''Return of a Stranger'' is a 1937 British

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Victor Hanbury W. Victor Hanbury (1897 – 14 December 1954) was a British film director and producer. Entering the film industry in 1919 after service in the First World War, he became a director and producer in the early 1930s. His last film as a director w ...

and starring Griffith Jones,

Rosalyn Boulter Rosalyn Boulter (1 February 19176 March 1997) was a British film actress. She married Stanley Haynes, a film writer, director and producer before having a daughter together, Carol, in 1943. Between 1935 and 1936 she featured in four West End ...

, Ellis Jeffries and Athole Stewart.BFI.org
/ref> The film was made at

Shepperton Studios Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not to be confused ...

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 ...

, and was distributed by RKO Pictures to meet the company's annual requirement under the Quota.

Synopsis

James Martin plans to

elope Elopement is a term that is used in reference to a marriage which is conducted in a sudden and secretive fashion, usually involving a hurried flight away from one's place of residence together with one's beloved with the intention of getting ma ...

with Carol Wall, the daughter of the wealthy chairman of Wall Chemicals. While in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

with her, Martin is wrongly accused of murdering a man and is forced to flee to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. Carol meanwhile marries a wealthy

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

. Martin rebuilds his life in South Africa and finishes developing a valuable new chemical formula which he had begun in England. After he is partially disfigured by an explosion in his laboratory, Martin decides to return home to clear his name, confident that he will no longer be recognised. However, Carol's husband quickly begins to suspect that the visiting South African is really Martin and alerts Scotland Yard.

Cast

* Griffith Jones as James Martin *

as Carol Wall * Ellis Jeffries as Lady Wall * Athole Stewart as Sir Patrick Wall * Cecil Ramage as John Forbes * Constance Godridge as Esme * Sylvia Marriott as Mary *

James Harcourt James Harcourt (20 April 187318 February 1951) was an English character actor. Harcourt was born in Headingley, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire. He started work as a cabinet maker, and drifted into amateur dramatics. He appeared as a stage act ...

as Johnson * Harold Scott as Peters * Howard Douglas as Van Der Geun * David Farrar as Doctor Young *

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 Sir Herbert Tompkin *

Edie Martin Edie Martin (1 January 1880 – 22 February 1964) was a British actress. She was a ubiquitous performer, on stage from 1886, playing generally small parts but in high demand, appearing in scores of British films (although often uncredited). ...

as Mrs Stevens

References

Bibliography

* Chibnall, Steve. ''Quota Quickies: The Birth of the British 'B' film''. British Film Institute, 2007. * Low, Rachael. ''History of the British Film: Filmmaking in 1930s Britain''. George Allen & Unwin, 1985 .

External links

* 1937 films 1937 drama films British drama films Films shot at Shepperton Studios Films directed by Victor Hanbury Films set in London Films set in Hampshire Films set in South Africa Films scored by Jack Beaver British black-and-white films 1930s English-language films 1930s British films {{1930s-UK-film-stub