''The Surgeon's Knife'' is a 1957 British

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

directed by Gordon Parry and starring

Donald Houston Donald Daniel Houston (6 November 1923 – 13 October 1991) was a Welsh actor whose first two films—'' The Blue Lagoon'' (1949) with Jean Simmons, and '' A Run for Your Money'' (1949) with Alec Guinness—were highly successful. Later in his ...

Adrienne Corri Adrienne Corri (born Adrienne Riccoboni; 13 November 1931 – 13 March 2016) was a Scottish actress. Early life She was born Adrienne Riccoboni in Glasgow in November 1931, the daughter of an English mother (Olive Smethurst) and an Italian fa ...

and

Lyndon Brook Lyndon Brook (10 April 1926 – 9 January 2004) was a British actor, on film and television. Family and early life Lyndon Brook was born on 10 April 1926 in Los Angeles, California, to British parents. He came from an established acting fami ...

. It was written by Robert Westerby, adapted from 1940 novel '' The Wicked Flee'' by

Anne Hocking Naomi Annie Hocking Messer (1889 – 17 March 1966), known as Anne Hocking and nicknamed "Mona", was an English crime writer, best remembered for her detective stories featuring Chief Superintendent William Austen. Life and career The daught ...

Synopsis

When his patient dies during an operation, a surgeon resorts to murder to cover up his negligence.

Cast

as Doctor Alex Waring *

as Laura Shelton *

as Doctor Ian Breck *

Jean Cadell Jean Dunlop Cadell (13 September 1884 – 29 September 1967) was a Scottish character actress. Although her married name was Jean Dunlop Perceval-Clark she retained her maiden name in the context of acting. Life and career She was born at 4 ...

as Henrietta Stevens *

Sydney Tafler Sydney Tafler (31 July 1916 – 8 November 1979) was an English actor who after having started his career on stage, was best remembered for numerous appearances in films and television from the 1940s to the 1970s. Personal life Tafler was bor ...

as Doctor Hearne *

Mervyn Johns David Mervyn Johns (18 February 18996 September 1992) was a Welsh stage, film and television actor who became a fixture of British films during the Second World War. Johns appeared extensively on screen and stage with over 100 credits between 1 ...

as Mr. Waring *

Marie Ney Marie Ney (18 July 1895 — 11 April 1981) was a British character actress who had an acting career spanning five decades, from 1919 to 1969, encompassing both stage and screen. Early life Ney was born in London, and as a young child, went with ...

as Matron Fiske *

Ronald Adam Ronald Adam may refer to: * Ronald Forbes Adam, British Army officer * Ronald Adam (actor), actor, theatre director and RAF officer See also * Ron Adam Ron Adam (December 16, 1933 – October 27, 2014) was a Canadian football quarterback w ...

as Major Tilling * John Welsh as Inspector Austen *

Beatrice Varley Beatrice Evelyn Varley (11 July 1896 – 4 July 1964) was an English actress who appeared in television and film roles between 1936 and 1964. She made her screen debut in the 1936 film ''Tomorrow We Live'' and began to portray a variety of ...

as Mrs. Waring *

Noel Hood Margaret Noel Hood (25 December 1909 – 15 October 1979) was a British actress. She was married to the Irish-born actor Charles Oliver. Filmography Film * ''Crook's Tour'' (1940) as Edith Charters * '' Personal Affair'' (1953) as 4th Gossip ( ...

as Sister Slater *

André van Gyseghem André van Gyseghem (18 August 1906 – 13 October 1979) was an English actor and theatre director who also appeared in many British television programmes. Early life Van Gyseghem was born on 18 August 1906 in Eltham, Kent, the son of Georges Em ...

as Mr. Dodds *

Frank Forsyth Frank Forsyth (19 December 1905 – 2 May 1984), sometimes credited as Frank Forsythe, was an English actor, active from the 1930s. He was born on 19 December 1905 in London, England. He appeared in several TV programmes, including '' Department ...

as anaesthetist * Tom Bowman as surgeon * Susan Westerby as Miss Jenner * Betty Shale as Garsten

Critical reception

Picturegoer ''Picturegoer'' was a fan magazine published in the United Kingdom between 1911 and 23 April 1960. Background The magazine was started in 1911 under the name ''The Pictures'' and in 1914 it merged with ''Picturegoer''. Following the merge it was ...

'' wrote: "Its sensational story is unlikely to be serialized in ''

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal, founded in England in 1823. It is one of the world's highest-impact academic journals and also one of the oldest medical journals still in publication. The journal publishes ...

'', but Donald Houston and supporting cast make it appear quite exciting throughout for the screen." ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' rated the film 2/5 stars, noting a "Standard melodrama without enough suspense to be terrifying."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Surgeon's Knife, The 1957 films 1957 crime films British black-and-white films Films about surgeons Films directed by Gordon Parry British crime films Films based on British novels 1950s English-language films 1950s British films English-language crime films Gibraltar Films films