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Return of the Frog
Nobody Knows / Nobody Home
UK 1938
produced by Herbert Wilcox for Imperator
directed by Maurice Elvey
starring Gordon Harker, Hartley Power, René Ray, Cyril Smith, Charles Lefeaux, Una O'Connor, Meinhart Maur, George Hayes (II), Charles Carson, Alexander Field, Aubrey Mallalieu, Denis Cowles, Patrick Parsons
screenplay by Gerald Elliott, Ian Hay, based on the novel The India Rubber Man by Edgar Wallace
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
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It seems villain the Frog is at it again, running his criminal
organisation and committing whatever crimes there are to commit. Inspector
Elk (Gordon Harker) ivestigates with the help of Dale Stanford (Hartley
Power), an American cop posing as a gangster from Chicago. Investigations
lead them all over the place, but soon they close in on Leela (René Ray),
a girl who will inherit a fortune on her 21st birthday - whom Dale falls
in love with by the way - and her uncle Golly (Charles Lefeaux) and aunt
Mum (Una O'Connor), two known smugglers, and their acquaintances like
Captain Dutch (Mainhart Maur) and sleazy Dandy Lane (George Hayes) - and
eventually, rather by accident, Elk and Stanford stumble upon the Frog's
headquarters, from where he communicates with his henchmen via television,
get information about the Frog's big coup out of his men and finally close
in on the Frog himself - who turns out to be Golly, of course the person
least suspicious. Golly has since kidnapped Leela and holds her hostage,
but Elk and Stanford ultimately succeed in disposing him and saving her. Rather
disappointing thriller, at times convoluted to the point of
unintelligibility - which many Edgar wallace thrillers are - and full of
plotholes, but lacking the charm to cover up its narrative
inconsistencies. Rather unlikeable actors in the lead roles don't help
that much either, actually. Not worth your while.
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