''Blind Justice'' is a 1934 British
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
directed by
Bernard Vorhaus
Bernard Vorhaus (December 25, 1904 – November 23, 2000) was an American film director of Austrian descent, born in New York City. His father was born in Krakow, then part of Austria-Hungary. Vorhaus spent many decades living in the UK. Eearly ...
and starring
Eva Moore
Eva Moore (9 February 1868 – 27 April 1955) was an English actress. Her career on stage and in film spanned six decades, and she was active in the women's suffrage movement. In her 1923 book of reminiscences, ''Exits and Entrances'', she des ...
,
Frank Vosper
Frank Permain Vosper (15 December 1899, in London – 6 March 1937) was an English actor who appeared in both stage and film roles and a dramatist, playwright and screenwriter.
Stage
Vosper made his stage debut in 1919 and was best known for pl ...
,
Geraldine Fitzgerald
Geraldine Mary Fitzgerald (November 24, 1913 – July 17, 2005) was an Irish actress and a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame. In 2020, she was listed at number 30 on ''The Irish Times'' list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
Early li ...
,
Roger Livesey
Roger Livesey (25 June 1906 – 4 February 1976) was a British stage and film actor. He is most often remembered for the three Powell & Pressburger films in which he starred: ''The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'', ''I Know Where I'm Going!' ...
, and
John Mills
Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portray ...
. The screenplay concerns a woman who is blackmailed by a criminal, who has discovered that her brother was shot as a
coward
Cowardice is a trait wherein excessive fear prevents an individual from taking a risk or facing danger. It is the opposite of courage. As a label, "cowardice" indicates a failure of character in the face of a challenge. One who succumbs to cow ...
during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
It was made at
Twickenham Studios
Twickenham Studios (formerly known as Twickenham Film Studios) is a film studio in St Margarets, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, that is used by various motion picture and television companies. It was established in 1913 by Ralph ...
as a
quota quickie
The Cinematograph Films Act of 1927 ('' 17 & 18 Geo. V'') was an act of the United Kingdom Parliament designed to stimulate the declining British film industry. It received Royal Assent on 20 December 1927 and came into force on 1 April 1928.
D ...
for release by
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
. It was based on ''Recipe for Murder'', a 1932 play by
Arnold Ridley
William Arnold Ridley, OBE (7 January 1896 – 12 March 1984) was an English playwright and actor, earlier in his career known for writing the play '' The Ghost Train'' and later in life in the British TV sitcom ''Dad's Army'' (1968–1977) as ...
. A review of the play, mentioning the forthcoming film, was the first use of the word
whodunit
A ''whodunit'' or ''whodunnit'' (a colloquial elision of "Who asdone it?") is a complex plot-driven variety of detective fiction in which the puzzle regarding who committed the crime is the main focus. The reader or viewer is provided with the cl ...
in print.
Cast
*
Eva Moore
Eva Moore (9 February 1868 – 27 April 1955) was an English actress. Her career on stage and in film spanned six decades, and she was active in the women's suffrage movement. In her 1923 book of reminiscences, ''Exits and Entrances'', she des ...
as Fluffy
*
Frank Vosper
Frank Permain Vosper (15 December 1899, in London – 6 March 1937) was an English actor who appeared in both stage and film roles and a dramatist, playwright and screenwriter.
Stage
Vosper made his stage debut in 1919 and was best known for pl ...
as Dick Cheriton
*
John Stuart as John Summers
*
Geraldine Fitzgerald
Geraldine Mary Fitzgerald (November 24, 1913 – July 17, 2005) was an Irish actress and a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame. In 2020, she was listed at number 30 on ''The Irish Times'' list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
Early li ...
as Peggy Summers
*
John Mills
Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portray ...
as Ralph Summers
*
Lucy Beaumont as Mrs. Summers
*
Hay Petrie
David Hay Petrie (16 July 1895 – 30 July 1948) was a Scottish actor noted for playing eccentric characters, among them Quilp in ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' (1934), the McLaggen in ''The Ghost Goes West'' (1935) and Uncle Pumblechook in '' Great ...
as Harry
*
Roger Livesey
Roger Livesey (25 June 1906 – 4 February 1976) was a British stage and film actor. He is most often remembered for the three Powell & Pressburger films in which he starred: ''The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'', ''I Know Where I'm Going!' ...
as Gilbert Jackson
*
Charles Carson as Dr. Naylor
References
Bibliography
* Chibnall, Steve. ''Quota Quickies: The Birth of the British 'B' Film''. British Film Institute, 2007.
External links
*
1934 films
British crime thriller films
British films based on plays
Films set in England
Films directed by Bernard Vorhaus
Films shot at Twickenham Film Studios
Quota quickies
British World War I films
British black-and-white films
1930s crime thriller films
1930s English-language films
1930s British films
{{crime-thriller-film-stub