''The Viper'' is a 1938 British slapstick

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Roy William Neill Roy William Neill (4 September 1887 – 14 December 1946) was an Irish-born American film director best known for directing the last eleven of the fourteen Sherlock Holmes films starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, made between 1943 and 19 ...

and starring

Claude Hulbert Claude Noel Hulbert (25 December 1900 – 23 January 1964) was a mid-20th century English stage, radio and cinema comic actor. Early life Claude Hulbert was born in Fulham in West London on Christmas Day 1900. He was the younger brother of J ...

Betty Lynne Betty Lynne (1911–2011) was a British film actress. During the late 1930s she played the female lead in a number of quota quickies, several of them for Warner Bros. at Teddington Studios. In 1939 she co-starred with Robert Newton in the thrille ...

and

Hal Walters Henry Paul "Hal" Walters (29 January 1892 – 7 September 1940) was a British actor. He was best known for his role in ''The Four Feathers'' (1939). He was killed by a bomb in an air raid during the London Blitz. Selected filmography * ''Just ...

. The film was a sequel to the previous year's very successful '' The Vulture'', with Hulbert and Walters reprising their roles as hapless private detective Cedric Gull and his sidekick Stiffy respectively.

Lesley Brook Lesley Brook (18 February 1917 – 7 February 2009) was a British stage, film and television actress. Married to an RAF pilot, Terry Spencer, she moved after the war to South Africa for 15 years before returning to the UK. They had three childr ...

also features in both films, but in unrelated roles. Directorial duties passed to Neill as

Ralph Ince Ralph Waldo Ince (January 16, 1887 – April 10, 1937) was an American pioneer film actor, director and screenwriter whose career began near the dawn of the silent film era. Ralph Ince was the brother of John E. Ince and Thomas H. Ince. Biogr ...

, the director of ''The Vulture'', had been killed in a road accident shortly after the film's release.

Cast

as Cedric Gull *

as Gaby Toulong *

as Stiffy Mason *

as Jenny * Fred Groves as Inspector Bradlaw * Dino Galvani as The Viper * Boris Ranevski as Carlos * Harvey Braban as Jagger *

Reginald Purdell Reginald Purdell (4 November 1896 – 22 April 1953) was an English actor and screenwriter who appeared in over 40 films between 1930 and 1951. During the same period he also contributed to the screenplays of 15 feature films, such as '' Th ...

as Announcer

Reception

''The Viper'' fared significantly less well than ''The Vulture'' both critically and commercially. The film was not the box-office success its predecessor had been, and it was suggested that cinemagoers were beginning to tire of Hulbert's disguises and slapstick routines. Reviews were almost entirely negative in tone. ''

Kine Weekly ''Kinematograph Weekly'', popularly known as ''Kine Weekly'', was a trade paper catering to the British film industry between 1889 and 1971. History ''Kinematograph Weekly'' was founded in 1889 as the monthly publication ''Optical Magic Lantern a ...

'' observed that the film held little appeal other than to Hulbert's die-hard fans and that "considerable expense has apparently gone in the production of gadgets and stunts for this picture which would have been better devoted to a more humorous story and funnier dialogue". The ''

Monthly Film Bulletin ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...

'' found the film "absurd and confusing...the slapstick episodes are embarrassing". No print of ''The Viper'' is known to survive, and the film is included on the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

's " 75 Most Wanted" list of missing British feature films.

References

External links

BFI 75 Most Wanted entry
with extensive notes * 1938 films 1938 comedy films British comedy films British black-and-white films Films directed by Roy William Neill Lost British films British sequel films 1938 lost films Lost comedy films Warner Bros. films Films shot at Teddington Studios 1930s British films {{1930s-UK-comedy-film-stub