The Arsenal Stadium Mystery | |
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Directed by | Thorold Dickinson |
Written by | Thorold Dickinson Donald Bull Patrick Kirwan Alan Hyman |
Based on | The Arsenal Stadium Mystery by Leonard Gribble. [1] [2] |
Produced by | Josef Somlo |
Starring | Leslie Banks Greta Gynt Ian McLean Liane Linden Anthony Bushell Esmond Knight |
Cinematography | Desmond Dickinson |
Edited by | Sidney Stone |
Music by | Miklós Rózsa |
Production companies | Greenspan & Seligman (G&S Films) Denham Studios |
Distributed by | General Film Distributors |
Release date |
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Running time | 84 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
The Arsenal Stadium Mystery is a 1939 British mystery film and one of the first feature films wherein football is a central element in the plot. The film was directed by Thorold Dickinson, and shot at Denham Film Studios and on location at the original Arsenal Stadium in Highbury. It was written by Dickinson, Donald Bull, and Alan Hyman, adapted from a 1939 novel by Leonard Gribble. [3] [1] [2]
The film is a murder mystery set at the original Arsenal Stadium, Gillespie Road, Highbury, London, the then home of Arsenal Football Club, one of the dominant teams in English football. The backdrop is a friendly match between Arsenal and The Trojans, a fictitious amateur side. One of the Trojans' players drops dead during the match and when it is revealed he has been poisoned, suspicion falls on his teammates as well as his former mistress. Detective Inspector Slade is called in to solve the crime. [1]
The victim has been poisoned by a powerful digitalis-based chemical. There is evidence that he was being blackmailed.
The investigation gets complicated when the girlfriend (a prime suspect) is also murdered by the same method.
The police set a trap by putting a chemical on top of the poison, which turns the skin black after a few hours. The player responsible is then spotted whilst playing.
The film stars several Arsenal players and members of staff such as Cliff Bastin and Eddie Hapgood, although only manager George Allison has a speaking part. The Trojans' body doubles on the pitch were players from Brentford, filmed during the First Division fixture between the two sides on 6 May 1939; this was the last match of the 1938–39 season and Arsenal's last official league fixture before the outbreak of the Second World War. Brentford’s players wore white shirts for the match because their first choice red and white stripes would have clashed with Arsenal's red and white jerseys. The Trojans’ players therefore wore similar white shirts in close up sequences which were then cut in with the match action. [1]
Dickinson planned a follow-up, The Denham Studio Mystery, which was intended to incorporate footage from the abortive film I Claudius, but this fell through. [5] [1]
The Arsenal Football Club, commonly known as simply Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Holloway, North London, England. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. In domestic football, Arsenal have won 13 league titles, a record 14 FA Cups, two League Cups, 17 FA Community Shields, and a Football League Centenary Trophy. In European football, they have one European Cup Winners' Cup and one Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. In terms of trophies won, it is the third-most successful club in English football.
Arsenal Stadium was a football stadium in Highbury, London, which was the home of Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006. It was popularly known as "Highbury" from the name of the district in which it was located, and was given the affectionate nickname of "The Home of Football".
Brentford Football Club is a professional association football club based in Brentford, West London, England. The team competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Nicknamed "The Bees", the club was founded in 1889 and played home matches at Griffin Park from 1904 before moving to the Brentford Community Stadium in 2020.
The Emirates Stadium is a football stadium in Holloway, London, England. It has been the home stadium of Arsenal Football Club since its completion in 2006. Arsenal's women's team made the stadium their home in 2024. It has a current seated capacity of 60,704, making it one of the largest football stadiums in England by capacity.
The London XI was a football team that represented the city of London in the 1955–58 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
George Frederick Allison was an English football journalist, broadcaster and manager. He was the BBC's first sports commentator and Arsenal's second longest serving manager.
The North London derby is the meeting of the association football clubs Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, both of which are based in North London, England. Fans of both clubs consider the other to be their main rivals, and the derby is considered by many to be one of the fiercest derbies in the world. Although the two teams first played each other in 1887, the rivalry did not begin until 1913 when Arsenal moved their ground to North London from Woolwich, south of the River Thames.
The Battle of Highbury was a football match between England and Italy that took place on 14 November 1934 at Arsenal Stadium, Highbury, London. England won 3–2 in a hotly contested and frequently violent match.
The history of Arsenal Football Club between 1886 and 1966 covers the time from the club's foundation, through the first two major periods of success and the club's subsequent decline in the early 1960s.
London derbies are the various local football derbies between the teams in London, England. It specifically refers to individual matches between the teams, but can also be used to describe the general ongoing rivalry between the clubs and fans. The first London Football League derby took place at Clapton Stadium on 11 November 1905, where Chelsea beat Clapton Orient 3–0 in a Second Division match. Chelsea also won the first top-flight London derby with a 2–1 victory over Woolwich Arsenal, in a First Division game at Stamford Bridge on 9 November 1907. The first FA Cup Final to be contested between two teams from London was the 1967 Final, where Tottenham Hotspur beat Chelsea 2–1. As of the 2021–22 season, there are thirteen clubs in the Premier League and Football League that play in the Greater London area. Arsenal against Tottenham Hotspur and Millwall against West Ham United are ranked as two of the most ferocious London derbies.
The 1993 Football League Cup final took place on 18 April 1993 at Wembley Stadium, and was played between Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday. Arsenal won 2–1 in normal time, in what was the first of three Wembley finals between the two sides that season; Arsenal and Wednesday also met in the FA Cup final of that year, the first time ever in English football.
The 1936 FA Cup final was a football match between Arsenal and Sheffield United on 25 April 1936 at Wembley. The showpiece match of English football's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, it was the 61st Cup final, and the fourteenth at the national stadium.
William George Marks was an English association football player, who played as a goalkeeper.
The 1946–47 season was Arsenal Football Club's 21st consecutive season in the top flight of English football.
John William Holliday was an English professional footballer who played as a forward in the Football League for Brentford and Middlesbrough. In 2013, Holliday was voted by the Brentford supporters as the club's fourth-greatest ever player and he holds the club record for most goals in a season. He was posthumously inducted into the Brentford Hall of Fame in 2015.
During the 1940–41 English football season, Brentford competed in the Football League South, due to the cessation of competitive football for the duration of the Second World War. Though the Bees finished well down in the league placings, the club enjoyed some measure of success in the London War Cup, finishing as runners-up to Reading.
During the 1941–42 English football season, Brentford competed in the London League, due to the cessation of competitive football for the duration of the Second World War. Despite scoring over 80 goals in what proved to be a forgettable league season, the Bees won the London War Cup with what was the club's only victory at the old Wembley Stadium.
The 1941–42 season was Arsenal Football Club's third season playing wartime football and their first in the London War League, a breakoff from the official Football League wartime leagues. Arsenal won the London War League. The team also competed in the London War Cup and lost in the semifinals.
The Arsenal Stadium Mystery is a novel by Leonard Gribble. It was first published by George G. Harrap and Co. in 1939.
Leonard Reginald Gribble was a prolific writer from Devon. His novels often focussed on the particulars of policing and the judicial system. Gribble also wrote under the pseudonyms Sterry Browning, Leo Grex, Louis Grey, Piers Marlow, Dexter Muir and Bruce Sanders; he also wrote some Westerns, under the name Landon Grant.