23 Paces to Baker Street
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
23 Paces to Baker Street is a 1956 American drama film released by 20th Century Fox. The Hitchcockian mystery thriller, filmed in Cinemascope on location in London, focuses on Philip Hannon, a blind playwright who overhears a partial conversation he believes is related to the planning of a kidnapping. When the authorities fail to take action because they believe his story is the product of a writer's fertile imagination, Hannon searches for the child with the help of his butler and fiancée, using his acute sense of hearing to gather evidence and serve as guidance.
Nigel Balchin's screenplay, based on a novel by Philip MacDonald, was directed by Henry Hathaway.
[edit] Principal cast
- Van Johnson . . . . . Phillip Hannon
- Vera Miles . . . . . Jean Lennox
- Cecil Parker . . . . . Bob Matthews
- Maurice Denham . . . . . Inspector Grovening
- Isobel Elsom . . . . . Lady Syrett
- Estelle Winwood . . . . . Barmaid
[edit] Critical reception
In his review in the New York Times, Bosley Crowther observed, "a large part of this picture is curiously casual and slow, as Van Johnson, as the blind man, bores the mischief out of everybody with his hazy suspicions . . . . for that matter, he bores the audience, too. Lots of unimpressed fellows were ho-humming in the balcony at Loew's State yesterday . . . matters do start popping about half or two-thirds of the way along, when it is finally discovered, through various coincidences, that something has been cooking all the time. But you have to depend on Mr. Johnson — and Nigel Balchin, the screenwriter — to give you the details after they've been discovered. This is not a good way to get people interested in a mystery show . . . it would be a more exciting picture if it got going with a little more snap, established a more compelling mystery and built up some genuine suspense."
[edit] External links
|
|||||
