{{Short description|1963 British film by Vernon Sewell}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}} {{Use British English|date=June 2016}} {{Infobox film | name = A Matter of Choice | image = A_Matter_of_Choice.jpg | caption = Opening titles | director = Vernon Sewell | producer = George Maynard | writer = Paul Ryder | story = Derren Nesbitt<br />Vernon Sewell | starring = Malcolm Gerard<br />Michael Davis<br />Anthony Steel<br />Jeanne Moody<br />Ballard Berkeley | cinematography = Arthur Lavis | editing = Lee Doig | music = Robert Sharples (composed & conducted by) | studio = Holmwood Productions | budget = £23,671<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/114988/1/Bryanston_Films_An_Experiment_in_Cooperative_Independent_Film_Production_and_Distribution.pdf|last=Petrie|first= Duncan James |year=2017|title= Bryanston Films : An Experiment in Cooperative Independent Production and Distribution|journal= Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television| issn= 1465-3451|page=7 }}</ref> | distributor = British Lion Films {{small|(UK)}} | released = {{Film date|1963|07|03|UK|df=y}} | runtime = 79 minutes<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/matter-choice-1963 |title=A Matter of Choice |access-date=8 March 2017 |archive-date=9 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309065655/http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/matter-choice-1963 |url-status=dead }}</ref> | country = United Kingdom | language = English }} '''''A Matter of Choice''''' is a 1963 British black and white drama film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Malcolm Gerard, Michael Davis, Anthony Steel, Jeanne Moody and Ballard Berkeley.<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=A Matter of Choice |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150013021 |access-date=14 January 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> The screenplay was by Paul Ryder based on an original story by Sewell and Derren Nesbitt.
It was one of a number of low budget British films Steel made in the 1960s while based in Rome.<ref name="vagg">{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/the-emasculation-of-anthony-steel-a-cold-streak-saga/|title=The Emasculation of Anthony Steel: A Cold Streak Saga |date=September 23, 2020}}</ref>
==Plot== Mike and Tony are two youths out looking for girls and entertainment. After a chaotic evening, they accidentally knock a policeman into the path of a car. As they flee the scene the male passenger, John Crighton, runs after them. Mike throws a brick at Crighton and he collapses unconscious. Panicking, they move him to the unlocked garage of a nearby house, owned by businessman Charles Grant, and anonymously call an ambulance. Crighton, a diabetic, subsequently dies in hospital. When the police arrive Grant discovers that his wife Lisa has been having an affaire with Crighton.
==Cast== * Malcolm Gerard as Mike * Michael Davis as Tony * Anthony Steel as John Crighton * Jeanne Moody as Lisa Grant * Ballard Berkeley as Charles Grant * Penny Morrell as Jackie * Lisa Peake as Jane * James Bree as Alfred * George Moon as Spike * Richard Bebb as waiter * Garard Green as shopkeeper * Frank Pettitt as police sergeant * Frank Shelley as police doctor
==Production== Sewell called the film "a disaster":<blockquote> I had been working with this man and, I had said, "I won't work with you again." And he writes to me, he says, "Look here, I've got a contract, I can make your story, 'Matter of Choice.'" I said, "No, absolutely out, absolutely out!" He said, "Well, would you sell me the script?" I said, "That, I will do," and I sold him the script. Then his wife rings me up and says, "Vernon, I'm in a desperate position. George can't get the film floated without you, and if he doesn't do it, this is our last chance, he's going to kill himself." I should have said, "Well let him do it" but I didn't. I said, "Well now, OK, if I do this, is it going to be, (this, this, this and this?)?" She said, "Yes, it's all wonderful." Of course when I got to it, the sets were terrible, the whole thing was a disaster, disaster. I don't think it appeared at all, I don't think it was ever shown. The idea of the story was good, but, you see, it had to be – he said he had a find, a wonderful new star, and I gave her the sack the first day, couldn't work. Tony Steel was in it and was pissed all the time. Oh it was a disaster... a bloody awful movie, because the thing was buggered up.<ref name="vernon">{{cite web |last=Fowler |first=Roy |date=8 July 1994 |title=Vernon Sewell |url=https://historyproject.org.uk/interview/vernon-sewell |website=British Entertainment History Project}}</ref></blockquote>
== Critical reception == ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' wrote: "This very moral tale, dependent for its dénouement on the thundering coincidence that assembles all five characters in the same mews flat, is slow as a thriller and despite its incursions into social realism, notably in the portrayal of Mike and Tony, unexciting on any other level."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1966 |title=A Matter of Choice |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305820640 |journal=The Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=33 |issue=384 |pages=141 |id={{ProQuest|1305820640}} }}</ref>
==Home media== The film was released on DVD, paired with ''Jungle Street'' (1960), by Odeon Entertainment in 2008.
==References== <references/>
==External links== * {{IMDb title|0057296}}
{{Vernon Sewell}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matter of Choice, A}} Category:1963 films Category:1963 drama films Category:Films directed by Vernon Sewell Category:British drama films Category:1963 English-language films Category:1963 British films Category:Films scored by Robert Sharples Category:English-language drama films Category:British black-and-white films