Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror

In SEXTON BLAKE AND THE HOODED SHADOW, the titular, London-based Private Detective (George Curzon) is brought in on the case of an underworld crime syndicate and its mysterious leader, The Snake. Meanwhile, multi-millionaire, Michael Larron (Tod Slaughter) is seemingly up to no good. Could he be involved in the case?

If you detect some similarities, and even some direct lifts from a certain Mr. Holmes, don't be surprised. Mr. Curzon plays Blake in a very Sherlock-like manner. Tony Sympson is his goofy assistant, Tinker. You guessed it, they even live on Baker Street! And don't forget the housekeeper!

Mr. Slaughter plays the diabolical Moriarty-type of the piece.

An altogether harmless, entertaining yarn...

I'm sure that David Farrar could not conceive of later playing Sexton Blake in another film when as Granite Grant in Sexton Blake And The Hooded Terror he handed off a case to George Curzon as Sexton Blake in this story. I rather accepted Farrar better as a tough guy than I did Curzon.

Sexton Blake was a pulp fiction British detective who under various authors went for almost a century in adventures that entertained the British juvenile public. He's upper class like Sherlock Holmes, but more of a tough guy. In fact this thing is such a ripoff of Holmes stories it's ridiculous. He's got himself a housekeeper, a general factotum in Tony Gwynn, and he resides on Baker Street.

He's also got an arch nemesis called the Snake played here by Tod Slaughter who leads an army of criminals. Why Arthur Conan-Doyle didn't sue is beyond me. In any event the story takes place in London, Paris, and Cairo as Blake foils another dastardly plot.

Unlike Holmes, Blake gets a bit amorous in also helping French insurance detective Greta Gynt. Gwynn's character is not anything like Dr. Watson, he's more like Edward Brophy is to the Falcon.

One of those British quota quickies. Holmes fans might resent someone else moving on to Baker Street.

George King directed a series of Victorian melodramas starring Tod Slaughter in a variety of dastardly roles. This film, also from King, is a little bit different from the others. In it Slaughter again is a gleeful villain but this time he shares billing with the hero of the piece, namely Sexton Blake who is clearly a different version of Sherlock Holmes. The Holmes films starring Basil Rathbone were very popular at the time so perhaps this is not so surprising but the similarities are massive, even extending to both detectives living on the same street! But in any case, this is the lower rent version for sure.

Slaughter is always an entertaining presence and here is no exception. However, because he is not the sole star of the show he doesn't get as much screen time as usual. This means that the film's trump card isn't utilised as well as it could be. Much of the running time is dedicated to the detective story, rather than Slaughter hamming it up big time and that's a shame. For this reason Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror cannot be described as vintage Slaughter. Still, like all the other King/Slaughter films it does have some entertainment value. Unlike those films, this one has a very enigmatic ending, clearly designed as such to allow for future adventures starring the villainous Hooded Terror. Well, these films never materialised so the ending here remains simply a little unusual.

I've recently been on a Tod Slaughter binge and this was one of the films I saw along the way.

Fans of his may be surprised to know that he plays it totally straight here. He is The Snake, a supervillain along the lines of Moriarty, who runs some kind of group of gangsters who somehow control most of the crime in the world.

So, as you can probably guess, we're in solid pulp territory here. Our hero is the supremely bland Sexton Blake, whose interesting traits include whatever they nicked from Basil Rathbone's Holmes, but played with none of the charm.

And he ruins the film.

Blake is Holmes. He even lives on Baker Street. But even though the film desperately tries to portray him as this super intelligent hero, he's actually just a bit dim.

An early example of this is when he fails to recognise what co-ordinants are in a clue he comes across (despite being able to tell where a man is from just by looking).

Our hero then goes on to blow a French operative's cover while being a condescending jerk towards her.

"This is no place for a woman!" He says, even though she's already infiltrated the big baddie's organisation and he's JUST catching onto the fact that they exist.

His meddling gets him captured about halfway through the film in the most ridiculous way. The idiot runs towards the baddie (instead of shooting him) and falls down a hole into a net. He then has to be saved by the very woman who he said he had "rescued one too many times before".

It plays almost like a satire of the men's adventure story and hero. Blake bumbles along, not getting anywhere or generating any real evidence, and all along the female French operative played by the excellent Greta Gynt is just getting things done.

If Blake had kept his bleeding nose out of the whole affair, Greta would have captured the main villain without any trouble, since her plan was working until the idiot sexist that is Sexton Blake blew her darn cover.

And I know for a fact the movie isn't a satire, cause Blake somehow manages to bumble his way into saving Greta and his assistant, who were captured BECAUSE OF HIM.

This could have worked a lot better if we'd been followed Greta's character, and Blake had been the bumbling moron somehow just keeping pace with her. It could have been a fine satire of the sexism of the time.

Instead, we're forced to believe that Sexton Blake is some kind of hero and lady's man, even though he's useless at heroics and even worse at flirting.

Sod this film.

And sod Sexton Blake, the useless twit.

Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror (1938)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Sexton Blake (George Curzon) is looking for some stolen stamps worth a fortune and soon he runs into the Hooded Terror, a group of men who wear black costumes with a snake on the front. It seems that millionaire Michael Larron (Tod Slaughter) might be the mastermind of the group.

You know, Tod Slaughter takes quite a beating from some people because his "horror" films are more melodrama than horror. It's important to remember that Britain pretty much put a ban on horror movies so that explains why their "horror" movies from this period contain more drama, mystery and romance than actual horror elements. With that said, SEXTONBLAKE AND THE HOODED TERROR is a pretty bland mystery and those wanting horror will have to wait until the very end of the picture.

The biggest problem is that there's simply way too much boring talking for the first hour of the picture and there's not enough happening to keep you entertained. Once the film finally picks up its pace at the end you finally get some entertainment and especially with the underground tomb where all sorts of creepy things lurk including some large snakes. I will say that Curzon was good in the lead role and even Slaughter manages to not overact in his typical fashion. Still, the movie is pretty forgettable and is only for die-hard fans of Slaughter.