Meet Mr. Callaghan | |
---|---|
Directed by | Charles Saunders |
Screenplay by | Brock Williams |
Based on | The Urgent Hangman by Peter Cheyney |
Produced by | Guido Coen Derrick De Marney W.A. Smith |
Starring | Derrick De Marney Adrienne Corri Delphi Lawrence Belinda Lee |
Cinematography | Harry Waxman |
Edited by | Jack Slade |
Music by | Eric Spear |
Production company | Pinnacle Productions |
Distributed by | Eros Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 88 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Meet Mr. Callaghan is a 1954 British crime drama film directed by Charles Saunders and starring Derrick De Marney and Adrienne Corri. [1] [2] The screenplay was by Brock Williams, based on the 1938 play of the same name, adapted for the stage by Gerald Verner from Peter Cheyney's 1938 novel The Urgent Hangman .
Co-producer and star De Marney had directed the stage version at the Garrick Theatre in 1952, which starred his brother Terence as private eye Slim Callaghan. Derrick played this role in the film. [3] [4]
Down at heel private detective Slim Callaghan is hired by young socialite Cynthis Meraulton to investigate other family members after her rich stepfather changes his will in her favour. She suspects he will be killed and the new will destroyed. When her stepfather is subsequently murdered, suspicion falls on Cynthis.
Filming took place at Nettleford Studios in September 1953. [5] [6]
It was the second film from Belinda Lee. [7]
The Monthly Film Bulletin said the "transference" from stage to screen "has been made without much imagination. The involved plot is helped along by a few barbed lines but Derrick de Marney fails to make a sympathetic hero out of a private detective who stoops to robbery, blackmail and bribery in his investigations." [8]
In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Sort of street-level Thin Man is effective thick ear, short on charm." [9]
TV Guide wrote, "Mystery programmer has a couple of good moments, but little else." [10]
Belinda Lee was an English actress.
Reginald Evelyn Peter Southouse-Cheyney was a British crime fiction writer who flourished between 1936 and 1951. Cheyney is perhaps best known for his short stories and novels about agent/detective Lemmy Caution, which, starting in 1953, were adapted into a series of French movies, all starring Eddie Constantine. Another popular creation was the private detective Slim Callaghan who also appeared in a series of novels and subsequent film adaptations.
Terence Arthur De Marney was a British film, stage, radio and television actor, as well as theatre director and writer.
Derrick Raoul Edouard Alfred De Marney was an English stage and film actor and producer, of French and Irish ancestry.
Who Done It? is a 1956 British slapstick black and white comedy crime film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Benny Hill, Belinda Lee, David Kossoff, Garry Marsh, and George Margo. One of the last Ealing comedies, it was Hill's film debut.
As Long as They're Happy is a 1955 British musical comedy film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Jack Buchanan, Susan Stephen and Diana Dors. It is based on the 1953 play of the same name by Vernon Sylvaine. It was shot in Eastmancolor at Pinewood Studios near London with sets designed by the art director Michael Stringer.
Blood Orange is a 1953 British crime film directed by Terence Fisher and starring Tom Conway and Mila Parély. It was released in the United States as Three Stops to Murder. A private eye investigating a jewel robbery at a London fashion house finds himself involved in a murder mystery.
Murder by Proxy is a 1954 British 'B' film noir crime drama film directed by Terence Fisher and starring Dane Clark, Belinda Lee and Betty Ann Davies. The film was based on the 1952 novel of the same name by Helen Nielsen. It was produced by Hammer Films, and released in the United States by Lippert Pictures.
Paul Anthony "Tony" Wright was an English film actor. The son of actor Hugh E. Wright, he was a Rank Organisation contract player for some years.
Wanted for Murder is a 1946 British crime film directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring Eric Portman, Dulcie Gray, Derek Farr, and Roland Culver.
The Feminine Touch is a 1956 colour British drama film directed by Pat Jackson and starring George Baker, Belinda Lee and Delphi Lawrence.
Make Me an Offer is a 1954 Eastmancolor British comedy film directed by Cyril Frankel and starring Peter Finch, Adrienne Corri, Rosalie Crutchley and Finlay Currie. It is based on the 1952 novel of the same title by Wolf Mankowitz. It was distributed by British Lion Films.
Gerald Verner (1897–1980) was a writer of thrillers, writing more than 120 novels translated into over 35 languages. Many of these were adapted into radio serials, stage plays and films.
Dangerous Curves is a 1939 thriller novel by the British writer Peter Cheyney. It was the second novel featuring his private detective character Slim Callaghan, following The Urgent Hangman (1938). Callaghan is hired by Mrs. Riverton to find her missing stepson, who she openly admits she despises.
The Urgent Hangman is a 1938 thriller novel by the British writer Peter Cheyney. It introduced the fictional London-based private detective Slim Callaghan, the first in a series of seven novels as well as two short story collections.
Uneasy Terms is a 1946 crime thriller novel by the British writer Peter Cheyney. It was the seventh and last in his series featuring the London-based private detective Slim Callaghan, a British version of the hardboiled heroes of American writing.
Sorry You've Been Troubled is a 1942 thriller novel by the British writer Peter Cheyney. It was the fifth book in his series featuring the hardboiled London-based private detective Slim Callaghan. It was published in the United States under the alternative title of Farewell to the Admiral.
You Can't Keep the Change is a 1940 thriller novel by the British writer Peter Cheyney. It is the third in his series of novels featuring the London private detective Slim Callaghan, a British version of the increasingly popular hardboiled American detectives.
Slim Callaghan is a fictional London-based private detective created by the writer Peter Cheyney. Like another of Cheyney's characters, the FBI agent Lemmy Caution, he was constructed as a British response to the more hardboiled detectives of American fiction such as Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe.
It Couldn't Matter Less is a 1941 thriller novel by the British writer Peter Cheyney. It is the fourth in a series of novels featuring the London-based private detective Slim Callaghan who enjoyed a series of dangerous adventures similar in style to the hardboiled American detectives created by Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. It was published in the United States as Set-Up for Murder.