When a man lives a double life, the two lives are bound to intersect eventually, which is exactly what happens to antiquarian Desius Heiss (Oskar Homolka) in George King’s The Shop at Sly Corner. A shopkeeper and collector of art and antiques, Heiss is a dedicated father to his daughter Margaret (Muriel Pavlow) who dreams of a career as a classic violinist. What nobody knows, however, is that Heiss years earlier escaped from Devil’s Island, where he was serving a murder sentence, changed his identity, and relocated to London where his antique store is a front for fencing stolen goods. In a brilliant performance as a total scumbag, Kenneth Griffith plays Heiss’s shop assistant Archie Fellows, who uses his accidental discovery of Heiss’s secret criminal life as leverage for blackmail, promising to remain silent only if Heiss forks over regular payments to fund his acquisitions of cars and clothes. The tension soon turns to hatred, which leads to dramatic conclusions for all involved, including murder, suicide, and an epic solo performance of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor. Derek Farr plays Margaret’s upstanding fiancé Robert Graham, Kathleen Harrison delivers comic relief as housekeeper Mrs. Catt, and Diana Dors, in her film debut at 16 years old, plays Archie’s misguided admirer Mildred. Having made his name as a director of British thrillers starring Tod Slaughter in the 1930’s, King does a nice job injecting noir style through, for example, the use of oblique angles and mirror reflections to convey Heiss’s growing inner turmoil.