Anything to Declare?

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Anything to Declare?
Anything to Declare%3F.jpg
Directed by Redd Davis
Written byHayter Preston
Starring John Loder
Noel Madison
Belle Chrystall
Production
company
Rembrandt Film Productions
Distributed by Butcher's Film Service (UK)
Release date
  • December 1938 (1938-12)
Running time
76 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£18,428 [1]

Anything to Declare? is a 1938 British crime thriller film directed by Redd Davis and starring John Loder, Noel Madison and Belle Chrystall. [2] It was written by Hayter Preston and shot at Nettlefold Studios in Walton-on-Thames.

Contents

Plot

A new gas formula that can be used as a deadly weapon invented by a pioneering British scientist draws the interest of a shadowy peace movement, which masks a more sinister intent. [3]

Cast

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Highly topical thriller. ... Noel Madison gives strength to the plot by his forceful and unscrupulous Dr. Klee, John Loder is somewhat too leisured and gentlemanly as Grant, and Belle Chrystall becomes submerged in a mere 'pretty daughter' part. But the film is very up to date in interest and there are many interesting and humorous scenes." [4]

Kine Weekly wrote: "Espionage melodrama, deftly manufactured from a thrilling, hard-hitting formula. Romance and villainy are, of course, the principal ingredients, and these are paraded in suspenseful, exciting sequence. Topicality is an artful aid to effective presentation. The characterisations, particularly that contributed by Noel Madison, as villain, is [sic] good, and so are the production qualities. First-rate popular booking." [5]

Picturegoer wrote: "There is plenty of punch in this cut-to-pattern spy melodrama ... Continuity is a little ragged at times, and generally the development tends to be ingenious. Nevertheless, the fanatic's attempts to gain possession of an anti-gas formula from a famous scientist, have popular thrills and there is a touch of the spectacular in a gas demonstration and an attempt on the scientist's life. Noel Madison is very good as Klee and John Loder sound as a Secret Service Agent. Belle Chrystall is an attractive heroine." [6]

Picture Show wrote: "Although the well-worn theme of the Secret Service man who foils the attempts of a gang of spies to secure a secret formula is used as the basis of this melodrama, the inclusion of A.R.P. demonstrations gives it a dash of novelty. It is competently directed and acted." [7]

References

  1. ↑ Chapman, Llewella. "'The highest salary ever paid to a human being': Creating a Database of Film Costs from the Bank of England". Journal of British cinema and television, 2022-10. Vol. 19, no. 4. Edinburgh University Press. p. 470-494 at 479.
  2. ↑ "Anything to Declare?". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
  3. ↑ "Anything to Declare? (1938)". BFI. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009.
  4. ↑ "Anything to Declare?". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 5 (49): 255. 1 January 1938. ProQuest   1305802086.
  5. ↑ "Anything to Declare?". Kine Weekly . 261 (1648): 20. 17 November 1938.
  6. ↑ "Anything to Declare?". Picturegoer . 8: 22. 8 March 1939. ProQuest   1771127122.
  7. ↑ "Anything to Declare?". Picture Show . 40 (1038): 19. 18 March 1939. ProQuest   1880304734.
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