''The Blue Parrot'' is a low budget 1953 British

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by John Harlow and starring

Dermot Walsh Dermot Walsh (10 September 1924 – 26 June 2002) was an Irish stage, film and television actor, known for portraying King Richard the Lionheart in the 1962 television series '' ''Richard the Lionheart'. Early life Born in Dublin, Walsh was t ...

Jacqueline Hill Grace Jacqueline Hill (17 December 1929 – 18 February 1993)Obituary
cuttin ...

Ballard Berkeley Ballard Blascheck (6 August 1904 – 16 January 1988), known professionally as Ballard Berkeley, was an English actor of stage and screen. He is best remembered for playing Major Gowen in the British television sitcom ''Fawlty Towers''. Life an ...

, Richard Pearson, and

John Le Mesurier John Le Mesurier (, born John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley; 5 April 191215 November 1983) was an English actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his comedic role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the BBC television situation co ...

. The film was produced by Stanley Haynes for Act Films Ltd. Jacqueline Hill later became well known for playing Barbara, one of the original companions of

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

TV's ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

''. Ballard Berkeley found fame in later life playing

Major Gowen ''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, broadcast on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Televisio ...

in ''

Fawlty Towers ''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, broadcast on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Television ...

''. British crime reporter

Percy Hoskins Percy Kellick Hoskins (28 December 1904 – 5 February 1989) was the chief crime reporter for the British newspaper the ''Daily Express'' in the 1950s. He also provided stories for radio and television crime shows, such as ''Whitehall 1212''. Ho ...

provided the story.

Premise

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

night club A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

the Blue Parrot is at the centre of murder and racketeering investigations, and the police go undercover.

Cast

as Bob Herrick *

Jacqueline Hill Grace Jacqueline Hill (17 December 1929 – 18 February 1993)Obituary
cuttin ...

as Maureen Maguire *

as Superintendent Chester * June Ashley as Gloria * Richard Pearson as "Quinny" *

Ferdy Mayne Ferdy Mayne (or Ferdie Mayne) (born Ferdinand Philip Mayer-Horckel; 11 March 1916 – 30 January 1998) was a German-British stage and screen actor. Born in Mainz, he emigrated to the United Kingdom in the early 1930s to escape the Nazi regi ...

as Stevens * Victor Lucas as Rocks Owen *

Edwin Richfield Edwin Richfield (11 September 1921 – 2 August 1990) was an English actor. Career Richfield starred in the television series ''Interpol Calling'' (1959). He was ''The Odd Man'' in Granada Television's series of the same name in the early 196 ...

as Taps Campelli *

as Henry Carson * Arthur Rigby as Charlie * Valerie White as Eva West * Diane Watts as Carla

Critical reception

*''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' wrote, "

does his best with some lacklustre material, and

turns up in a supporting slot, but there's little else here to recommend." *Britmovie wrote, "The Blue Parrot is a middling b-movie thriller set against the post-war backdrop of

spivs In the United Kingdom, the word spiv is slang for a type of petty criminal who deals in illicit, typically black market, goods. The word was particularly used during the Second World War and in the post-war period when many goods were rationed du ...

, black-marketeers, pawnbrokers and raincoat detectives." *

Sky Movies Sky Cinema is a British subscription film service owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). In the United Kingdom, Sky Cinema channels currently broadcast on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable platforms, and in addition Sky Cinema ...

noted, "a real treat for connoisseurs of British

B-movies A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...

of the

post-war In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period c ...

decade...Complete with such familiar elements of the genre as the raincoated detective (Dermot Walsh in a part that sounds as though it may have originally been written for a visiting American star) and settings at a

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

and at

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

is on hand, as he was so often in these films, to supply smooth Continental villainy, and the film's major surprise lies in the casting of John Le Mesurier as the nightclub's shady owner."

References

External links

* 1953 films British crime thriller films British detective films Police detective films Films directed by John Harlow Films set in London 1950s crime thriller films British black-and-white films 1950s English-language films 1950s British films {{crime-thriller-film-stub