Malice Aforethought (1931)
My review:
A
delightful
comedy (for this its main strength, not the fact that it was the first
“psychological thriller”—and I have my doubts about this: didn’t Mrs.
Belloc
Lowndes anticipate Cox?). Dr. Bickleigh,
a philandering medico suffering from an inferiority complex, determines
to rid
himself of his wife, a bullying and domineering shrew, in order to
marry his
mistress—who announces her engagement to another man immediately after
the
murder. (Of course, his “ingenious” plan
is immediately seen through by the other villagers.)
Wit is as good as the irony: excellent social
satire—St. Mary Mead steeped in venomed ink, with plenty of amusingly
catty
back-biting and some splendid caricatures.