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4.9/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 4.9/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Tangled Evidence remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Honestly, only if you are deep into the weeds of British crime cinema from the 1930s. If you want something snappy or modern, skip it. If you like the smell of old celluloid and characters who spend half the movie just standing around talking about motives, you might find a charm here.
The whole thing kicks off with a medium getting himself murdered. It’s a bit of a shock, I guess, but the movie doesn't really treat it like a tragedy. It treats it like a crossword puzzle.
There is this one scene where the niece is being grilled by the police, and she just stares into the middle distance like she’s trying to remember if she left the stove on. It’s oddly captivating. The actors deliver their lines with this strange, clipped rhythm that nobody uses in real life, but it works for the genre.
The pacing is all over the place. Sometimes it feels like we are sprinting toward a clue, and other times we are just lingering on a doorway for way too long. It reminds me of the pacing issues in The Misleading Lady, where things just sort of happen because the script says so.
I found myself drifting off during the middle act. It just gets a bit repetitive, you know? It’s not quite as punchy as Shoot Straight, which at least kept things moving.
There is a moment near the end where the reveal happens, and I think the director just forgot to tell the lead actor how to react. He just sort of... stands there. It’s almost funny. It’s definitely not high art, but it has a weird, creaky heart to it.
Maybe it’s not for everyone. Maybe it’s not for most people. But it’s a tiny, peculiar piece of history that doesn't care if you like it or not. 🕵️♂️