An Inspector Calls

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.

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.

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.

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...

... 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.