The Armchair Detective

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The Armchair Detective
Directed by Brendan J. Stafford
Written by Ernest Dudley
Derek Elphinstone
Produced byDerek Elphinstone
Donald Ginsberg
StarringErnest Dudley
Hartley Power
Sally Newton
CinematographyBrendan J. Stafford
Music by John Hollingsworth
Production
company
Meridian Films
Distributed byApex Film Distributors
Release date
  • 1952 (1952)
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Armchair Detective is a 1952 British second feature ('B') [1] mystery film directed by Brendan J. Stafford and starring Ernest Dudley, Hartley Power, and Sally Newton. [2] It was written by Dudley and Derek Elphinstone based on Dudley's BBC radio series of the same name, [3] and made at Viking Studios.

Contents

Cast

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Second feature British 'Whodunnit,' obviously cheaply made, and poorly directed. The film serves to show how very far the British are behind their slick American counterparts at this type of thing. Sally Newton (daughter of Robert Newton) once or twice shines through the blanket of the script in this, her first film." [4]

Picturegoer wrote: "Ernest Dudley, the Armchair Detective, brings his radio character to screen-life in a competent whodunit. For a few brief moments everything points to something unusual – the piece opens with a bright little scene satirizing a B.B.C. crime serial. But this outbreak of originality is hastily suppressed, and the film subsides into a well-carpentered but routine mystery ... Frankly, the Armchair Detective is an insufferable prig, alternately patronizing and then snubbing the Scotland Yard bunglers. Dudley acts as smoothly as he writes, Hartley Power is caddish enough in a hammy role; and there's a girl called Sally Newton, Satie of Robert Newton, who looks very promising material." [5]

Picture Show wrote: "Ernest Dudley, noted as the B.B.C. Armchair Detective, stars in this melodrama of a night-club singer who believes that she has killed her employer. Neatly directed, efficiently acted." [6]

According to Stephen Chibnall in The British 'B' Film, "critics thought it better heard than seen." [1]

References

  1. 1 2 Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. p. 127. ISBN   978-1-8445-7319-6.
  2. ↑ "The Armchair Detective". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
  3. ↑ "The Armchair Detective". BBC Programme Index. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
  4. ↑ "The Armchair Detective". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 19 (216): 19. 1 January 1952. ProQuest   1305810374.
  5. ↑ "The Armchair Detective" . Picturegoer . 23: 15. 6 February 1952. ProQuest   1705139871.
  6. ↑ "The Armchair Detective" . Picture Show . 58 (1507): 10. 16 February 1952. ProQuest   1880310300.
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