The Frog | |
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Directed by | Jack Raymond |
Written by | Ian Hay (adaptation) Gerald Elliott (screenplay) |
Based on | novel The Fellowship of the Frog by Edgar Wallace |
Produced by | Herbert Wilcox |
Starring | Gordon Harker Noah Beery Jack Hawkins Carol Goodner |
Cinematography | Freddie Young (as F.A. Young) |
Edited by | Merrill G. White (as Merrill White) Frederick Wilson (as Fred Wilson) |
Production company | |
Distributed by | General Film Distributors (UK) |
Release date |
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Running time | 75 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
The Frog is a 1937 British crime film directed by Jack Raymond and starring Gordon Harker, Noah Beery, Jack Hawkins and Carol Goodner. [2] The film is about the police chasing a criminal mastermind who goes by the name of The Frog. It was based on the 1925 novel The Fellowship of the Frog by Edgar Wallace, and the 1936 play version by Ian Hay. It was followed by a loose sequel The Return of the Frog , the following year.
Writing for Night and Day in 1937, Graham Greene gave the film a poor review, describing it as "badly directed [and] badly acted". He admitted that "it has an old-world charm" but complained that the "well-mannered dialogue drones on". [3]
Britmovie called it a "routine thriller", [4] while British Pictures observed that the film "suffers through being an adaptation of a theatre adaptation (by Ian Hay) of the original novel. Some of the exposition is clunky and at times confusing; and the direction needed someone like Walter Forde to make the most of it. Hawkins and Harker, in the roles they played on stage, hold it together." [5]
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in Grand Hotel (1932), as Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934), as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1934), and his title role in The Champ (1931), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 films during a 36-year career. His contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stipulated in 1932 that he would be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio. This made Beery the highest-paid film actor in the world during the early 1930s. He was the brother of actor Noah Beery and uncle of actor Noah Beery Jr.
The year 1920 in film involved some significant events.
A frog is a member of a diverse group of amphibians composing the order Anura.
John Edward Hawkins, CBE was an English actor who worked on stage and in film from the 1930s until the 1970s. One of the most popular British film stars of the 1950s, he was known for his portrayal of military men.
Twice Upon a Time is a 1953 British comedy film directed by Emeric Pressburger and starring Hugh Williams, Elizabeth Allan, Yolande Larthe, and Charmian Larthe. It is based on the 1949 novel Lisa and Lottie by Erich Kästner.
Boys Will Be Boys is a 1935 British comedy film directed by William Beaudine which stars Will Hay, Gordon Harker and Jimmy Hanley. The film is set at Narkover School, where headmaster Doctor Alec Smart becomes involved in the disappearance of a valuable necklace.
Treasure Island is a 1934 film directed by Victor Fleming and starring Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone, and Nigel Bruce. It is an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's famous 1883 novel of the same name. Jim Hawkins discovers a treasure map and travels on a sailing ship to a remote island, but pirates led by Long John Silver threaten to take away the honest seafarers’ riches and lives.
Slave Ship is a 1937 American historical adventure film directed by Tay Garnett and starring Warner Baxter, Wallace Beery and Elizabeth Allan. The supporting cast features Mickey Rooney, George Sanders, Jane Darwell, and Joseph Schildkraut. It is one of very few films out of the forty-eight that Beery made during the sound era for which he did not receive top billing.
William Gordon Harker was an English stage and film actor.
Midshipman Easy is a 1935 British adventure film directed by Carol Reed and starring Hughie Green, Margaret Lockwood, Harry Tate and Robert Adams. The screenplay concerns a young man who runs away from home, joins the navy and goes to sea in the 1790s. He rescues a captive woman from a Spanish ship and battles pirates and smugglers. The film was based on the novel Mr Midshipman Easy (1836) by Frederick Marryat.
A Royal Divorce is a 1938 British historical drama film directed by Jack Raymond and starring Ruth Chatterton, Pierre Blanchar and Frank Cellier. The film portrays the complex relationship between Napoleon I of France and his wife, Josephine Bonaparte from their first meeting until their divorce more than a decade later. It was shot at Denham Studios in Buckinghamshire. The film's sets were designed by the art director David Rawnsley.
The Ringer is a 1931 British crime film directed by Walter Forde and starring Patric Curwen, Esmond Knight, John Longden and Carol Goodner. Scotland Yard detectives hunt for a dangerous criminal who has recently returned to England. The film was based on the 1925 Edgar Wallace story The Gaunt Stranger, which is the basis for his play The Ringer. Forde remade the same story in 1938 as The Gaunt Stranger. There was also a silent film of The Ringer in 1928, and a 1952 version starring Donald Wolfit.
This Is My Street is a 1964 British black and white kitchen sink drama film directed by Sidney Hayers and starring Ian Hendry, June Ritchie, Avice Landone, John Hurt and Meredith Edwards. The screenplay was by Bill MacIlwraith based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Nan Maynard.
The Return of the Frog is a 1938 British crime film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Gordon Harker, Hartley Power and Rene Ray. It is a sequel to the 1937 film The Frog, and was based on the 1929 novel The India-Rubber Men by Edgar Wallace. It was shot at Beaconsfield Studios.
The Sport of Kings is a 1931 British comedy film directed by Victor Saville and starring Leslie Henson, Hugh Wakefield and Gordon Harker. It was based on the 1924 play of the same title by Ian Hay.
The Prisoner of Corbal is a 1936 British historical drama film directed by Karl Grune and starring Nils Asther, Hugh Sinclair and Hazel Terry. It is also known by the alternative title The Marriage of Corbal. It is set against the backdrop of the French Revolution.
Mimi is a 1935 British romance film directed by Paul L. Stein and starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Gertrude Lawrence and Diana Napier. Set in nineteenth century Paris, the screenplay concerns a composer who becomes inspired by a young woman he encounters. The film is based on the 1851 novel La Vie de Bohème by Henri Murger. The score includes arrangements of Giacomo Puccini's music from the opera La bohème, arranged by George H. Clutsam.
The Fellowship of the Frog is a 1925 crime novel by the British writer Edgar Wallace. It was part of a series of books featuring the character Inspector Elk of Scotland Yard. In 1936 it was adapted into a West End play The Frog by Ian Hay, which inspired the subsequent films.
No Living Witness is a 1932 American pre-Code crime film directed by E. Mason Hopper and written by Norman Houston. The film stars Gilbert Roland, Noah Beery Sr., Barbara Kent, Carmel Myers, Otis Harlan, Dorothy Revier, J. Carrol Naish, Ferike Boros and John Ince. The film was released on September 15, 1932, by Mayfair Pictures.
The Frog is a 1936 thriller play written by Ian Hay, and based on the novel The Fellowship of the Frog by Edgar Wallace.