Girl in the Headlines (a.k.a. The Model Girl Murder Case) is a 1963 British detective film directed by Michael Truman and starring Ian Hendry, Ronald Fraser, Jeremy Brett, and Jane Asher. It is based on the 1961 novel The Nose on my Face by actor Laurence Payne.
Plot
Inspector Birkett and Sergeant Saunders are called in to investigate the murder of a glamorous model. It becomes apparent that the girl had led a chequered life and her acquaintances included drug dealers. Jordan and Hammond Barker are reluctant to help but when the police finally make an arrest, another murder occurs in a seedy Soho jazz café. But are the two murders connected?
Cast
Ian Hendry – Inspector Birkett
Ronald Fraser – Sergeant Saunders
Margaret Johnston – Mrs Gray
Natasha Parry – Perlita Barker
Jeremy Brett – Jordan Barker
Kieron Moore – Herter
Peter Arne – Hammond Barker
Jane Asher – Lindy Birkett
Rosalie Crutchley – Maude Klein
Robert Harris – William Lamotte
Duncan Macrae – Barney
Zena Walker – Mildred Birkett
James Villiers – David Dane
Alan White – Inspector Blackwell
Martin Boddey – Inspector
Marie Burke – Madame Lavalle
Patrick Holt – Walbrook
Douglas Muir – Fingerprint expert
Critical reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "An unexpected pleasure is the manner in which this film takes a routine whodunnit Scotland Yard investigation and turns it into positively good, sometimes charming and, in the end, suspenseful entertainment. Its success is due to its good script, the unusually agreeable characterisation of the two investigators, a nice vein of humour (some of the best lines are almost thrown away, so inconsequentially are they delivered), the contrast provided by the Inspector's domestic life (not overdone as is so often the case), and a generally high level of acting. Effectively directed by Michael Truman, it may not aim very high, but it aims."
The New Statesman called the film a "with-it British thriller about a murdered high-living whore. Who did it is kept in sprightly abeyance [...] Patrick Campbell and Vivienne Knight wrote the script, which embraces a scrubby queer club and a copper who digs opera. In a finely selected cast everyone shines."
Variety called the film “A crisp, well made whodunit, with plenty red herrings to keep an audience guessing. Neither the screenplay nor Michael Truman's direction call for undue histrionics. Result is that the cops look, talk and behave like cops and the varied suspects, though mainly larger than life, are completely credible types."
Leslie Halliwell wrote: "Standard police mystery, well enough done."
The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "This sleazy whodunnit could have been compiled from a random leaf through the Sunday scandal sheets. At times it seems as if every known vice has been woven into the labyrinthine plot, which centres on the efforts of cop lan Hendry to prise clues to the identity of a model's killer out of her friends and family. Hendry's commitment and the Watsonesque support of his sergeant (Ronald Fraser) keep you curious."