Midnight Episode *** (1950, Stanley Holloway, Natasha Parry, Leslie Dwyer, Reginald Tate) – Classic Movie Review 13,293

Midnight Episode (1950, Natasha Parry).

The intriguing and suspenseful 1950 British thriller mystery film Midnight Episode, is based on a Georges Simenon novel, and stars Stanley Holloway, Natasha Parry, Leslie Dwyer, Reginald Tate and Meredith Edwards.

Director Gordon Parry’s 1950 British thriller mystery film Midnight Episode stars Stanley Holloway, Natasha Parry, Leslie Dwyer, Reginald Tate and Meredith Edwards.

Stanley Holloway stars as a busker performing Shakespearian verse called Professor Prince, who finds a dead body and a wallet containing £500 and some private papers in the street. He hands the money to the police but keeps the wallet, and then a policeman, Inspector Lucas (Reginald Tate), starts to investigate. The trail leads Professor Prince to Jill Harris (Natasha Parry), whose father was the dead man, but then the Professor finds himself a person of interest to both the police and the murderer who would be incriminated by something in the wallet.

Director Gordon Parry’s intriguing and suspenseful 1950 British film version of Georges Simenon’s 1938 novel Monsieur La Souris is a remake of the 1942 French film also titled Monsieur La Souris, with some good, involving, quirky characters, plenty of creepy moody atmosphere, and enough mystery.

Maybe the film tends to rest on its laurels and rely rather too heavily on the ace in its pack, the very considerable charms of its star Holloway.

But, nevertheless, Simenon’s story, as adapted here for the screen by Rita Barisse, Reeve Taylor, David Evans, William Templeton and Paul Vincent Carroll, holds strong and the film keeps its appeal, and so do the actors.

Natasha Parry (2 December 1930 – 22 July 2015)

English actress of Russian descent Natasha Parry married film and theatre director Peter Brook a year after making this film. The daughter of film director Gordon Parry, she was married to Peter Brook from 1951 until her death in 2015.

The film was released on 31 December 1950 (UK) and in US on 19 May 1955.

The cast are Stanley Holloway as Professor Prince, Leslie Dwyer as Albert, Reginald Tate as Inspector Lucas, Meredith Edwards as Detective Sergeant Taylor, Wilfrid Hyde-White as Mr Knight, Joy Shelton as Mrs Arnold, Raymond Young as Miller, Leslie Perrins as Charles Mason, Sebastian Cabot as Benno, Campbell Copelin as The General, and Natasha Parry as Jill Harris.

Midnight Episode is directed by Gordon Parry, runs 78 minutes, is made by Triangle Film Corporation, is released by Columbia Pictures (1951) UK and Fine Arts Films (1955) US, is written by Rita Barisse, Reeve Taylor, David Evans, William Templeton and Paul Vincent Carroll, is shot by Hone Glendinning, is produced by Theo Lageard, and is scored by Mischa Spoliansky.

The 1942 French mystery crime film Monsieur La Souris is based on the novel by Georges Simenon, is directed by Georges Lacombe, and stars Raimu as Monsieur La Souris, Aimé Clariond as Simon Negretti, René Bergeron as Inspecteur Lognon, Paul Amiot as Le commissaire Lucas, Pierre Jourdan as Frédéric Muller, and Micheline Francey as Lucile Boisvin.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,293

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Midnight Episode (1950, Stanley Holloway, Natasha Parry),