Mr. Beamish Goes South

A very strange short that reminded me a little bit of an early M. R. James adaptation, at least in terms of style and photography. IMDb has it listed as a drama but it plays out as a very genteel kind of farce. What is interesting about this one is the opportunity to see John Laurie in a rare leading man performance, playing a kitten-loving scholar who ends up at a hotel where one of the guests has an odd mystery for him to resolve. This half-hour effort is a little choppy and disjointed, although Laurie works hard to bring humour to his eccentric character. Unfortunately the plotting is near non-existent and the end result is for the viewer to think, "so what?".

Edward Potter (John Laurie) works for pays and allowances section of Scotland Yard.

He decides to turn amateur sleuth when a society lady, Lady Frobisher disappears in the town of Bowville in wintertime. The same thing has happened in the last two years.

As Potter is meant to be on vacation. He checks into a hotel in Bowville with his cat, Mr Beamish.

Potter thinks he might have found the next victim, Mrs Gainsborough. She looks wealthy and is being pursued by someone staying at the hotel.

More shocking, Potter along with Miss Carrington check out a dilapidated hotel which has an acid bath. That is how the murdered bodies are disposed off.

This low budget comedy drama short is not very good. Potter is just too inept as a detective. The script is pretty bad.

At least Laurie performs with gusto.

What persuaded John Laurie to star in this farce eludes me. It's the kind of 'filler' run mainly in the 40's and 50's before the main feature - probably after a cartoon or Pathe news, and before the interval. The screenplay and direction is good enough - but fails to rescue the ridiculous plot. Curiously, it evokes a kind of compulsion to see it through (mercifully, it's short). Possibly the cat (Mr. Beamish) gives its best though!

It might make a talking point with a party group who'd got tired of other pursuits, apart from having a few bevvies, to compare notes on how it might end (which I can't now recall).