOICE | British Board of Film Classification". Archived from the original on 9 March 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
^ Petrie, Duncan James (2017). "Bryanston Films : An Experiment in Cooperative Independent Production and Distribution" (PDF). Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television: 7. ISSN 1465-3451.
^ "A Matter of Choice". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
^ Vagg, Stephen (23 September 2020). "The Emasculation of Anthony Steel: A Cold Streak Saga". Filmink.
^ Fowler, Roy (8 July 1994). "Vernon Sewell". British Entertainment History Project.
^ "A Matter of Choice". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 33 (384): 141. 1 January 1966 – via ProQuest.