La lunga mano

I echo Mike Wilson's views on this film, it is the classic British crime drama. Jack Hawkins is superb (and I feel that John Gregson's TV portrayal of Gideon was based on this). It even has little touches of humour which succeed in making the movie real. I would also agree with Mike that the later Gideon of Scotland Yard is poor in comparison, if Jack Hawkins had played the character in the same manner as he played Supt. Halliday, it could have been perfect. The movie has just been re-issued in the UK (Feb. 2003) on VHS.

Director Charles Frend does a splendid job with THE LONG ARM. He elicits strong performances from the entire cast (headed by the ever reliable Jack Hawkins) and the b&w photography is something to savour. I was fortunate to watch a very good DVD copy, and it brings out street scenes, landmarks of the London and Wales of the 1950s in high quality.

It is a time capsule. THE LONG ARM immediately precedes the "kitchen sink" period of the British cinema which began in the late 1950s, and you can still see very prim and proper behavior by all, young and old.

The script is predictable enough - after all it is half-documentary - but the dialogue keeps it ticking, and it includes some barbed remarks, and humor about marriage, dating, and other social concerns.

It is a well done film but perhaps the single thing that I will remember most vividly from watching it is Ursula Howells, the pretty lady who plays the part of Mrs Gilson, and who donates £5 towards Ian Bannen's widow. How beauty and a veneer of class can deceive...

The Long Arm is directed by Charles Frend and written by Janet Green and Robert Barr. It stars Jack Hawkins, John Stratton, Dorothy Alison and Michael Brooke. Music is by Gerard Schurmann and cinematography by Gordon Dines.

Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday (Hawkins) heads up an investigation into a number of safe cracking robberies. Which in turn turns into a murder investigation.

Out of Ealing Studios, this is a little cracker of a police procedural detective mystery. The flow of the investigation is natural, not given over to wild implausibilities, and always the air of mystery is potent. On the outskirts of the investigation there's a running thread about how policemen's wives/girlfriends suffer in their own ways, their men are married to the force, and this is delicately handled by the makers. While the moments of wry levity are not misplaced. Production is spiffing, with a number of London locations vibrantly used and given a film noir sheen by Dines (The Blue Lamp), while Frend (Scott of the Antarctic) keeps it tight and interesting whilst getting grand perfs from the cast - notably a wonderfully regal Hawkins.

So if you are looking for an old time British policer that doesn't insult your intelligence, then you need look no further. 8/10

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.

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.