''Inspector Hornleigh'' is a 1938 British

detective film A mystery film is a genre of film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, i ...

directed by

Eugene Forde Eugene Forde (1898–1986) was an American film director. Selected filmography * ''Daredevil's Reward'' (1928) * ''Painted Post (film), Painted Post'' (1928) * ''Son of the Golden West'' (1928) * ''Charlie Chan's Courage'' (1934) * ''Charlie Ch ...

, starring

Gordon Harker William Gordon Harker (7 August 1885 – 2 March 1967) was an English stage and film actor. Harker was one of the sons of Sarah Elizabeth Harker, née Hall, (1856–1927), and Joseph Harker (1855–1927), a much admired set painter for the ...

and

Alastair Sim Alastair George Bell Sim, CBE (9 October 1900 – 19 August 1976) was a Scottish character actor who began his theatrical career at the age of thirty and quickly became established as a popular West End performer, remaining so until his ...

, with Miki Hood,

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 ...

Steven Geray Steven Geray (born István Gyergyai, 10 November 190426 December 1973) was a Hungarian-born American film actor who appeared in over 100 films and dozens of television programs. Geray appeared in numerous famed A-pictures, including Alfred H ...

and

Edward Underdown Charles Edward Underdown (3 December 190815 December 1989) was an English theatre, cinema and television actor. He was born in London and educated at Eton College in Berkshire. Notable work Early theatre credits include: Noël Coward's '' Words ...

. The film was shot at Pinewood Studios in England. The screenplay was co-written by

Bryan Edgar Wallace Bryan Edgar Wallace (1904–1971) was a British writer. The son of the writer Edgar Wallace, Bryan was also a writer of crime and mystery novels which were very similar in style to those of his father. He was named after the American politician W ...

Plot

Inspector Hornleigh Inspector Hornleigh is a fictional British detective from Scotland Yard, the protagonist of a popular BBC radio series of the 1930s, three British films, a German television series, and three books (two of them language text books). The radio ser ...

of Scotland Yard stumbles upon the theft of the

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...

's budget secrets, a crime which he ties to a murder he is investigating.

Cast

as Inspector Hornleigh *

as Sergeant Bingham * Miki Hood as Ann Gordon *

as Sam Holt *

as Michael Kavanos *

as Peter Dench *

Hugh Williams Hugh Anthony Glanmor Williams (6 March 1904 – 7 December 1969) was a British actor and dramatist of Welsh descent. Early life and career Hugh Anthony Glanmor Williams (nicknamed "Tam") was born at Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex to Hugh Dafydd Anth ...

as Bill Gordon *

Gibb McLaughlin George McLoughlin (19 July 1879 – 30 June 1961), known professionally as Gibb McLaughlin, was an English film and stage actor. Early days McLaughlin was born in Sunderland, County Durham, England in 1879. For about 10 years he was a sale ...

as Alfred Cooper *

Ronald Adam General Sir Ronald Forbes Adam, 2nd Baronet, (30 October 1885 – 26 December 1982) was a senior British Army officer. He had an important influence on the conduct of the British Army during the Second World War as a result of his long tenure ...

as Wittens *

Eliot Makeham Harold Elliott Makeham (22 December 1882 – 8 February 1956) was an English film and television actor. Career Makeham was born in London, England. Between 1931 and 1956, Makeham appeared, primarily in character roles, in 115 films and in ...

as Alexander Parkinson, leather worker *

Peter Gawthorne Peter Gawthorne (1 September 1884 – 17 March 1962) was an Anglo-Irish actor, probably best known for his roles in the films of Will Hay and other popular British comedians of the 1930s and 1940s. Gawthorne was one of Britain's most called-upo ...

as the Chancellor of the Exchequer (uncredited) * Charles Carson as Chief Superintendent (uncredited) *

Vi Kaley Vi Kaley, (19 November 1878, Lambeth - 1967, Marylebone), was a British actress. She was married to Alfred Artois. Partial filmography * '' Lloyd of the C.I.D.'' (1932) * ''A Royal Demand'' (1933) * ''Gay Old Dog'' (1935) * '' The Man Without a F ...

as Landlady (uncredited) * Julian Vedey as Cafe Proprietor (uncredited)

Production

The film is a spin-off from a popular BBC radio series of the 1930s, ''Inspector Hornleigh Investigates'', created and written by Hans Wolfgang Priwin, which ran on the BBC from 1937 to 1940. The screenplay was not written by Priwin and the leading characters are somewhat modified. The actor who played Inspector Hornleigh on the BBC, S.J. Warmington, is replaced by comedian Gordon Harker, and is given a bumbling sidekick, played by Alastair Sim, solely as comic relief. The BBC series was a serious detective drama, but in the film the two leading characters play the script for laughs, and the casting of two well-known comedy stars in the parts indicates that this was the director's intention. The rest of the cast behave as if they are in a straight drama, highlighting the behaviour of Harker and Sim. To emphasise that this was a comedy film series, and to enhance the comedy double-act between Harker and Sim, the subsequent films in the series were written by the comedy writers

Frank Launder Frank Launder (28 January 1906 – 23 February 1997) was a British writer, film director and producer, who made more than 40 films, many of them in collaboration with Sidney Gilliat. Early life and career He was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, ...

and

Sidney Gilliat Sidney Gilliat (15 February 1908 – 31 May 1994) was an English film director, producer and writer. He was the son of George Gilliat, editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1928 to 1933. Sidney was born in the district of Edgeley in Stoc ...

. Although the film was released in 1939, it carries a copyright notice dated 1938. It was made by Argyle Television Films, but was given a cinema release in the UK.

Reception

The film was sufficiently well-received by audiences to justify two sequels: '' Inspector Hornleigh on Holiday'' (1939), and '' Inspector Hornleigh Goes To It'' (1940). * ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called the film "a neat bit of British detective fictionizing, as tailor-made as a Bond Street jacket, now on view at the Rialto". *

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

wrote, "though the film is well-plotted and well-acted (Sim is hilarious), the thick English and Scottish accents were often incomprehensible to American audiences. Aside from that, the suspense is nicely built towards a good denouement". * Vintage 45 wrote, "this works as a mystery and the occasional snide remarks between Hornleigh and Bingham work to lighten things up a bit. The movie is fun and clever".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0031489, Inspector Hornleigh 1938 films 1938 mystery films British crime films British detective films British black-and-white films Films directed by Eugene Forde Films set in London 20th Century Fox films Films shot at Pinewood Studios 1938 crime films 1930s British films