L'inspecteur Hornleigh

Re-watched "Inspector Hornleigh" (1939) with Gordon Harker and Alastair Sim. This is the first of three "Inspector Hornleigh" films made 1939-1941. I've seen this one twice before. For modern tastes, may have a tad too much lightness and comedic input simultaneously delivered with dramatic incident. Alastair Sim is the butt of many retorts of Hornleigh (Harker). Many, many of the scenes are ended with a tersely comic, almost satirical bent, and though British films were ubiquitous with such tropes in the early sound period, as were a number of Hollywood films of like character, today's films have definitely gone away from such progression unless they have the light-hearted nature of Roger Moore's Bond films. Those retain a certain similar flavor. This one has a murder, and through the intrepidness of Harker, plus some little help from his partner, Sim, they find their nemesis. However, I must admit, from the first time through to this time, the solution seems like a fix to the whole, a tad too easy, and certainly not the person anyone would suspect. The ending happens as if - oops, we've spent the budget; wrap it up. It's a fun little film, but it's just that: a little film. Great actors in a secondary film. The fact that two sequels were made: well, that just shows you how good the actors are! The film's a lot of fun. Just don't expect "Citizen Kane"...

I am a sucker for a good whodunit, and "Inspector Hornleigh" was an excellent one. It had an elaborate plot and I could not guess the murderer until... come to think of it, I didn't guess the murderer until it was revealed at the end of the picture, so well-written was the screenplay. And, brother, it was written, and written, and...

This picture was loaded with dialogue, enough for 2 or 3 pictures, but in the end I felt it was all worth it. I enjoy Gordon Harker more each time I see him and he is very convincing when playing a police inspector. Here he is Insp. Hornleigh of the title, and he was every bit as good as he was as Insp. Elk in "The Frog" (1937). He is aided by Alastair Sim, playing his weak-minded sidekick police sergeant. Speaking for myself, I did not mind his antics, as films of the 30's and early 40's often tried to blend comedy and mystery, more often than not a futile effort, I have found. But it worked here.

The rest of the cast was competent, although two of the suspects looked very much alike, causing occasional confusion. Another reviewer mentioned that the sets looked cheap - that may be, but I gave it a pass and was not conscious of an effort to pinch pennies in any phase of the production.

All in all, a worthy effort and worth your while, because I always feel that, ultimately, the play's the thing, don't you?

In 1939, Fox amazingly went to all the trouble to send Eugene Forde to England to direct Inspector Hornleigh. Based on a totally boring BBC radio series by Hans Priwin, the movie had a Poverty Row budget that even Monogram would be ashamed of. Virtually nothing was spent on sets or effects, the extremely limited budget being roughly divided 50% on the cast, 30% on technicians and only 20% on studio overheads. The title character was played by Gordon Harker (who did a reasonable job, considering the wordy, almost actionless screenplay), while Alastair Sim was cast as his incompetent assistant, Sergeant Bingham. Although this movie has its fans, I was not impressed. Sims over-acts and over-reacts to a most irritating degree, while the minor characters make no inroads at all into the suffocatingly dialogue-bound screenplay in which a host of tedious, z-grade thespians propound no mystery worth penetrating. The only player who comes out of this melange of boundless talk with any credit is the lovely Miki Hood who not only manages to survive Philip Tannura's warts-and-all photography, but still contrives to look attractive and retain the viewer's interest even when mouthing the most inconsequential lines.

This is the first of the three Inspector Hornleigh films that Fox produced in England from 1939 to 1941. Gordon Harker plays the Inspector who is a keen collector of rare postage stamps. He is disturbed while he is bidding for a rarity at an auction to be given the news that there's been a stabbing at Hendon boarding house in North London. Hornleigh discovers that the stabbed man called Hendry like to keep his room locked for most of the time. The Inspector has to find out what Hendry was keeping secret.

The case develops when it is discovered that the Chancellor of the Exchequer's budget plans have been leaked. This would cause some individual or organization to make a killing on the Stock Market and make a huge dent in Britain's economy. The Chancellor'scase containing the budget plans must have been switched with an imitation case while he was having a meeting at the Pheasant Inn. Hornleigh has to retrace the Chancellor's movements there and to detect who was in the best position to make that switch.

I can't say that any of the characters really took my interest. When the action moves to a leather shop it gets a bit more intriguing. The attack on Sergeant Bingham (Alastair Sim) in an alleyway is another good scene in the film. I didn't guess the murderer and I think it will surprise most people. But I have to say I prefer Gordon Harker's Inspector Elk character in the 'Return of the Frog' mystery.

The first in the Inspector Hornleigh series starring Gordon Harker in the title role with humour supplied by his partner Sergeant Bingham, played by the Scottish actor Alastair Sim, later to star as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.

Average film watchable particularly for fans of Mr Sim but some of the anti-Scottish comments by Hornleigh now make the viewer feel rather uncomfortable.