This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(April 2017) |
The Viper | |
---|---|
Directed by | Roy William Neill |
Written by | John Dighton Reginald Purdell |
Produced by | Irving Asher |
Starring | Claude Hulbert Betty Lynne Hal Walters |
Cinematography | Basil Emmott |
Distributed by | Warner Brothers-First National Productions |
Release date |
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Running time | 75 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
The Viper is a 1938 British slapstick comedy film directed by Roy William Neill and starring Claude Hulbert, Betty Lynne and Hal Walters. The film was a sequel to the previous year's very successful The Vulture , with Hulbert and Walters reprising their roles as hapless private detective Cedric Gull and his sidekick Stiffy respectively. Lesley Brook also features in both films, but in unrelated roles. Directorial duties passed to Neill as Ralph Ince, the director of The Vulture, had been killed in a road accident shortly after the film's release.
The Viper fared significantly less well than The Vulture both critically and commercially. The film was not the box-office success its predecessor had been, and it was suggested that cinemagoers were beginning to tire of Hulbert's disguises and slapstick routines. Reviews were almost entirely negative in tone. Kine Weekly observed that the film held little appeal other than to Hulbert's die-hard fans and that "considerable expense has apparently gone in the production of gadgets and stunts for this picture which would have been better devoted to a more humorous story and funnier dialogue". The Monthly Film Bulletin found the film "absurd and confusing...the slapstick episodes are embarrassing".
No print of The Viper is known to survive, and the film is included on the British Film Institute's "75 Most Wanted" list of missing British feature films. [1]
Claude Noel Hulbert was a mid-20th century English stage, radio and cinema comic actor.
Welcome, Mr. Washington is a 1944 British drama film directed by Leslie S. Hiscott and starring Barbara Mullen, Donald Stewart and Peggy Cummins. The film was made by British National Films, based on a story by Noel Streatfeild.
It's Not Cricket is a 1937 British comedy film directed by Ralph Ince and starring Claude Hulbert, Henry Kendall, Betty Lynne and Clifford Heatherley. The film depicts a Frenchwoman married to a cricket-mad Englishman.
Lilies of the Field is a 1934 British romantic comedy film directed by Norman Walker and starring Winifred Shotter, Ellis Jeffreys, Anthony Bushell and Claude Hulbert. It was made at British and Dominion Elstree Studios.
The BFI 75 Most Wanted is a list compiled in 2010 by the British Film Institute of the most sought-after British feature films not held in the BFI National Archive, and classified as "missing, believed lost". The films chosen range from quota quickies and B-movies to lavish prestige productions of their day. The list includes lost works by major directors and those featuring top-name actors; also films that were top box-office successes in their time but have since disappeared, and works that are believed to be historically significant for some aspect of style, technique, subject matter or innovation.
The Good Old Days is a 1939 British historical comedy film directed by Roy William Neill. Written by Austin Melford and John Dighton based on a story by Ralph Smart, it stars Max Miller, Hal Walters and Kathleen Gibson. The film tells the story of a group of entertainers struggling to obtain permission to perform at a tavern in 1840.
Reveille is a 1924 British silent drama film directed by George Pearson. It follows some British soldiers during and after the First World War, though Pearson wrote in a January 1924 letter to his cast and crew:
There is no story, as such. I hate the well-made Story with its Exposition, Denouement, Crisis, etc., as material for my elusive Screen. I confess I cannot write one.
Woman to Woman is a 1923 British silent drama film directed by Graham Cutts, with Alfred Hitchcock as the uncredited assistant director and co-screenwriter. The film was the first of three adaptions of the 1921 play Woman to Woman by Michael Morton. To capitalise on the success of the film, Cutts and Hitchcock made another film, The White Shadow, with Compson before she returned to the United States.
The Man I Want is a 1934 British comedy film directed by Leslie S. Hiscott and starring Henry Kendall, Wendy Barrie and Betty Astell. The screenplay concerns a man who accidentally comes across some stolen jewels. The film was made at Beaconsfield Studios.
Lesley Brook was a British stage, film and television actress. Married to an RAF pilot, Terry Spencer, she moved after the war to South Africa for 15 years before returning to the UK. They had three children. Cara, born in 1949 and Raina, born in 1958. They had a third child, a boy, but he died in a tragic accident, drowning in an unfenced swimming pool. She died just short of her 92nd birthday in 2009, her husband dying within 24 hours of her at the age of 90. On stage she appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-on-Avon, including as Olivia in Twelfth Night in 1939.
Sailors Three is a 1940 British war comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Tommy Trinder, Claude Hulbert and Carla Lehmann. This was cockney music hall comedian Trinder's debut for Ealing, the studio with which he was to become most closely associated. It concerns three British sailors who accidentally find themselves aboard a German ship during the Second World War.
Flight from Folly is a 1945 British musical comedy film directed and produced by Herbert Mason, in his last directorial credit before moving onto production, for Warner Bros. The cast includes Pat Kirkwood, Hugh Sinclair and Tamara Desni and with music from Edmundo Ros and the Rumba Band. An unemployed showgirl impersonates a nurse and undertakes the job of looking after a composer and playwright abandoned by his Russian wife. The story was written by Lesley Storm, Katherine Strueby and Edmund Goulding. The film was distributed by Warner Brothers and First National Pictures.
Henry Paul "Hal" Walters was a British actor. He was best known for his role in The Four Feathers (1939). He was killed by a bomb in an air raid during the London Blitz.
The Vulture is a 1937 British quota quickie slapstick comedy film directed by Ralph Ince and starring Claude Hulbert, Hal Walters and Lesley Brook. The film proved very popular with audiences and the following year spawned a sequel The Viper, although this was much less successful.
The Girl in Possession is a 1934 British comedy film starring Laura La Plante and Henry Kendall and directed by Monty Banks, who also wrote the screenplay and featured in the film himself.
Patricia Gets Her Man is a 1937 British romantic comedy film directed by Reginald Purdell and starring Hans Söhnker, Lesley Brook and Edwin Styles. The screenplay concerns a woman who attempts to attract a film star.
Many Tanks Mr. Atkins is a 1938 British comedy war film directed by Roy William Neill and starring Claude Hulbert, Reginald Purdell and Barbara Greene.
Their Night Out is a 1933 British comedy film directed by Harry Hughes and starring Claude Hulbert, Renée Houston and Gus McNaughton. It was made by British International Pictures at Elstree Studios. The film's sets were designed by the art director Duncan Sutherland.
Simply Terrific is a 1938 British comedy film directed by Roy William Neill and starring Claude Hulbert, Reginald Purdell and Patricia Medina. It was made at Teddington Studios by the British subsidiary of Warner Bros.
It's in the Blood is a 1938 British comedy film directed by Gene Gerrard and starring Claude Hulbert, Lesley Brook and Max Leeds. It was made at Teddington Studios by the British subsidiary of Warner Brothers.