THE TRYGON FACTOR

UK, 1966, 88 minutes, Colour.
Stewart Granger, Susan Hampshire, Cathleen Nesbitt, Robert Morley, James Culliford. Brigitte Horney. Sophie Hardy, James Robertson Justice.
Directed by Cyril Frankel.

The Trygon Factor is a passably entertaining British thriller. It is in the long line of British thrillers which rely on an atmosphere of mystery, offbeat touches, a solid Scotland Yard inspector and a gallery of English character actors and actresses to give impact to the film. The film is a bit nostalgic because most of the performers were in their heyday in,the '40s and '50s. Susan Hampshire, however, was making an impact in the '60s with performances in television series as The Forsyte Saga.

1. An interesting and entertaining mystery? Detective investigation? Thriller? Comic touches?

2. The importance of the colour photography? The location of Emberday Hall and English stately homes? The village? The convent? The technical style, lavish setting for a mystery? Musical score? Editing and pace?

3. How well did the film use the robbery conventions? The offbeat touches with the old lady as the head of the gang. her strange children. the convent with the bogus nuns? Sufficiently arresting for an entertaining offbeat thriller?

4. The plausibility of the plot? The Scotland Yard investigations? The use of Emberday Hall for murder and robberies and smuggling of gold? The performance of the robbery? The psychological strangeness of the characters? The resolution? Sufficient for a popular thriller?

5. Stewart Granger's solid style as Cooper?Smith? His background. his investigation. the encounters with Livia, the reaction to Trudy and Luke? Hubert Hamlyn? The help from Sophie? The dangers? The discovery about the nuns? The warehouse? Sophie's detection? The violent confrontations? The happy ending?

6. Sophie as heroine? Her involvement in the investigation? The romantic touch?

7. The villainous family: Cathleen Nesbitt as Livia Emberday? The genteel old English lady and her murderous and greedy intents? The ironic use of the gentle old lady and criminal touches? Trudy and her violence, fashion photographer, seeming niceness, dressing in men's clothes, the murders? Her death ? with its irony with the crucible and gold? Luke and his slow-wittedness? Dressing up? Decapitating flowers? His being shot by his mother? A comment on old English families!

8. The comic touches with Robert Morley and James Robertson Justice? Their ironic use for thriller purposes?

9. The gallery of nuns - the Mother Superior. the nuns and their work? The irony of glamorous villains dressed as nuns and working with contraband in a convent?

10. The violence, the murders, the robbery, the set action pieces, the final mayhem and resolution? All part of the thriller technique?