''White Face'' (also known as ''Edgar Wallace's White Face the Fiend'') is a 1932 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 T. Hayes Hunter and starring

Hugh Williams Hugh Anthony Glanmor Williams (6 March 1904 – 7 December 1969) was a British actor and dramatist of Welsh descent. Early life and career Hugh Anthony Glanmor Williams (nicknamed "Tam") was born at Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex to Hugh Dafydd Anth ...

Gordon Harker William Gordon Harker (7 August 1885 – 2 March 1967) was an English stage and film actor. Harker was one of the sons of Sarah Elizabeth Harker, née Hall, (1856–1927), and Joseph Harker (1855–1927), a much admired set painter for the ...

and

Renee Gadd Renee Gadd (1908–2003) was an Argentine-born British film actress. She acted mostly in British films. Early life Gadd was born on a ranch in Bahía Blanca, Argentina in 1908 to immigrants from Jersey. Her father Talbot Gadd was a railway execut ...

. The film is based on a play by

Edgar Wallace Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer. Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was a war correspondent during th ...

Plot

A doctor becomes a blackmailer and a jewel thief in order to raise funds for a hospital in East London but is uncovered by an ambitious reporter.

Cast

- Michael Seeley *

- Sam Hackett *

Norman McKinnel Norman McKinnel (10 February 1870 – 29 March 1932) was a Scottish stage and film actor and playwright, active from the 1890s until his death. He appeared in many stage roles in the UK and overseas as well as featuring in a number of films, ...

- Inspector Mason *

- Janice Harman * Richard Bird - Donald Bateman *

Nora Swinburne Leonora Mary Johnson (24 July 1902 – 1 May 2000), known professionally as Nora Swinburne, was an English actress who appeared in many British films. Early years Swinburne was born in Bath, Somerset, the daughter of Henry Swinburne Johnson a ...

- Inez Landor *

Leslie Perrins Leslie Perrins (7 October 1901 – 13 December 1962) was an English actor who often played villains. After training at RADA, he was on stage from 1922, and in his long career, appeared in well over 60 films. Hobbies Perrins and wife Violet w ...

- Louis Landor * J.H. Roberts - Doctor Marford * D. A. Clarke-Smith - Dr. Rudd *

Gibb McLaughlin George McLoughlin (19 July 1879 – 30 June 1961), known professionally as Gibb McLaughlin, was an English film and stage actor. Early days McLaughlin was born in Sunderland, County Durham, England in 1879. For about 10 years he was a sales ...

- Sgt. Elk *

Jeanne Stuart Jeanne Stuart (13 August 1908 – 12 February 2003), born Ivy Sweet, was a British stage and film actress. Using the stage name Jeanne Stuart, she performed on the London stage, on Broadway, and in motion pictures. She made her motion pict ...

- Gloria Gaye *

Clare Greet Clare Greet (14 June 1871 – 14 February 1939) was an English stage and film actress. She began on stage in Shakespeare with the Ben Greet Company. She appeared in 26 films between 1921 and 1939, including seven films directed by (and one ...

- Mrs. Albert

Preservation status

The film is now considered a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

, but the screenplay still exists. While working on this film, an affair between Hugh Williams and Renee Gadd began.

Critical reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote, "the British studios contribute a well-bred little mystery picture to the Broadway market in ''White Face'', which is at the

Broadway Theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

. An Edgar Wallace product, tailor-made according to the formula for these matters, it places a corpse in a slummy London street at midnight, sets the hounds of

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 ...

baying up several wrong trees, and in good time whips the mask off the mysterious White Face. On Hollywood standards it is a pleasant enough item for the homicide enthusiasts, suffering generally from a faintly anemic quality and specifically from an absence of humor."

References

Bibliography

* Sweet, Matthew. ''Shepperton Babylon: The Lost Worlds of British Cinema'' (

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...

, 2005)

External links

* 1932 films 1932 crime films Films based on works by Edgar Wallace Films directed by T. Hayes Hunter Lost British films Gainsborough Pictures films Films set in London British crime films British black-and-white films 1932 lost films 1930s English-language films 1930s British films {{1930s-crime-film-stub