Dear Mr Prohack.

“Dedicated respectfully to that great little huge body of men and women – The British Civil Service”[1]

Dirk Bogarde was not very happy with his role in Dear Mr Prohack (1949) and to be honest his future acting ability had not quite come to the fore at this stage in his career. He plays Charles Prohack son of Cecil Parkers Arthur Prohack a high-ranking treasury official who unexpectedly comes into a quarter of a million pounds (it was quite suppressing what you could do with this amount of money 66 years ago!). This rather lightweight comedy rests somewhat on Prohack seniors public prudence and his private recklessness and as a satire on Civil Service red tape.

 

"He's been spending money Doctor"

This Wessex Film Production was made at Pinewood with location shooting carried out in London, which in this film shows no sign that WW2 had only ended a few years before! Adapted and updated by Donald Bull and Ian Dalrymple to represent 1949 from Arnold Bennetts novel Mr Prohack and the play, which also starred Cecil Parker, by Bennett and Edward Knoblock. This was the last film directed by American Thornton Freeland whose career spanned some 26 British and American films between 1924 and 1949 including the Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers’s movie Flying Down to Rio in 1933.

 

Bogarde has his head turned by Glynes Johns.

The best thing about this movie is its great cast. As well as Parker, who acting skills were summed up beautifully as “wobbling of jowl, fluting of voice, cluttering of harassed hand, a master of disconcerted flappability” by Robin Cross[2] and the early role for Dirk Bogarde, we had Hermione Baddeley (It Always Rains on Sunday 1947, Brighton Rock 1947) as Mrs Eve Prohack, Glynes Johns as Arthurs private assistant and his sons love interest. Other familiar faces in minor roles include Denholm Elliott in his first feature film, future director Bryan Forbes, Elwyn Brook-Jones, a very quick glimpse of Ian Carmichael as a hat salesman and even a future Doctor Who, Michel Pertwee. More of a farce than a comedy, which included a rather strange dream sequence involving Cecil Parker! Strictly for fans of antediluvian British movies.     

Punch Cartoon.

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[1] Opening credits.

[2] Robin Cross - Book of British Film.

Passport to Shame.

In the 1950’s the British Board of Film Censors reluctantly allowed producers to tackle prostitution as long as the film masqueraded as what they called ‘awful warnings’. One such film was Passport to Shame (1958) also known as Room 43, which was introduced by Robert Fabian, former Detective Superintendent of Scotland Yard, with the following ‘warning’: ‘The film your about to see deals with a steamy frightening subject, prostitution. The crooks that organise this racket are highly ruthless, I know because I served for nearly 28 years with the police force of London and most of it in the West End. This city today (late 1950’s) probably has the worse prostitute problem in the world. Your see for yourselves the terrible methods used to turn innocent girls into prostitutes. The film deals with the problem frankly, dramatically and accurately and by exposing this as it does I feel it would make us all realise what is going on and maybe do something to wipe out this awful social evil’ What a quaint attitude, mind you it’s same today the way people look down on working girls, the simple answer is to legalise the trade which can then be regulated and the gangsters that run the girls would be put out of business overnight. But I don’t think the hypocritical British authorities will ever agree to that?  Anyway back to the film.

 

The Villain.

A very pretty waitress Malou Beaucaire (the beautiful French actress Odile Versois) working in a Paris bar is tricked into coming to London on the pretext of working as a companion to a rich lady (Brenda de Banzie) in a large well furnished apartment in a well to do Street in Central London.  Little does this sweet delicate young girl know! Her rich employer is a madam in the employ of the cruel and evil sadistic Nick Biaggi (Herbert Lom) and the large house that she is expected to live in has an adjoining link to next door which is a high class brothel with girls working from ever room! But Biaggi has to get his ‘new girl’ a work permit and the quickest way to achieve that is to get her married and then have it annulled. To this end he offers a hard up cab driver £200 to marry the girl. But Johnny McVey (Eddie Constantine an American born actor that found fame in both France and Germany where he worked with the great filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder) falls head over heals in love with the girl and decides that he will save her from a life of selling her body to strangers.  But of course Nick Biaggi has other ideas! Also involved in this noirish crime drama is the wonderful Diana Dors as the friendly platinum blond whore Vicki whom she plays with a veiled eroticism that threated to boil over at any minute. Vicki owes Biaggi for disfiguring her sister with acid when she refused to become part of his vice ring. B-movie regular Elwyn Brook-Jones plays the villains corrupt solicitor.  Also interestingly we have some upcoming stars in uncredited role including a very young looking Michael Caine as the man waiting to get married and Joan Sims as the phone operator in the Taxi office.

 

The friendly whore.

Directed by Canadian born Alvin Rakoff a man best known for his work in television, for which he directed over 100 plays, rather than for feature films. He spent most of his career performing his trade in England. The DOP was Jack Asher who started his working life in films in 1930 at Gainsborough’s Islington Studio’s, and when on to work with Terence Fisher at Hammer in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. He also worked on Cast a Dark Shadow (1955). The screenplay was by British novelist Patrick Alexander and the music was composed, arranged and directed by Ken Jones who also did the musical score for Tom Thumb (1958) that starred Jessie Matthews. As I said at the beginning, the movie sets it self up as a cautionary tale showing the seamy side of life and it certainly has a sleazy energy for a British film of its time and also includes a surreal oneiric sequence when Malou is drugged!

The Madam.

Three Steps in the Dark.

How nice a wee family get together.

The usual suspects were involved in the making this Corsair Productions B-movie from 1953. Helmed by Daniel Birt (The Night Won’t Talk 1952, Meet Mr Malcolm 1954) adapted by Brook William from story by Roger East with quality black and white photography from the reliable Hone Glendining.

 

Surely the elderly housekeeper is not going to murder Uncle?

A drawing room whodunit where a rich, but intensely disliked uncle (Nicholas Hannen) calls a family reunion to tell his baying relations that he’s about to change his will. But low and behold he’s shot dead before he can complete the task. Of course there’s plenty off suspects even if we ignore the Butler and the elderly housekeeper played by Katie Johnson, who you will recognise from Ealing’s 1955 black comedy The Ladykillers. There’s the cousin Sophie Burgoyne (Oslo born Greta Gynt) the amateur sleuth and crime writer who knows a lot about murder, stables owner Philip Burgoyne (Hugh Sinclair) who has money problems and his wife the hateful Dorothy (this blogger’s favourite B actress Sarah Lawson). Then there’s the relation who expects to inherit the old mans estate, Henry Burgoyne (John Van Eyssen) whose last hope of riches rests with Uncle’s money, not forgetting his fiancé Esme (Helen Cordet the French television actress in her debut feature film role) who has one too many secrets.  And if any B-movie has Elwyn Brook-Jones in the cast then you automatically have a suspect, he plays the murder victims lawyer, Wilbraham.

 

'Perhaps Uncle shoot himself?'

Not according to the police he didn't.

Some well above average acting from this ensemble B-movie cast and certainly one of Birt’s better examples from this genre. Up until recently we would not have had the chance to see it.  There is no indication that the film was ever shown publicly again in cinemas after its initial release or on television. The British Film Institute included the film on its "75 Most Wanted" list of missing British feature films, due in large part to interest from film historians in Birt's relatively brief directorial career, which as I have said previously was cut short by his death at the age of 47 in 1955. The National Film and Sound Archive in Australia subsequently informed the BFI it has the film[1]. So thanks to Odeon Entertainment for painstakingly restoring this ‘missing believed lost’ movie to life for us to all to enjoy.

Esme is not about to divulge her secrets!

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[1] The BFI November 2013.

The Night Won't Talk.

The underrated Hy Hazell on the left.

This whodunit murder mystery is reputed to be one of Corsair Pictures finest B-movies. When a beautiful young artists model Stella Smith is found strangled in her bed, Scotland Yard find themselves with three suspects. Firstly there's her ex-husband Martin Soames played by the sinister Elwyn Brook-Jones, secondly we have a sexually disturbed artist (Ballard Berkeley) and finally her violent new boyfriend Clayton Hawkes (character actor John Bailey) who because of service in WW2 is prone to blackouts. The only way that Scotland Yard is going to catch the killer is to set a trap with the help of Theodore Castle played by Hy Hazell an actress that was almost never asked to extend her obvious acting talent beyond some quite mediocre parts (see also Yellow Balloon 1953).

John Bailey plays the murder suspect Clayton Hawkes.

Based on an original story by Roger Burford and adapted for the screen by Corsair Pictures in house screenwriter Brock Williams The Night Won't Talk (1952) was directed by Daniel Birt who was best known for his very first feature film The Three Weird Sisters made in 1948. He was originally a respected editor in pre WW2 British films before he became a documentary maker for Sydney Box's Verity Films prior to making feature films. Reverting to B-movies before his early death in 1955 at the age of 48. The DOP was Brendon Stafford who had a busy if not an especially distinguished career spending most of his post war livelihood shooting B-movie’s and TV series including Danger Man and The Prisoner. Gilbert Vinter composed music for the film.

Filmed at the Viking Studio 1-5 St Mary Abbots Place Kensington London and on location in and around Kensington and Chelsea its certainly a film of its time with lines like 'the girl asked for it' when the police are discussing the murder of Stella Smith and the modelling work she was involved in, not politely correct by today's standards that's for sure! But harmless pulp fiction all the same with a typical woman scorned narrative.