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A fairly rare thing; a film version of a play which really works- partly because of the quality of the original play, and partly by using flash-backs as a natural way of introducing more locations. These new scenes are well-written enough to fit seamlessly with Priestley's lines; and Eva Smith is beautifully acted. What makes this movie, though, is the magnificent performance by Alistair Sim in the title role. A great piece of casting- it would have been so easy to have cast some brooding, fierce actor like Basil Rathbone in the part, but Sim's gentle, avuncular, and sad performance is far more compelling, and finally, far more sinister. The only bad thing about the film is the classic fifties close-up and Da Da DAAA! music whenever someone looks at the photograph. I think we got the point already...

A toff English family dinner is interrupted by the appearance of Inspector Poole, he announces that a young lady has committed suicide by the ingestion of disinfectant. At first the family is oblivious as to why this concerns them, but as Poole interviews each family member, it's apparent that one thing binds them all to the mystery.

Adapted from the J.B. Priestley stage play, An Inspector Calls is everything that was great about 50s British Cinema. Simple in structure it may be, but the lack of clogging in any form shines brighter than many a lavish production from this particular decade. The films cause is helped immensely by the quality of the writing, Desmond Davis adding further quality to the already great source provided by the talented Priestley. At first the film leads you to believe that it's going to be a one room interrogation piece, but thru a series of flash backs we are taken out of the room to follow this intriguing story to its quite brilliant finale. There are no histrionics from the actors in this piece, all of them are wonderful because they adhere to the necessity of letting the story be the star. Alastair Sim is perfectly cast as Inspector Poole, a large presence with those highly sympathetic eyes, Sim may be playing the main character, yet he's playing second fiddle to the fleshing out of the Birling family deconstruction, it's a wonderful case where the acting glue is holding it all together.

Director Guy Hamilton does a smashing job of making the film permanently edgy, a sense of unease is palpable throughout, and it's only during the final reel that the heart of the film shows its ace card, and even then, the makers have one more trick up their sleeves. Also worth mentioning is the editing from the sadly uncredited Geoffrey Botterill, so many films containing flash back sequences feel intrusive to the flow of a picture, it isn't here, it's spot on. An Inspector Calls is a wonderful mystery piece that is dotted with moments of unease, but all this would go to waste if the pay off was merely a damp squib, it thankfully isn't, and the likes of Rod Serling and Charles Beaumont were surely nodding in approval.

Highly recommended 9/10.

*Footnote:Alastair Sim is listed on this site as playing Inspector Goole, that is the characters name in the Priestley play, but i can assure everyone that his characters name is definitely Inspector Poole for this film version.

Alistair Sim is brilliant in the title role. This is a filmed stage play, but in absolutely the best possible connotations of the phrase; it gives the viewer the sense of intimacy and participation one gets from watching live theater. The tale itself basically combines a bit of "Tales From The Unexplained" with Noel Coward and Aesop's Fables with a dash of Hitchcock for good measure. More than that I shall not say except all four of the family members' supporting performances are excellent. When this inspector calls, he is not soon forgotten.

I first saw this film when I was ll years old and have never forgotten it. If I had my way, it would be required viewing in every school in the U.S.. The period atmosphere is superb and the acting first rate. A well shaded performance by Jane Wenham who plays the pivotal role. The haunting theme music, I have tried unsuccessfully to obtain.

This film is one of my top favourites and each successive viewing makes me like it more and more. Perhaps I have a partiality for Priestly as I adored as well "Last Holiday". Whether it is the superb black-and-white photography, the plaintive theme music by Francis Chagrin ( Eva's Theme ), the masterly way in which the plot unfolds as the film progresses, the surprise ending ... all contribute to make this a small masterpiece which is never to be forgotten once seen.

Basically, a wealthy family in the early part of the 20th century are having a little celebration at home when proceedings are interrupted by a rather mysterious police inspector who says he has come to interrogate them about a young lady who has just died through suicide in an infirmery. When the young lady's name is pronounced, this doesn't ring any bells with those present but - this is where the fun starts and you can just see it coming - the inspector proceeds, via flashbacks, to establish a connection between all present and the unfortunate young lady who has passed on ...... The plot is excellently made, and build up to a final climax with brio. They just don't make films like this any more !

The film has now been available for about 18 months ( October 2007 ) on a DVD in the UK only which while sporting an excellent copy of the film, offers no subtitles or other languages and no interesting extras for the viewer. This is a bit of a shame for a film which, to me at least is to be considered as a small masterpiece of British Cinema. The theme music is also now available on a Francis Chagrin CD.

JB Priestley usually had a moralising theme to his plays.As a Socialist he wanted to show his audience the social ills in society and prick their conscience.This film, which my son studied for his English GCSE was made into a film in 1954 with Alistair Sim in the title role.To help my son get a better understanding we all went up to the West End to see the play acted by professionals.It has a haunting theme about the social ills in the Edwardian society of 1912 when a girl first loses her job at the factory when asking for higher wages by the father, loses her second job courtesy of the daughter, loses her flat courtesy of the daughter's fiancé, is made pregnant by the son and finally is refused genuine charity by the mother.

My son returned the favour by giving me a DVD version of the film when I expressed a wish to see it, since one sees so few worthy films on TV these days compared to all the modern rubbish shown.There is rather a ghostly denouement to the film and twist which Priestley cleverly writes into the plot.Although Alistair Sim is only on screen for a short time he effortlessly steals your attention.

A upper class family are celebrating round a dinner table one evening when they receive a visit from Inspector Poole (Alastair Sim). The inspector informs the family that a young woman that they all know has died. Due to the fact that everyone in the family knows the victim, the Inspector begins to question each member of the family to try to uncover the truth surrounding her death.

An Inspector Calls is a film adaptation of a JB Priestley play and the film does have a very stagy feel about it. However, once Inspector Poole arrives the film never lets up and I was fully wrapped up in the story. Like any mystery film the less you know about it beforehand the better the experience is likely to be for you. The nature of the narrative had me hooked as I was never really sure which direction the film would take me in and how it was going to end - in other words it kept me guessing. The ending is both surprising and thought-provoking.

Aside from a good narrative, the film also benefits from excellent performances from the cast with Sim arguably being the strongest player. The way he interrogates the family and gets information out of them is also top-notch and very clever.

This is a great film and uses a very simple premise and uses it well and to good effect. The running time of 80 minutes keeps everything tight and ensures that this film never outstays his welcome.

I have an excellent copy of this rare and wonderful film and Alastair Sim introduces himself -distinctly- as Inspector Poole, the daughter's fiancé asks a police officer about the Inspector using that name and the police officer repeats the name. Goole is a rather gruesome reference to ghoul, I think, and the benevolent Inspector was not at all depicted as a creepy or menacing man. J.B. Priestley meant this piece to be as much a morality play as a mystery, I believe. The Inspector was supposed to be either an angel on a mission or God himself giving these unconscious people a chance to redeem themselves for their thoughtless and compassionless actions... The performances are uniformly top notch and Alastair Sim's, in particular, rivals his unsurpassed portrayal of Scrooge in the finest version of "A Christmas Carol." I highly recommend this film as a first class lesson in the common foibles of human nature and how we have the ability to achieve salvation if we take responsibility for our faults.

Being a classic film fan (though do watch films and television of all genres/medium old and new), that 'An Inspector Calls' was based on the classic play with a great story by JB Priestley and had a great actor in Alastair Sim on board were reasons enough to see it.

'An Inspector Calls' thankfully did not disappoint. While the 2015 television adaptation with David Thewlis was also wonderful, this film version from 1954 is the marginally better one. Even if it does open up the deliberately confined setting and atmosphere of the play with the inclusion of flashbacks for cinematic reasons no doubt, which some may feel tones down the claustrophobia. To me it isn't as strong as it is on stage but is present still. As well as changing the Inspector's name from Goole to Poole, some may, and have done, find that it misses the point of the character for reasons that won't be gone into here at the risk of spoiling crucial elements of the story. Didn't have as big a problem with this change though it does take away a little from the character's mysteriousness. But what makes this version of 'An Inspector Calls' so good is how well it succeeds on its own merits.

It is an incredibly atmospheric film first and foremost, it's not the most technically polished film there is but it does look good. The setting do maintain the sense of confinement and claustrophobia and are produced elegantly. The cinematography and lighting are suitably ominous and while not the most polished look beautiful and add hugely to the atmosphere. A big shout out also has to go to the editing, with 'An Inspector Calls' containing to me some of the best editing of any film seen recently by me and of its kind, with its fluid and seamless transitions between present day and the flashbacks. Something that has been done with wildly variable results elsewhere, many films do it well and just as many others executing it rather clumsily.

Regarding the music, much of it is very haunting and adds a lot in giving a sense of constant unease. There are a few instances where it's a touch heavy-handed, my sole complaint of the film but it is not significant enough to bring it down. The script is droll and thought-provoking, never once found it trite, the best lines belong to the Inspector and Sim's delivery has a lot to do with it.

Story goes at a deliberate but efficient and never too slow pace, it is unsettlingly suspenseful and very intriguing. The portrayal and dynamic of the central family were beautifully established, there is a lot of great psychological tension and unease when the family are interrogated and the flashbacks were a great way of opening up the story and solving the potential problem while stage to screen adaptations of being stagy. They allowed us to get to know the victim and care for her plight and also the members of the Birling family and how it all affects them. The final twist, while open to interpretation, really sends a chill down the spine.

The performances are very fine across the board. Didn't have a problem with Bryan Forbes, though he fares better as a director than an actor in a way. 'An Inspector Calls' is compelling from the get go , but gets even better once the inspector shows up and interrogates the Birlings to utterly transfixing effect. Alastair Sim always had a knack for scene-stealing, whether in lead or support, and he does here in a superb performance that perhaps ranks among his best. Loved his witty but serious line delivery and even more so his understated and oh so expressive eyes and face.

Jane Wenham is very touching in her here pathos-filled role. Arthur Young has the right amount of patriarchal authority and crustiness and Olga Lindo brings dignity and class.

Concluding, wonderful and not easy to forget. 10/10 Bethany Cox

... but this was an excellent British film. I can't really say if it was suspense, thriller, or even fantasy. The beginning has five wealthy people sitting down to dinner with the daughter in the family, Sheila, announcing her engagement to Gerald, who is obviously approved of by the family. The son, Eric, is obviously a cynic. Lots of time is spent having the camera pan over all of the food. The reason why will be obvious later. The father, Mr. Birling, says that the young people are marrying at a time of great prosperity and that war is impossible in 1912, that the world is changing too fast for war (WRONG - won't be the last time either for dear old dad). Then he says that the family must try and stay out of the scandal sheets since he is expecting to be appointed to an important post and with Sheila's upcoming marriage. He really says this last part jokingly, as if anybody in that room could do something scandalous.

And out of nowhere a police inspector appears in the dining room doorway. They even mention why he didn't knock. He says he is there because a young woman has just died of poisoning and he needs to ask them a few questions. He says he is not sure if it is suicide or murder. He goes to each family member in turn and shows them a photo of the girl but does not show the same photo to anybody else. Each person remembers the girl, and each did something - sometimes a very small thing just because that person was having a bad day - that led the dead girl on the road to ruin, ultimately placing her in a situation where she was desperate and felt she had no out but suicide. She was young, pretty, and smart, but she had no real family and no money, putting herself at the whim of the upper classes.

After all of the revelations, Gerald goes outside for a walk to calm down and runs into a policeman he knows where he learns a shocking fact. What did he find out and what comes of it? Watch and find out.

The whole point of the film I think is to show that each of us may be a small pebble on this earth, but in life's pond we can produce big ripples. In concert with other "pebbles" we can start off a chain reaction in a person's life that greatly affects them without really knowing or caring what we did until we are made to care and look at the result of our handiwork.

This film was very suspenseful with lots of twists and turns. Alistair Sim was marvelous as the inspector, unfazed and deliberate throughout. I'd highly recommend it.

Alastair Sim stars in this morality tale as Inspector Poole who suddenly appears like a spectre in the house of a provincial wealthy family and interrogates them over the death of a local girl which each members of the family have been associated with.

An Inspector Calls is better known as a stage play and here it has been filled out with flashbacks as we find out more about the life of the dead girl and her interactions with the various members of the family.

Although the film is set in 1912 it its themes are still relevant today and especially when you see the division in attitudes with the younger characters in the play and the older characters who are not only more selfish but less remorseful that they pretended to be.

Sim is sly and powerful as the Inspector who brings down the selfish members of this family a peg or two, he keeps you watching. Jane Wenham is likable as Eva the deceased girl who over time crosses paths with the Birling family and not for the better.

This movie is a special favorite of mine. Alistair Sim has never been better; his regretful smile is truly haunting. I particularly enjoy showing this movie to people for the first time, as reactions are never quite the same. What is consistent is that it always gets a reaction! Warning: some female friends count it as a two-Kleenex-box movie...be prepared.

An odd thing...Bryan Forbes, as Eric Birling, resembles American actor John Larroquette remarkably. It doesn't distract from the enjoyment of the movie. Just a curious thing.

Eschatology is the study of the four last things: death, judgement, heaven and hell. After a death there must be judgement and this will lead to either bliss or damnation. In this film the ghostly Inspector, marvellously played by Alastair Sim, forces a family to face the reality of death, to accept judgement and to choose whether they will repent or stay obdurate.

Set in the microcosm of a well-off English household in 1912, the message applies equally to their class and to the nation which they control. When a single working-class woman undergoes what Eva went through, the society which produces it needs reform. No simple solution is given, however. Instead, the story mutely asks us to decide who is my brother and how far am I his keeper.

Adapted for the screen by Desmond Davis from the stage play by J.B. Priestley, the film opens out the claustrophobic tale by showing Eva's sad descent in a series of flashbacks, which allow the use of more settings and more characters (including a cameo for George Cole as a tram conductor). Making Eva a neat, quiet, unassuming young woman adds greatly to the pathos, evoking our pity for her fate. Good playing by a young Bryan Forbes, who later switched to directing, as the weak son Eric.

I probably enjoyed this version of An Inspector Calls the most. There have been so many different sketches, but this one has the atmosphere than none of the others possess. The factors that provide the viewer with the best atmosphere are the fact that the film is in black and white - This makes it old fashioned, which it is meant to be. Also, the use of mirrors around the entire room are very eery, and the brief yet effective music play a part, too.

I strongly recommend watching this, and I'm aware that it is being studied in English lessons, so watch the entire sketch for more knowledge!

I have just finished watching this film on TV,and I must say,what a pleasant diversion it was for the afternoon,plenty of twists and turns,and the ending was excellent also,top performance must go to Alistair Sim for his protrayal of Inspector Poole,rivetting stuff.

This classic JB Priestley play, regularly revived on the stage and filmed numerous times since it was written in 1945, is perfect for a winter's Sunday afternoon on the sofa. This version is the one to see as the central role of the detective is played by the wonderful Alistair Sim.

For British viewers, Eileen Moore, who plays the daughter of the family, was the first wife of George Cole, who has an unbilled cameo as the bus conductor. Alistair Sim had acted as a guardian to Cole when he was a young actor. If you have a feeling you recognise Jane Wenham, who plays Eva Smith, chances are you saw her in 'Porridge', in which she was the Governor's secretary in the hostage episode.

What can I add, but to say that I agree with all the previous comments about the magnificent performance of Sim and the intelligence of this film.

I've had this film on tape (from TV) for many years now and view it frequently; it is such a pleasure to watch something of this quality: low-key, well-acted, absorbing and, above all (and here's that word again), intelligent.

I give this film two thumbs up (and I'd give it even more if I had more thumbs.) P.S. Hadn't seen Jane Wenham (Eva Smith in this film) in anything else until I watched an Inspector Morse rerun from 1992 ("The Death of Self") last night. I said to the Mrs. that one of the actresses looked familiar; what a surprise to find that it was Ms. Wenham some 38 years later on (and as a blonde.)

An early Guy Hamilton film but he clearly has it well under control, extending the original play outside at strategic moments and maintaining full interest in what is otherwise a locked room drama. Alastair Sim most likeable in restrained and knowing mood and a young Bryan Forbes does well as the wayward son in this simple yet twisty tale of class prejudice in England. Jane Wenham does well as the girl at the centre of things but she should really have been just a little better looking, for all the attention gained, and a little less well spoken considering her supposed position in the section of society depicted. Having said that, this is well written and eminently watchable.

This film demonstrates , that when the cast are given such a

wonderful story, the film doesn't need big stars or outlandish

special effects to succeed. Alastair Sim stars as the mysterious

Inspector Goole, who calls upon the wealthy Birling family, to

investigate the death of a local girl, Eva Smith. The audience is led

to believe, that because the dead girl had worked in the Birlings

factory , Mr Birling is the subject of the investigation , but as the

story unravels, it is apparent that the rest of the family are involved

in the girls death. When I first saw this film I was unfamiliar with

Priestley's work, but after the final scene, I was enthralled. The

ending took me completely by surprise. Good supporting cast of

British actors, including a young Bryan Forbes as Eric Birling, but

as in all his films, Alastair Sim stands head and shoulders above

everybody else, and carries the film. I would recommend this

movie to everybody, but don't give away the ending.

Alastair Sim is super as the man who calls upon the well-to-do "Birling" family with the very sad news that a young girl has been found dead. What's that to do with them, asks "Mr. Birling" (Arthur Young)? Well over the next eighty minutes this man lays before them a cleverly constructed series of theories that could easily suggest that any or all of them might be responsible for the sad and lonely predicament the young woman found herself in at the end of her life. Spurned affections and accusations of neglect, cruelty - psychologically rather than physical, and thoughtlessness could readily be laid at their door as "Poole" exposes a family riven with double standards and hypocrisy. His simple and polite inquisition gradually reveals secrets that the family would far sooner have remained so - but, are they the only people with secrets? Is "Poole" really who he claims to be? Guy Hamilton cleverly allows the darkly mischievous writing of JB Priestley and the considerable talents of his leading man to take centre screen here, and to draw us into this spider's web of a story. The format sticks pretty closely to that of the original stage performance - almost all set in just the one room of their home, and each of the small cast get their moment to squirm under his spotlight of interrogation. It's well paced and shows off Sim at his best.

This plays just fine as a straight forward mystery movie, but the play has more potential than that and as a straight forward mystery without the rich suggestive overtones the plot is admittedly a bit out there. So when you play something straight that isn't straight what you get is this.

Guy Hamilton doesn't add much to the proceedings and the performers mostly go through the motions in a surface way that is totally at odds with the material. There is no building sense of doom or desperation to most of the thing. It's slow and steady. Actually much of the flat footed surface approach I'd put the blame on Hamilton. At his worst he was one of those, "oh this is all just a movie" approach to too much of his output. Part of this made him perfect for Goldfinger but also helped camp up and ultimately start to wreck the Bond films later on. Most of his pre Goldfiner work is, like this film, pretty flat.

The music score is pretty lousy, though there isn't much of it, especially the stupid end credit music that further eats away the tone of the piece.

There are risky elements for the time and had the film been made in America then it would have been a disaster. Sim is quite good but perhaps a bit too laid back, though he has most of the best moments performance wise, it is again a bit of a missed opportunity to have him not rip loose ever. His expression at the end is memorable. The young brother and sister character's probably come off best, though Bryan Forbes drunk act at one point turns into a good Stan Laurel or Charlie Chaplin thing, that isn't really appropriate.

Well photographed and produced, the DVD is spotless. I suppose most or anyone who's heard of this story saw the lat 90's revival which I liked better than this film.

So if you prefer your drawing room mysteries done very dry and very safe you'll love this film and it's good on that level if you can still buy into the things that don't stick perhaps to convention.

But we'll have to wait for a less safe, more dramatic version of the very good source material rather than this film which prefers melodrama.