Night Beat (1947 film)

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Night Beat
"Night Beat" (1947).jpg
Song sheet tie-in with Christine Norden
Directed by Harold Huth
Written by Guy Morgan
T. J. Morrison
Produced byHarold Huth
Starring Anne Crawford
Maxwell Reed
Ronald Howard
Hector Ross
Christine Norden
Cinematography Václav Vích
Edited by Grace Garland
Music by Benjamin Frankel
Production
companies
Harold Huth Productions
British Lion Films
Distributed byBritish Lion Film Corporation (UK)
Release date
  • 22 December 1947 (1947-12-22)(Sweden)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£175,118 [1]
Box office£153,438 (UK) [2]

Night Beat is a 1947 British Brit noir crime thriller drama film directed by Harold Huth and starring Anne Crawford, Maxwell Reed, Ronald Howard, Hector Ross, Christine Norden and Sid James. Following the Second World War, the two comrades go their separate ways; one joins the Metropolitan Police while the other begins a police career but becomes a racketeer in post-war London. [3] Sky Movies described the film as a "British thriller that examines a challenging issue of its times: the problems encountered by servicemen when trying to adjust to civilian life." [4]

Contents

Cast

Box office

As of 30 June 1949 the film earned £118,578 in the UK of which £90,028 went to the producer. [1]

Critical reception

The Radio Times wrote, "a relishably bad British crime drama set in an unreal Soho underworld of spivs and nightclubs. It's a compendium of clichés...Benjamin Frankel's score is better than the film deserves." [5] Allmovie wrote, "though its starts out strong, Night Beat metamorphoses into standard melodramatics towards the end." [6] Britmovie wrote, "fast-paced British crime melodrama...The two lead actors are particularly wooden and it’s left to the supporting cast to add some lowlife colour; particularly Maxwell Reed’s smug villain, Christine Norden as the vampish blonde, Sid James piano playing snout and a brief appearance by Michael Medwin as an indignant petty crook." [7]

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References

  1. 1 2 Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 354
  2. ↑ Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p486
  3. ↑ "Night Beat". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 January 2009.
  4. ↑ "Night Beat". Find and Watch.
  5. ↑ Allen Eyles. "Night Beat". RadioTimes.
  6. ↑ "Night Beat (1948) – Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast – AllMovie". AllMovie.
  7. ↑ "Night Beat".


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