Movie Review: Alias John Preston (1955)
Synopsis: The wealthy John Preston moves to a small town and, mostly because of his money, is embraced by the community. Before long, he is even engaged to marry Sally Sandford. However, Preston has a secret. He keeps dreaming he is someone else who has done some bad things and the local physician, Dr. Walton, suspects Preston's dreams may be suppressed memories.
Who's in it? The movie stars Christopher Lee, Betta St. John, Alexander Knox, Sandra Dorne and John Stuart.
Review: I haven't seen a whole lot of classic Christopher Lee movies that didn't involve a vampire or some other monster so when I came across Alias John Preston on ScreenPix, I decided to give it a try. Overall, I would describe it as an OK choice.
The overall plot was intriguing. From the start, there just felt like something was a bit off about Preston (Lee), to the point I wondered if maybe the town's residents were just a little too trusting. However, there was nothing to indicate he was trying to dupe anyone. He legitimately was rich and his intentions toward Sally (St. John) seemed honest.
As the movie progressed, Preston's dreams had a nice mystery to them. On one hand, it could have been a situation where he was remembering some sort of past event. On the other, based on the way the woman who showed up in his dreams, Sylvia (Dorne) was so quick to blackmail him, I did wonder if maybe someone was gaslighting him.
The ending to the movie was also an intriguing one, mostly because as the truth came out, it was unclear what choice Sally would make regarding her engagement, especially since she had other suitors. The explanation of what was happening also wasn't completely unexpected but still interesting.
My biggest complaint about the movie is the slower pacing did make it seem much longer than its 71-minute runtime. When it was all said and done, there really wasn't a whole lot that happened in this movie, it was just stretched out to make it seem that way. I would have preferred to either see more packed into the film or a bit more editing to shorten it down to maybe a more efficient 60 minutes.
Final Opinion: It does tend to drag at times, but the overall plot and some solid acting do make the movie worth taking the time to watch.
My Grade: B-
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Here are some reviews of other movies from 1955:
Movie Review: The Glass Slipper (1955)
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