Monday 23 June 2014

Gideon of Scotland Yard (1958 John Ford)

We accompany tetchy, efficient and cool in a crisis Scotland Yard detective Jack Hawkins as he deals with corruption in the ranks, payroll snatches and murder - the latter two triggered somewhat implausibly by an impoverished artist, with comic relief from former army colleague (and David Niven's great mate) Michael Trubshawe and a salmon (which must have gone off by the end of the day).

Anna Massey debuts aged 21 (we later saw one of her last performances in Lewis in  2007). Cyril Cusack, considering he is top billed support, is in it as little as he is in any film.

Ealing's TEB Clarke comments on a woman who 'went from pro to dopey'... I wonder if that in itself was a censorship issue?

Photographed by the fabulous Freddie Young in a largely location-set London by Western specialist Ford.

No comments:

Post a Comment