Projecting the Archive

Murder in the Family

+ intro by Josephine Botting, BFI National Archive Curator

Jessica Tandy and Evelyn Ankers starred in this neat British crime drama before they were snapped up by Hollywood.

  • Director

    Albert Parker

  • With

    Barry Jones, Jessica Tandy, Evelyn Ankers, Donald Gray

  • UK 1938. 76min

  • 35mm

  • Certificate

    PG

  • A BFI National Archive Print

Following the death of a rich elderly aunt, a suspicion of murder falls on the extended family, plunging them into turmoil. The slender plot of this Fox-British quota film, based on a 1936 crime novel, is enlivened considerably by director Parker and an expert homegrown crew. Carmen Dillon’s set designs, and the camerawork of Ronald Neame and Oswald Morris, make for a stylish film with occasional surreal visuals. But the main draw is its top-notch performers. Headliners Tandy and Ankers went on to Hollywood stardom but are upstaged here by Roddy McDowall and Glynis Johns as the children of the brood.

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