Gideon's Day

Have seen this film several times and always enjoy it. Very typical John Ford: easy-going, some high drama, some great on-location color photography, wonderful performances (with quite a bit of Fordian over-acting).

There have been some frankly negative reviews of this picture (Leonard Maltin's book gives it just 1 and a half stars!) but don't let that deter you if you just want to be entertained for 90 minutes and transported to London 1958.

It's not a thriller, not a who-done-it. It's just John Ford's treatment of a colorful day in the life of a Scotland Yard inspector and his family. If that's something that appeals to you, then by all means sit back and enjoy.

A long, stressful day in the life of a scotland yard detective. Stars jack hawkins as chief inspector gideon, trying to keep his home life in balance with his work life. But of course, the work duties keep getting in the way of his personal life. It runs like an episode of dragnet, which came out first! It's okay. Directed by john ford, for columbia british studios. Ford was known for his huge films grapes of wrath, stagecoach, green valley. John ford made over twenty films with john wayne! This one is a bit dated at this point. It feels like ford was wasted on this little project, doing so many huge films. Entertaining, i guess, and probably pretty new to the british audience, seeing what scotland yard had to deal with. Hawkins was no slouch either.. he made zulu, river kwai, and ben hur.

A rum film to be made by Hollywood's most famous anglophobe, you'd never suspect it was the work of John Ford if you'd missed the opening credits.

Attractively shot in by Freddie Young in Technicolor, with a radiant young Anna Massey making her debut, it's raw enough to feature Jack Hawkins saying "reefers", a subplot about a psycho-killer, and razor-wielding thugs; although the cute model buses trundling along the model of Tower Bridge seen through Hawkins' Scotland Yard window exerts a fascination not bargained for in the script by Ealing veteran T. E. B. Clarke.

JOHN FORD seems a strange choice to be directing a British film starring JACK HAWKINS in the role of a very busy Scotland Yard inspector who has no time for anyone else in his domestic life as long as he's on the trail of various culprits. ANNA LEE is his patient wife at home who's more concerned with raising two children and cooking meals to pay much attention to her husband's urgent calls of duty.

It's a very fragmented kind of story-telling, more a series of vignettes featuring Hawkins in his role as detective, getting able assistance from JOHN LODER (Hedy Lamarr's ex-hubby during the '40s). He covers cases involving a psychotic killer, a hit and run murder and a bank robbery--with some wit and sardonic humor injected into all the proceedings by director Ford. DEREK BOND, ANDREW RAY and ANNA MASSEY (her film debut) round out the supporting cast.

Summing up: Above average thanks to some interesting, very flawed characters involved in crime and a brisk pace and brief running time that deserves praise in this day of films that go on and on forever, although the film was not a critical or commercial success.

A British crime drama; A story about a complicated day in the life of a Scotland Yard detective. This comedic, tongue-in-cheek, police detective procedural, is adapted from John Creasey's novel. It is brisk and humorous. Jack Hawkins plays his part proficiently as the reluctant hero, conveying well the life of a man with a seemingly endless flow of work and family life vexations. The many criminal acts give the film a disjointed feel, and it is dullened by melodrama in parts, but Hawkins holds our attention with his dry humour and charm, suggesting the annoyance and boredom of his job. The film is shot in glorious Technicolor and exhibits an extraordinary array of British character acting talent. John Ford succeeds in balancing the chaos and confusion of Scotland Yard and its cohorts with the wit and competence of a family man police inspector whose duty is never done.