Ten Minute Alibi

Phillip Holmes loves Aileen Marson, but she’s about to go off to foreign lands with fascinating Frenchman Theo Shall, which will make her That Sort Of Woman. A bare hour before they are due to leave, Holmes goes to her home to beg her not to…. and finds Shall dead. When detective George Merritt gets there, he finds the timeline wonky. Did Holmes arrive before Shall, or after? A matter of ten minutes willmake the difference between his innocence and guilt!The copy of this movie was a Pathe cutdown of the original, from about 75 minutes to little more than 45, but the heart of the story remains complete, if a trifle melodramatic in its rendering. The early effort by Bernard Vorhaus is quick, efficient, and has all the hallmarks of being a slightly expanded stage play. Morton Selton plays his typical bluff, harrumphing aristo, and if no one covers themselves in glory, at 45 minutes it’s a quick,inoffensive bit of film.