''Midnight Menace'' is a 1937
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
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
Sinclair Hill
Sinclair Hill (10 June 1896 – 6 March 1945) was a British film director, film producer, producer and screenwriter. He directed nearly fifty films between 1920 and 1939. He was born as George Sinclair-Hill in London in 1894. He was awarded an OB ...
and starring
Charles Farrell
Charles David Farrell (August 9, 1900 – May 6, 1990) was an American film actor of the 1920s silent era and into the 1930s, and later a television actor. Farrell is probably best recalled for his onscreen romances with actress Janet Gaynor ...
,
Margaret Vyner
Margaret Leila Vyner, also known by her married name Margaret Williams (3 December 1914 in Armidale, New South Wales – 30 October 1993 in Reading, England) was an Australian-born model and actress who appeared in British films. She collaborated ...
,
Fritz Kortner
Fritz Kortner (born Fritz Nathan Kohn; 12 May 1892 – 22 July 1970) was an Austrian stage and film actor and theatre director.
Life and career
Kortner was born in Vienna as Fritz Nathan Kohn into a Jewish family. He studied at the Vienna A ...
and
Danny Green. The screenplay concerns an international arms manufacturing firm's plans to start a war in Europe by bombing
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. It was released in the United States as ''Bombs Over London''.
Production
The film was made at
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London.
The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to te ...
. Its original script was written by
Alexander Mackendrick
Alexander Mackendrick (September 8, 1912 – December 22, 1993) was an American-born director and professor, long based in Scotland. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and later moved to Scotland. He began making television commercials befor ...
.
[Philip Kemp, Lethal Innocence : The Cinema of Alexander Mackendrick, London, Methuen, 1991, p. 6-7.] The film's sets were designed by
Wilfred Arnold
Wilfred Arnold (1903–1970), also known as C. Wilfred Arnold, was a British art director.Ryall p.98 He was prolific contributor to British films, designing the sets for more than a hundred. His brother Norman Arnold was also an art director. ...
.
Cast
*
Charles Farrell
Charles David Farrell (August 9, 1900 – May 6, 1990) was an American film actor of the 1920s silent era and into the 1930s, and later a television actor. Farrell is probably best recalled for his onscreen romances with actress Janet Gaynor ...
as Brian Gaunt
*
Margaret Vyner
Margaret Leila Vyner, also known by her married name Margaret Williams (3 December 1914 in Armidale, New South Wales – 30 October 1993 in Reading, England) was an Australian-born model and actress who appeared in British films. She collaborated ...
as Mary Stevens
*
Fritz Kortner
Fritz Kortner (born Fritz Nathan Kohn; 12 May 1892 – 22 July 1970) was an Austrian stage and film actor and theatre director.
Life and career
Kortner was born in Vienna as Fritz Nathan Kohn into a Jewish family. He studied at the Vienna A ...
as Peters
*
Danny Green as Socks
* Wallace Evennett as Smith
* Monti DeLyle as Pierre
*
Dino Galvani
Dino Galvani (born Candido Galvanoni; 27 October 189014 September 1960) was an Italian-British actor, who made his career in Britain on stage and radio and in films. He is remembered for his role in the popular BBC radio comedy series ''ITMA'' fr ...
as Tony
* Arthur Finn as Mac, Newspaper Editor
*
Laurence Hanray
Laurence Hanray ( Lawrence Henry Jacobs; 16 May 1874 – 28 November 1947), sometimes credited as Lawrence Hanray, was a British film and theatre actor born in London, England. He is also credited as the author of several plays and music hall s ...
as Sir George, Lead Conspirator
* Arthur Gomez as Baron von Kleisch, Delegate
*
Raymond Lovell
Raymond Lovell (13 April 1900 – 1 October 1953) was a Canadian-born actor who performed in British films. He mainly played supporting roles, often somewhat pompous characters.
Lovell initially trained as a physician at Cambridge University
...
as Harris
* Evan John as Doctor Marsh
* Reynes Barton as Conference President
*
Terence O'Brien as Secret Agent Fearns
* Dennis Val Norton as Vronsky, Peters' Aide
* Billy Bray as Banks
* Sydney King as Graham Stevens
*
Andreas Malandrinos
Andreas Malandrinos ( el, Ανδρέας Μαλανδρίνος; 14 November 1888, in Greece – 11 July 1970, in Surrey) was a Greek-born actor who started appearing in British films from 1930, until his death 40 years later in Surrey, England ...
as Zadek
* Victor Tandy as Groves
References
Bibliography
* Low, Rachael. ''Filmmaking in 1930s Britain''. George Allen & Unwin, 1985.
* Wood, Linda. ''British Films, 1927–1939''. British Film Institute, 1986.
External links
*
1937 films
1930s thriller films
British thriller films
Films shot at Pinewood Studios
Films set in London
British black-and-white films
Films directed by Sinclair Hill
1930s English-language films
1930s British films
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