Reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Originally Grand National Night was a stage play. Here it has been given its full quota of movement, mostly by shots of horses in training and a glimpse of the race itself. The padding has been a bit overdone, but it all helps to create the appropriate atmosphere. ... Careful direction by Bob McNaught, combined with a felicitous use of close-ups, give a certain polish to a moderate thriller." [4]
Kine Weekly wrote: "Ingenious 'murder mystery' melodrama, smoothly adapted from the West End Success. ... Nat Gould and Edgar Wallace in one, it's a cast-iron bet for the 'populars'." [5]
Variety wrote: "Having started life as a legit hit and later being adapted as a radio play, Grand National Night has now gone full circle and emerged as a solid, satisfying British picture. ... It has been staged in good taste and has been tautly directed to keep the suspense at a peak." [6]
Picturegoer wrote: "Quite a good murder drama, but not an outstanding one, largely because the plot is unconvincing. ... Despite the limitations of the plot, the film is ably directed by Bob MacNaught." [7]
Leslie Halliwell said: "Slightly dubious morally, but otherwise an adequate detective story with the outcome hinging on train timetables and the like." [8]
The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "Having been a hit on stage and then as a radio serial, Dorothy and Campbell Christie's play is ably brought to the screen. ..the cat-and-mouse game involving Michael Hordern (who excels as a dogged detective) is teased out with mischievous ingenuity." [9]
In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Middling but well-crafted thriller." [10]
The Limping Man is a 1953 British second feature ('B') film noir directed by Cy Endfield and starring Lloyd Bridges, Moira Lister and Leslie Phillips. The film was made at Merton Park Studios and was written by Ian Stuart Black and Reginald Long based on Anthony Verney's novel Death on the Tideway. Endfield directed it under the pseudonym Charles de Lautour due to his blacklisting in Hollywood. Location shooting took place around London including The Mayflower pub in Rotherhithe.
The Good Die Young is a 1954 British crime film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Laurence Harvey, Gloria Grahame, Joan Collins, Stanley Baker, Richard Basehart and John Ireland. It was made by Remus Films from a screenplay by Vernon Harris and Gilbert based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Richard Macaulay. It tells the story of four men in London with no criminal past whose marriages and finances are collapsing and, meeting in a pub, are tempted to redeem their situations by a robbery.
The Night My Number Came Up is a 1955 British supernatural drama film directed by Leslie Norman and starring Michael Redgrave, Sheila Sim and Alexander Knox. The screenplay by R. C. Sherrif was based on an incident in the life of British Air Marshal Sir Victor Goddard whose journal was published in The Saturday Evening Post of 26 May 1951.
Forbidden Cargo is a 1954 British crime film directed by Harold French and starring Nigel Patrick, Elizabeth Sellars and Jack Warner. It was written by Sydney Box.
The Flanagan Boy is a 1953 British film noir directed by Reginald Le Borg. It was made by Hammer Film Productions and stars Barbara Payton, Tony Wright, Frederick Valk and Sid James. It was based on the 1949 novel of the same name by Max Catto.
Escape by Night is a 1953 British second feature ('B') crime film directed and written by John Gilling and starring Bonar Colleano, Andrew Ray, Sid James and Simone Silva.
Street Corner is a 1953 British drama film directed by Muriel Box and starring Peggy Cummins, Terence Morgan, Anne Crawford, Rosamund John and Barbara Murray. It was written by Muriel Box and Sydney Box. While it is not quite a documentary, the film depicts the daily routine of women in the police force from three different angles. It was conceived as a female version of the 1950 film The Blue Lamp.
Dancing with Crime is a 1947 British film noir film directed by John Paddy Carstairs, starring Richard Attenborough, Barry K. Barnes and Sheila Sim. A man hunts down the killer of his lifelong friend.
No Trees in the Street is a 1959 British crime thriller directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Sylvia Syms, Herbert Lom and Melvyn Hayes. It was written by Ted Willis, from his 1948 stage play of the same name.
Saloon Bar is a 1940 British comedy thriller film directed by Walter Forde and starring Gordon Harker, Elizabeth Allan and Mervyn Johns. It was made by Ealing Studios and its style has led to comparisons with the later Ealing Comedies, unlike other wartime Ealing films which are different in tone. It is based on the 1939 play of the same name by Frank Harvey in which Harker had also starred. An amateur detective tries to clear an innocent man of a crime before the date of his execution.
Who Goes There! I is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring Nigel Patrick, Valerie Hobson and George Cole. It was written by John Dighton based on his 1950 play Who Goes There!. The film depicts the farcical activities of the various inhabitants of a grace and favour house near St James's Palace in Central London.
Whispering Smith Hits London is a 1952 British second feature ('B') mystery film directed by Francis Searle and starring Richard Carlson, Greta Gynt and Herbert Lom. The screenplay was by John Gilling. It was released in the United States by RKO Pictures.
Cover Girl Killer is a 1959 black and white British 'B' thriller film written and directed by Terry Bishop and starring Harry H. Corbett, Felicity Young, Victor Brooks and Spencer Teakle.
Escape Route is a 1952 British black-and-white second feature thriller film, directed by Seymour Friedman and Peter Graham Scott, and starring George Raft, Sally Gray and Clifford Evans.
Blackout is a 1950 British second feature ('B') crime drama film directed by Robert S. Baker and starring Maxwell Reed and Dinah Sheridan. The screenplay was by John Gilling from a story by Carl Nystrom.
The Diamond is a 1954 British film noir crime film directed by Montgomery Tully, and starring Dennis O'Keefe, Margaret Sheridan and Philip Friend. It is based on the 1952 novel Rich Is the Treasure by Maurice Procter. It was released by United Artists in Britain and in America, where it was known as The Diamond Wizard.
Meet Simon Cherry is a 1949 British second feature ('B') mystery film directed by Godfrey Grayson and starring Hugh Moxey. The screenplay was by Grayson and A. R. Rawlinson based on the BBC radio series Meet the Rev by Gale Pedrick, featuring the crime solving cleric.
Passport to Treason is a 1956 British second feature mystery thriller directed by Robert S. Baker and starring Rod Cameron, Lois Maxwell, and Clifford Evans. It was written by Kenneth R. Hayles and Norman Hudis, based on the Manning O'Brine novel of the same name.
Mrs. Pym of Scotland Yard is a 1939 British comedy-drama film directed by Fred Elles starring Mary Clare in her only title role and Nigel Patrick in his film debut. It is based on the Mrs Pym novels by Nigel Morland, and written by Morland, who re-used the title for a 1946 book.
13 East Street is a 1952 British second feature ('B') crime thriller film directed by Robert S. Baker and starring Patrick Holt, Sandra Dorne and Sonia Holm. It was written by John Gilling, Carl Nystrom and Baker and produced by Tempean Films.
