La lunga mano

Very solid brit crime drama. Fine performance from Jack Hawkins. Thankfully, not so much stiff upper lip as we were used, the humour between Hawkins and his sidekick the John Stratton bubbles along and the mechanics of the plot is nicely constructed and presented. A veritable glut of fine British actors both future stars like Ian Bannon and Stratford Johns and small part favourites like Sam Kydd and Harold Goodwin. Also keep an eye out for a young Nicholas Parsons playing a copper. If you're a resident of London it will be fascinating looking at the sites of our capital and seeing how much it has changed. An undiscovered gem worth digging out

In this cracking black and white police drama, Ealing comes up trumps yet again. Made in 1956, with good locations in and around London, the story concerns Jack Hawkins, as Superintendent Halliday, who has to track down, a very clever cat burglar, who is an expert in disguises.

What makes this film so interesting, is that Hawkins, trying to reproduce the character, made a similar film, 2 years later, called 'Gideon of Scotland Yard', which was shot in colour by the great John Ford. Where 'Long Arm' succeeded in every way, 'Gideon' was a shambles. It just proves that the one of greatest directors in Hollywood history, and a good cast , are hamstrung, without a reasonable script. 'Long Arm' holds you in suspense right up the final scene, even when you know, that the cinema code of the day, will not allow the villain to escape. A good supporting cast from a large range of well known British actors, makes this film a must to see. 8 out of 10.

The Long Arm is an excellent film in my opinion, for 2 main reasons. Firstly it captures all the elements of a typical 1950s British film, with typical London landmarks, familiar faces from other movies, and accents and a way of life portrayed from that era prior to the onset of the society-changing 1960s. Secondly the movie provides, for someone watching for the first time, a thrilling plot with several twists which keep you interested right to the end.

Hawkins is superb as the central character - with the investigation of a hit-and-run murder obviously a more serious crime in 50s London than nowadays. This is the sort of film to watch if you are off work on a midweek afternoon.

Agree with all previous comments. I first saw this film on TV 20 years ago on a wet Sunday afternoon and loved it. I recorded it on VHS the next time it was shown on telly, bought it when it came out on commercial VHS and have just placed an advance order on Amazon for the DVD version which is due out in February 2008.

It's a glimpse into a lost world - 1950s Britain - and all the more charming for it. A surprising amount of location shooting adds to the authenticity. Facsinating to see the Royal Festival Hall, for example, standing alone before the South Bank was developed. I even went on a pilgrimage to Long Acre to check out Stone & Company Ltd - it's still there and looks exactly the same (the building that is)! The detective work is logical, methodical and low-tech. Scraping some clothes fibres of a car radiator is about the height of the forensic work.

Some nice touches of humour too. Example: Jack Hawkins complaining that his Sergeant is running off to a payphone to call his girlfriend. "You haven't seen her," comes the reply, "she's worth three shillings for three minutes." That must have had them blushing in the 50s.

Things only slow a bit when we're dealing with the Hawkins domestic front but that's a small complaint and was no doubt intended to inject a little social realism.

Find yourself a quiet afternoon, make yourself a cup of tea, crack open the custard creams and enjoy.

Apart from the unique acting style of Jack Hawkins (before his so sad illness), one thing which marks this film out from modern detective yarns is that the detective work follows logical sequences - little depends on chance and nothing on fantastic coincidences.

It is a rattling good yarn - I only wish the same could be said of todays films.

And the supporting cast!!! Ian Bannen gets run over and killed and (Sir) Alec McCowan is an unimportant doctor. But everyone has to start somewhere.

Those were the days

Gerald (aged 72)