GUILT IS MY SHADOW is a low rent British crime drama that fails thanks to the writing, in particular the character of Jamie played by Peter Reynolds. Jamie is the film's protagonist and gets way too much screen time considering that his obnoxious character is one of the most annoying ever; the viewer has to sit through scenes and scenes of him treating everybody like dirt, while the warm and sympathetic characters as played by Patrick Holt and Elizabeth Sellars don't get as much of a look in.The story's rural setting (it was filmed in Devon) is an interesting one. Jamie is a getaway driver who escapes the heat to live at his uncle's place, but he's soon getting involved in petty crime. The arrival of his wife complicates things. This is quite a slow paced story but it does pick up with a murderous twist later on. The acting is generally of a strong standard and there are bit parts for Esma Cannon and Desmond Llewelyn. A pity that the ending is prohibited by the usual moral constraints of the era as it ends on a very downbeat and depressing note.

I'm prejudiced in favour of GIMS because a lot of it was filmed in Devon c1950, just before I moved to the county, and I'm prone to nostalgia. I liked the scenes shot in Ashburton and the agricultural fair - very evocative of simpler - perhaps happier - times.Putting aside the Devon content, the film is a reasonable post-war low-budget film. Before seeing it, I hadn't been aware of Peter Reynolds, who came over as a type like David McCallum in his young tearabout roles. Elizabeth Sellars reminded me a little of Joan Collins, but nicer. And in a pub scene one can glimpse "Q" himself - Desmond Llewelyn. Apart from the token Devonshire accent, everyone seemed to speak every so nicely.Film industry conventions of the time demanded that people should pay for their crimes, whatever the provocation, and there were no great surprises at the end.The only jarring note was the scene in the foggy churchyard.GIMS was one of the best things I saw on TV over the Christmas-New Year period - which may not say much for everything else!Incidentally, there's a brief scene of a small train arriving at "Welford Station" - perhaps the branch line terminus at Ashburton. There was actually a Welford Park station on the Lambourn Valley Railway, north west of Newbury, that served the hamlet of Welford.

What started out as a typical police pursuit ended up as a Gothic nightmare with eerie dream sequences, obviously a homage to those "Gainsborough Gothic" style movies that were so popular in Britain after the war.Jamie is on the run from a robbery gone wrong, even in the first few seconds his cowardly nature is revealed as he takes off, leaving his partners in crime stranded on the bank steps, when he hears a police whistle. He quickly travels up north to visit his taciturn Uncle Kit (Patrick Holt) on his farm in a remote little community. From a few small scenes - disregarding a "Close the Gate" sign, mishandling a horse, big noting himself at the pub to pilfering the till at the garage where he has managed to find work because of his dexterity with cars - a picture is painted of a scheming lout who the audience has no sympathy for. Suddenly Linda appears, his wife he says and for once he is not lying but she is as pretty and decent as Jamie is sly and calculating.Once Elizabeth Sellars steps out of the car and is captivated by the wild, vast landscape, the focus of the film changes. She was a fresh, young film face whose ethereal look was used to advantage here and with scenes showing her compassion for an injured dog or a cow having a difficult birth, she fits right into the farming life. Linda's arrival doesn't phase Jamie who has just started seeing the local rich, bad girl Betty (Lana Morris started out in the 1940s with plenty of promise but spent the 1950s in Bs) and has already stolen funds to show her a good time. Linda finds him stealing money from Kit's safe and stands up to him - things get physical and Jamie is accidentally killed. The rest of the movie turns into a guilt ridden manifesto. Kit and Linda already have feelings for each other and together they try to wipe the crime from the face of the earth. Linda's guilty conscience arises in a series of dreams where she is running through the church-yard, falling into the abyss and standing against craggy rocks and there is a nightmarish, Gothic quality about them. Then Jamie's mother turns up...............Peter Reynolds who played the cowardly Jamie unfortunately died at 45 in a flat fire. He had moved to Sydney, Australia in the early 1970s and was a fixture of the small screen in shows like "Boney", "Division 4", "The Rovers", "Barrier Reef" and "Homicide".

Jamie the bad sheep of the family gets involved in a robbery and flees to his relatives farm in the west country.subsequently his wife arrives.however the wife falls for farm life and Patrick Holt simultaneously.The wife finds Jamie stealing money from a tin box.she struggles with him and eventually hits him on the head.he dies and is buried on the farm.his absence is noted and eventually the police come to search the farm but cannot find the body.however in one of those logic defying moments that happen so often in films of that era it is clear that the wife will confess to the police.it is extremely slow and in the end rather dull and disappointing.