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Meet Sexton Blake
UK 1945
produced by Louis H. Jackson for Strand Film Company
directed by John Harlow
starring David Farrar, John Varley, Magda Kun, Gordon McLeod, Manning Whiley, Kathleen Harrison, Dennis Arundell, Cyril Smith, Ferdy Mayne, Betty Huntley-Wright, Jean Simmons, Roddy Hughes, Charles Farrell, Tony Arpino, Charles Rolfe, Philip Godfrey, Billy Howard, John Powe, Mark Jones, Jack Vyvian, Henry Wolston, David Keir, Elsie Wagstaff, Robert Brooks Turner, Alfred Harris, Margo Johns, Olive Walter
screenplay by John Harlow, based on characters created by Hal Meredeth (= Harry Blyth), music by Percival Mackey
Sexton Blake, Sexton Blake (David Farrar)
review by Mike Haberfelner
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It all starts with a dead man found at the docks with a severed hand in
his pocket - and Sexton Blake (David Farrar) and his sidekick Tinker (John
Varley) get interested in the case after they are hired by armament
manufacturer and pacifist Raoul Sud (Manning Whiley) to investigate the
disappearance of a friend, that seems to have something to do with the
severed hand, a set of celebrity photographs, and a certain ring. But
before you know it, Raoul Sud is gone too, and it seems a mysterious lady
(Magda Kun) has something to do with it. Sexton and Tinker follow the
lady but are captured by a couple of crooks, and shot dead by one of them,
called Slant-Eyes (Ferdy Mayne). Only they are not really dead, for
whatever reason, Slant-Eyes missed them from a distance of just a few
feet. Soon enough, Raoul Sud's stepbrother Johann (Dennis Arundell)
enters the scene, an unlikeable war profiteer, who insists that Sexton,
Tinker and their friend inspector Venner (Gordon McLeod) find Raoul ...
and the photos and the ring. In the end, the mysterious lady is revealed
to be a French secret agent and Slant-Eyes a British undercover man - whom
Sexton helps to stage his own death to reveal the real villain of the
piece -, Raoul is found and appears to be another British agent, the
celebrity-photographs seem to contain a secret message and the ring seems
to be the only means to decipher it ... and the villain of the film, to
noone's real surprise, turns out to be Johann Sud. An espionage
piece that, despite its year of production, features amazingly few
references to World War II. On a story level, Meet Sexton Blake has
rather little to offer, despite its over-convoluted narrative, and
plotholes are pretty much a dime a dozen - but still, the film isn't all
bad, it does feature solid performances from pretty much all of the
involved, most of the characters are enjoyable quirky, and the direction
lends a light mood to the proceedings that makes one overlook at least
some of the narrative inconsistencies. Still, don't expect a classic.
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