''Secrets of Scotland Yard'' is a 1944 American

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 George Blair and starring

Edgar Barrier Edgar Barrier (March 4, 1907 – June 20, 1964) was an American actor who appeared on radio, stage, and screen. In the 1930s he was a member of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre and was one of several actors who played Simon Templar on ''The Saint'' ...

Stephanie Bachelor Stephanie Bachelor (May 23, 1912 – November 22, 1996) was an American film actress. During the 1940s, Bachelor briefly achieved leading status in supporting features such as Republic Pictures' ''Secrets of Scotland Yard ''Secrets of Scotland ...

and

C. Aubrey Smith Sir Charles Aubrey Smith (21 July 1863 – 20 December 1948) was an English Test cricketer who became a stage and film actor, acquiring a niche as the officer-and-gentleman type, as in the first sound version of ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1937) ...

. The screenplay was by

Denison Clift Denison Clift (1885 – 1961) was an American playwright, novelist, screenwriter and film director. He directed in both America and Great Britain, mainly during the Silent Era. Biography Clift was educated at Stanford University. He began his ca ...

, adapting one of his own stories "Room 40, O.B." from

Blue Book Magazine ''Blue Book'' was a popular 20th-century American magazine with a lengthy 70-year run under various titles from 1905 to 1975. Ashley, Mike, "Blue Book—The Slick in Pulp Clothing". ''Pulp Vault'' Magazine, No. 14. Barrington Hills, IL: Tattered P ...

. It concerns a British police detective who goes undercover to root out a

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

spy in Britain's decoding organization.

Cast

as John Usher / Robert Usher *

as Sudan Ainger *

as Sir Christopher Pelt *

Lionel Atwill Lionel Alfred William Atwill (1 March 1885 – 22 April 1946) was an English stage and screen actor. He began his acting career at the Garrick Theatre. After coming to the U.S., he subsequently appeared in various Broadway plays and Hollywood f ...

as Waterlow *

Henry Stephenson Henry Stephenson (born Harry Stephenson Garraway; 16 April 1871 – 24 April 1956) was a British actor. He portrayed friendly and wise gentlemen in many films of the 1930s and 1940s. Among his roles were Sir Joseph Banks in ''Mutiny on the Bo ...

as Sir Reginald Meade *

John Abbott Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott (March 12, 1821 – October 30, 1893) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the third prime minister of Canada from 1891 to 1892. He held office as the leader of the Conservative Party. Abbot ...

as Mortimer Cope *

Walter Kingsford Walter Kingsford (born Walter Pearce; 20 September 1882 – 7 February 1958) was an English stage, film and television actor. Early years Kingsford was born in Redhill, Surrey, England. Career Kingsford began his acting career on the Lo ...

as Roylott Bevan *

Martin Kosleck Martin Kosleck (born Nicolaie Yoshkin, March 24, 1904 – January 15, 1994) was a German film actor. Like many other German actors, he fled when the Nazis came to power. Inspired by his deep hatred of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, Kosleck made ...

as Josef *

Forrester Harvey Forrester Harvey (27 June 1884 – 14 December 1945) was an Irish film actor. From 1922 until his death year Harvey appeared in more than 115 films. He was credited for about two-thirds of his film appearances, but some of his roles were un ...

as Alfred Morgan *

Frederick Worlock Frederick Worlock (December 14, 1886 – August 1, 1973) was a British-American actor. He is known for his work in various films during the 1940s and 1950s, and as the voice of Horace in ''One Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (1961). Career On sta ...

as Mason *

Matthew Boulton Matthew Boulton (; 3 September 172817 August 1809) was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engine ...

as Colonel Hedley * Bobby Cooper as David Usher

Critical reception

*''Silentcomedymafia.com'' noted that director "Blair keeps up the pace and suspense perfectly well, giving the film a relatively expensive look when you know full well (Republic president) Herbert Yates is pinching every penny." *In ''The Star-spangled Screen: The American World War II Film'', Bernard F. Dick called the film "first-rate espionage and one of the studios classier efforts...Another instance of a minor film that shows considerably more intelligence than many major ones. It is the only film of the period to explain the techniques of Cryptoanalysis, particularly how page numbers of a book can provide the key to a code."

Bibliography

* Dick, Bernard F. ''The Star-Spangled Screen: The American World War II Film''. University Press of Kentucky, 1996. * Glancy, H. Mark. ''When Hollywood Loved Britain: The Hollywood 'British' Film 1939-1945''. Manchester University Press, 1999.

External links

References

1944 films 1940s spy thriller films American spy thriller films World War II spy films Films directed by George Blair Films set in London Films set in England Republic Pictures films Films based on short fiction World War II films made in wartime Films set in the 1940s American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films {{1940s-thriller-film-stub