Distributor:
Cinema Club Certificate: pg | 77 minutes | Region
2 |
Available to buy Extras: No
ANYONE
IN IT WE KNOW?
Alastair
Sim, Jane Wenham, Arthur Young, Olga Lindo, Brian Worth, Eileen Moore,
Bryan Forbes
WHAT’S
IT ABOUT THEN?
A
beautifully restrained
performance from the legendary
Alastair Sim is at the centre of
this piece of vintage mystery
from the mid 1950’s. Based on
the very successful stage play
by J.B. Priestley, Sim plays
Inspector Poole who on an
evening in 1912 calls on the
well
to do Birling household to inform them of the suicide of a young girl,
speaking to each family member in turn the Inspector proves that
each in some way led to the girl committing suicide.
It’s
quite a stagey movie but is opened out with the use of flashbacks of the
family getting caught up in the life of the girl, Eva Smith (played by
Jane Wenham), two of the family manage to get her the sack from two
different jobs whilst the mother Sheila (Eileen Moore) refused to help
at the time she needed it most – pregnant, homeless and hopeless,
worst of all though youngest son Eric (Bryan Forbes – who would later
go on to direct, including, notably, the original version of the
Stepford Wives) is the one responsible for her “condition”.
All
straightforward so far but it’s the final 15 minutes that really turns
the whole story on its head and leaves you thinking “wow, I didn’t
see that coming”, An Inspector Calls is a solidly entertaining slice
of post war British mystery drama blessed with a great performance from
Sim and a sting in the tale ending from one of Britain’s most loved
writers.
