Someone at the Door (1950 film)

Someone at the Door
Directed byFrancis Searle
Screenplay byA. R. Rawlinson
Based onthe play Someone at the Door by Major Campbell Christie & Dorothy Campbell Christie[1]
Produced byAnthony Hinds
StarringMichael Medwin
Garry Marsh
Yvonne Owen
CinematographyWalter J. Harvey
Edited byJohn Ferris
Music byFrank Spencer
Production
company
Distributed byExclusive Films (UK)
Release date
  • April 1950 (1950-04) (UK)
Running time
65 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Someone at the Door is a 1950 British second feature ('B')[2] crime comedy film directed by Francis Searle and starring Michael Medwin, Garry Marsh and Yvonne Owen.[3][4] It was written by A. R. Rawlinson based on the West End play of the same name by Campbell Christie and his wife Dorothy, which had previously been turned into a film in 1936.[5][6]

Plot

A journalist comes up with a scheme to boost his career by inventing a fake murder but soon becomes embroiled in trouble when a real killing takes place.

Cast

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Comedy thriller in which sliding panels, priest-holes, ex-convicts and priceless jewels are used to conventional effect."[7]

Kine Weekly wrote: "Most of its trappings are borrowed from the stage but thanks to brisk team work, resourced direction and authentic atmosphere, new laughs and fresh excitement are worked in the old malarky. Good, clean fun as well as a lively thriller."[8]

Picture Show wrote: "A comedy melodrama which has the usual ingredients of a thriller but moves at a quick pace. ... Well staged and directed, the laughs alternate with the thrills."[9]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "this is Hammer hokum of the hoariest kind. There isn't a semblance of suspense ... Not even the arrival of jewel thieves at the haunted house ... can revive one's fast-fading interest. However, there is one good wheeze, during the credit sequence, when director Francis Searle reveals that the front of the old house is merely a flat piece of scenery erected in a field."[6]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Close remake of 1936 version."[10]

Fantastic Movie Musings & Ramblings concluded, "it isn't much of a movie, but if you take it for what it is (a late-period old dark house variant based on a stage play), it has its uses. There are a few mildly amusing jokes and a couple of decent plot twists, which is more than some examples of this genre have."[11]

References

  1. ^ Goble, Alan (1 January 1999). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110951943 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. p. 76. ISBN 978-1-8445-7319-6.
  3. ^ "Someone at the Door". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  4. ^ "Someone at the Door (1950)". Archived from the original on 14 January 2009.
  5. ^ "Someone at the Door (1936)". Archived from the original on 2 February 2017.
  6. ^ a b "Someone at the Door". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018.
  7. ^ "Someone at the Door". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 17 (193): 88. 1 January 1950. ProQuest 1305812759 – via ProQuest.
  8. ^ "Someone at the Door". Kine Weekly. 398 (2243): 26. 27 April 1950. ProQuest 2687790348 – via ProQuest.
  9. ^ "Someone at the Door". Picture Show. 55 (1429): 12. 19 August 1950. ProQuest 1879618521 – via ProQuest.
  10. ^ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 376. ISBN 0-7134-1874-5.
  11. ^ "Someone at the Door (1950)". Fantastic Movie Musings & Ramblings. Archived from the original on 13 May 2017.

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