''Hammer the Toff'' is a 1952 British crime film directed by
Maclean Rogers
Maclean Rogers (13 July 1899 – 4 January 1962) was a British film director and screenwriter.
Selected filmography
Director
* '' The Third Eye'' (1929)
* ''The Mayor's Nest'' (1932)
* '' Up for the Derby'' (1933)
* ''The Crime at Blossoms' ...
and starring
John Bentley and
Patricia Dainton
Patricia Dainton (born 12 April 1930) is a Scottish actress who appeared in a number of film and television roles between 1947 and 1961.
Early years
Dainton was born Margaret Bryden Pate, in Hamilton, Scotland, the daughter of film and stage ...
. The film was based on the 1947 novel of the same name by
John Creasey
John Creasey (17 September 1908 – 9 June 1973) was an English crime writer, also writing science fiction, romance and western novels, who wrote more than six hundred novels using twenty-eight different pseudonyms.
He created several charac ...
, the 17th in the series featuring upper-class sleuth Richard Rollinson, also known as "
The Toff
In the series of adventure novels by John Creasey, the Toff is the nickname of the Honourable Richard Rollison, an upper-class crime sleuth. Creasey published almost 60 Toff adventures, beginning with ''Introducing the Toff'' in 1938 and conti ...
". This film and another Toff adaptation ''
Salute the Toff
''Salute the Toff'' is a 1952 British crime film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring John Bentley and Carol Marsh. The film was based on the 1941 novel of the same name by John Creasey, the sixth in the series featuring upper-class sleut ...
'' were shot back-to-back at
Nettlefold Studios
Walton Studios, previously named Hepworth Studios and Nettlefold Studios, was a film production studio in Walton-on-Thames in Surrey, England.[British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...](_blank)
's "
75 Most Wanted" list of missing British feature films,
it was released on DVD in March 2016. It was produced by
Ernest G. Roy
Ernest G. Roy (1892–1977) was a British film producer who was managing director of Kay (West End) Laboratories, Kay Carlton Hill Studios Ltd and Nettlefold Studios.
Roy was born in Clerkenwell, London, in 1892, son of Charles (1857–1932) and ...
.
Plot
On the train to the seaside resort of Brighthaven, Richard Rollinson (Bentley) is sharing a carriage with an attractive young lady called Susan Lancaster (Dainton). The journey is rudely interrupted when the window of the carriage is shattered by a barrage of bullets. Richard learns from the shaken Susan that she is on her way to join an uncle on holiday, and offers to escort her safely to her hotel. They learn that her uncle has disappeared, but has left Susan a package. Later, Rollinson happens to overhear a pair of shady characters discussing how to kidnap Susan. She explains that her uncle has developed a secret formula which sinister characters are keen to get their hands on, and they have been receiving threats of menace, hence the flight to Brighthaven.
Rollinson consults his old colleague Inspector Grice of Scotland Yard, who tells him that the evidence is pointing in the direction of a particular man as being responsible for the abduction. Using his friends and contacts in the East End, Rollinson investigates, while Susan is being kidnapped and tied up. Rollinson finally succeeds in identifying the criminals and their leader "The Hammer", releasing Susan and proving that the man suspected by the police is innocent.
Cast
*
John Bentley as Richard Rollinson
*
Patricia Dainton
Patricia Dainton (born 12 April 1930) is a Scottish actress who appeared in a number of film and television roles between 1947 and 1961.
Early years
Dainton was born Margaret Bryden Pate, in Hamilton, Scotland, the daughter of film and stage ...
as Susan Lancaster
*
Valentine Dyall
Valentine Dyall (7 May 1908 – 24 June 1985) was an English character actor. He worked regularly as a voice actor, and was known for many years as "The Man in Black", the narrator of the BBC Radio horror series '' Appointment with Fear'' ...
as Inspector Grice
*
John Robinson John Robinson may refer to:
Academics
*John Thomas Romney Robinson (1792–1882), Irish astronomer and physicist
* John J. Robinson (1918–1996), historian and author of ''Born in Blood''
*John Talbot Robinson (1923–2001), paleontologist
*John ...
as Linnett
*
Wally Patch
Walter Sydney Vinnicombe (26 September 1888 – 27 October 1970) was an English actor and comedian. He worked in film, television and theatre.
Biography
Vinnicombe was born in Willesden, Middlesex and began working on the music hall stages in ...
as Bert Ebbutt
*
Roddy Hughes
Rhodri Henry Hughes (19 June 1891 – 22 February 1970) was a Welsh theatre, film and television actor, who appeared in over 80 films between 1932 and 1961.
Selected filmography
* ''Mr. Bill the Conqueror'' (1932)
* ''Reunion'' (1932)
* '' Say ...
as Jolly
*
Basil Dignam
Basil Dignam (24 October 1905 – 31 January 1979) was an English character actor.
Basil Dignam was born in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire. Before the acting, he tried many jobs, from a company clerk to a journalist. He acted on film and ...
as Superintendent
*
Lockwood West
Harry Lockwood West (28 July 1905 – 28 March 1989) was a British actor. He was the father of actor Timothy West and the grandfather of actor Samuel West.
Life and career
West was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England in 1905, the son of Mildr ...
as Kennedy
*
Katharine Blake as Janet Lord
*
Charles Hawtrey as Cashier
*
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., a ...
as Doctor Lancaster
Reception
Like its predecessor, ''Hammer the Toff'' was well received by critics as good quality popular B-movie entertainment. ''
Kine Weekly
''Kinematograph Weekly'', popularly known as ''Kine Weekly'', was a trade paper catering to the British film industry between 1889 and 1971.
History
''Kinematograph Weekly'' was founded in 1889 as the monthly publication ''Optical Magic Lantern a ...
'' described it as "well staged, with a bright line in dialogue, and neat crime angles", while the ''Daily Film Renter'' termed it "lively, easily-assimilated strong-arm stuff with a whiff of comedy and a dash of romance".
See also
*
List of rediscovered films
This is a list of rediscovered films that, once thought lost, have since been discovered, in whole or in part. See List of incomplete or partially lost films and List of rediscovered film footage for films which were not wholly lost.
For a fil ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammer The Toff
1952 crime films
1952 films
British crime films
British black-and-white films
Films based on British novels
Films directed by Maclean Rogers
Films produced by Ernest G. Roy
1950s rediscovered films
Rediscovered British films
1950s English-language films
1950s British films