The Lad

Boring farce (adapted from an Edgar Wallace play) in which the reliable Gordon Harker eavesdrops with his mouth open and learns of the approximate whereabouts of an expensive bracelet. Harker's an amusing actor, and he does his best here, but the material is thin and there's far too much talk.

A typical crime comedy from the 1930s, THE LAD is based on a play by Edgar Wallace and centres around the usual country mansion where various crooks and men with false identities are lurking around the premises. The plot is about the hunt for an expensive diamond necklace which is hidden somewhere in the household; half of the criminal population of the locality turn up and adopt various guises in a bid to find it.

This is something of a showcase for popular comedian of the time Gordon Harker, playing a likable ex-con who ends up posing as a detective. The material with the criminal gang members is fun stuff and the early prison scenes with their flashbacks are well directed. The film does become a bit bogged down in the middle section, with too much screen time occupied by the rather dull private lives of the aristocracy, but it picks up for the end.

THE LAD co-stars Michael Shepley (more subdued than he was in A SHOT IN THE DARK, and left on the sidelines for the most part), the lovely Geraldine Fitzgerald, and future Darth Vader Sebastian Shaw (RETURN OF THE JEDI). It's a likable enough time waster for those who want undemanding entertainment.

Gordon Harker gets out of prison from his latest turn, having heard about a fabulous piece of emerald jewelry that was stolen and is still around. He goes to the home of Lord Gerald Barry, hoping to find it. He is mistaken for an investigator, bribed by everyone in the house to cover up their indiscretions, and serves the cause of love, justice, and his own pocketbook in the process.

For a Julius Hagen production, it's rather lush, from a play by Edgar Wallace, with Betty Stockfield, Jane Carr, Geraldine Fitzgerald (in her third film appearance), and Sebastian Shaw, young and slim enough to play the juvenile -- I'm used to him in the late 1950s, where 'portly' is the kindest way to describe him. Harker has a lot of fun in the lead in a variation of registers, wandering about, accepting large sums of money, biffing a couple of lags who also want the loot, and falling into luck with barely concealed astonishment. Perhaps it had been pre-sold to Universal under the Kinematograph Act, and Hagen decided to spend the money to begin his upgrading of product. In any case, it's the best print of any talkie directed by Henry Edwards I've seen, and definitely worth your time.

This is a quota quickie from the 1930s.Now this can lead to poverty of ideas as well as production standards,but not in this case.The main reason is a standout performance by Gordon Harker.More often on the right side of the law,as in The Frog or Inspector Hornleigh this time he is a former criminal trying to go straight and being mistaken for someone else when he arrives at a country estate ,There are many of the usual components of this type of film.It has to be said that without the efforts of Harker this would be a fairly mundane effort.For those who do not know of him he played mainly character roles between 20's and 50's,mainly with a cockney background.His well known catchphrase was "Well now me old cocksparra".Anyway if it comes your way it is worth a viewing.