L'inspecteur Hornleigh

I wonder how many people have been fooled, over the years, that Alastair Sim stars in this movie as the title character; in fact, he plays Inspector Hornleigh's dimwitted sidekick (imagine a dumber Doctor Watson), and the role is largely a waste of his considerable talents. The film itself is stuffy and creaky, with a mystery plot that's uninteresting and murky. *1/2 out of 4.

The first in the Inspector Hornleigh series starring Gordon Harker in the title role with humour supplied by his partner Sergeant Bingham, played by the Scottish actor Alastair Sim, later to star as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.

Average film watchable particularly for fans of Mr Sim but some of the anti-Scottish comments by Hornleigh now make the viewer feel rather uncomfortable.

In 1939, Fox amazingly went to all the trouble to send Eugene Forde to England to direct Inspector Hornleigh. Based on a totally boring BBC radio series by Hans Priwin, the movie had a Poverty Row budget that even Monogram would be ashamed of. Virtually nothing was spent on sets or effects, the extremely limited budget being roughly divided 50% on the cast, 30% on technicians and only 20% on studio overheads. The title character was played by Gordon Harker (who did a reasonable job, considering the wordy, almost actionless screenplay), while Alastair Sim was cast as his incompetent assistant, Sergeant Bingham. Although this movie has its fans, I was not impressed. Sims over-acts and over-reacts to a most irritating degree, while the minor characters make no inroads at all into the suffocatingly dialogue-bound screenplay in which a host of tedious, z-grade thespians propound no mystery worth penetrating. The only player who comes out of this melange of boundless talk with any credit is the lovely Miki Hood who not only manages to survive Philip Tannura's warts-and-all photography, but still contrives to look attractive and retain the viewer's interest even when mouthing the most inconsequential lines.

"Inspector Hornleigh" is a delightful British comedy mystery. With the exception of Alastair Sim, few of the cast of this film would be recognized by audiences much past the mid-20th century. Gordon Harker, who has the lead as Inspector Hornleigh, had a long list of films to his credit by 1939. Although he played in some comedies and other films, his specialty was crime and mysteries. He often played an officer of the law, but had an occasional role on the opposite side of the law. Here, Harker's inspector is a wise investigator who has a sometimes comical or goofy sidekick, Sergeant Bingham. And that role is played wonderfully by Alastair Sim.

Sim had only been in the cinema since 1935, but had a slew of films under his belt. He was at the point in his career where he would get varying top roles from leading actor to top supporting actor or other significant character. Here, he adds some good humor as Hornleigh tackles a murder and theft of high government papers that could wreak havoc on the British economy.

Here are a couple of favorite lines from the film.

Chancellor, "My dear inspector, I may be only a politician, but I can identify my own property."

Michael Kavanos, "I never know whether you English are serious, joking, or mad."

Firstly, Miki Hood - what a beautiful young lady! I wonder why she never made it big because she's absolutely lovely. She looks like a Disney princess who could be another sister of Loretta Young.

This film is based on a long running popular radio show, with professional cockney Gordon Harker as the personable sleuth. With a long track record of good scriptwriting, the story used for this is intelligent and intriguing. Eugene Forde - never heard of him - directs this adequately and ensures the tension ramps up at a good pace.

Like another other forgotten detective series: Philo Vance, it's the plot rather than the characters which the Horleigh stories rely on. Harker does however give his grumpy old copper a bit of personality which makes this a hundred times better and engaging than the tiresome Vance movies. It's hardly Hitchcock or Holmes, Poirot or even THIN MAN but although it's not super-original, it is professionally made, well acted and well written.