MURDER AT 45 R.P.M. (1960)
aka Meurtre en 45 tours
Article 3818 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-17-2012
Posting Date: 1-27-2012
Directed by Etienne Perier
Featuring Danielle Darrieux, Michel Auclair, Jean Servais
Country: France
What it is: Suspense thriller with twists

A songstress in an unhappy marriage with a songwriter is secretly in love with her pianist. When the songwriter dies in an automobile accident, the songstress and the pianist suspect each other of having murdered him. But could it be possible that he’s not really dead…?

The horror content here is that the plot touches at one point on the possibility that the songwriter may have returned from the dead, but this touch is pretty light, and there’s really nothing else here to to make this one anything more than marginalia as far as the this project is concerned. I found the movie passable. What I liked best is how the movie plays with your expectations by the presence of a single scene of a man trying to hitch a ride shortly before the accident occurs; I couldn’t help but notice how this scene really sets up a situation that keeps you wondering about the truth of the situation until it is finally resolved at the end of the movie. Still, one problem that this movie has is that it all has to be explained sooner or later, and the explanation here starts falling apart the minute you give it any serious thought. Still, I think it worked well enough as an okay thriller.