Mr Denning Drives North *** (1951, John Mills, Phyllis Calvert, Eileen Moore) – Classic Movie Review 13,074

The imaginative, twisty 1951 British crime drama mystery thriller film Mr Denning Drives North is scripted by Alec Coppel, based on his 1950 novel, and stars John Mills and Phyllis Calvert.

Director Anthony Kimmins’s imaginative, twisty 1951 British black and white crime drama mystery thriller film Mr Denning Drives North is based on the 1950 novel by Alec Coppel, who also writes the screenplay, and stars John Mills, Phyllis Calvert, and Eileen Moore, along with Sam Wanamaker, Herbert Lom, Freda Jackson, Raymond Huntley, Bernard Lee, and Ronald Adam.

Mr Denning Drives North is an intriguing and entertaining but only partially satisfying and far-fetched murder mystery, which starts briskly and imaginatively with a yarn about a rich British aircraft designer engineer, Mr Tom Denning (Mills), who punches and accidentally kills the nasty foreign boyfriend criminal Mados (Herbert Lom) in love with his daughter, Liz (Eileen Moore).

Mados falls and hits his head. Then Denning tries to cover it up, dumping the body in a ditch by a lonely country road to the North so it looks like a hit-and-run accident and placing a large ornate ring on a finger to disguise the identity of the body. However, no news comes of the body being found, which might be a good thing for Mr Denning, but instead he falls apart.

All this is good stuff, quite tense and suspenseful, but the movie soon starts to tail off once the body disappears, though it does rally again for a tense climax.

With Mills doing well in an unusual part for him, and Calvert stalwart as his wife Kay, the committed performances of the tremendous cast make up for the rather sticky screenplay, afflicted with a lower than hoped-for count of red herrings and wit, as well as a higher than hoped-for count of implausibilities and stereotype characters. However, it is smartly shot in black and white of course by John Wilcox and skilfully directed by Anthony Kimmins.

Note the crazy spoken opening credits, including the title, and some actors’ names (though the full credits are shown at the end), which immediately is followed by an unsettling courtroom dream sequence. Pretentious or classy?

It is made at Shepperton Studios by Alexander Korda’s London Film Productions and released by British Lion Films on 18 December 1951.

The cast are John Mills as Tom Denning, Phyllis Calvert as Kay Denning, Eileen Moore as Liz Denning, Sam Wanamaker as Chick Eddowes, Herbert Lom as Mados, Raymond Huntley as Wright, Russell Waters as Harry Stoper, Wilfrid Hyde-White as Woods, Freda Jackson as Ma Smith, Trader Faulkner as Ted Smith, Sheila Shand Gibbs as Matilda, Bernard Lee as Inspector Dodds, Michael Shepley as Chairman of Court, Ronald Adam as coroner, John Stuart as Wilson, Hugh Morton as Inspector Snell, David Davies as chauffeur, Ambrosine Phillpotts as Miss Blade, Herbert C Walton as Yardley, John Stevens as First Patrolman, Lyn Evans as Mr Fisher, John Warren as Mr Ash, Raymond Francis as Clerk of the Court, and Edward Evans as Second Patrolman.

Mr Denning Drives North is directed by Anthony Kimmins, runs 93 minutes, is made by London Film Productions and released by British Lion, is written by Alec Coppel, based on the novel by Alec Coppel, is shot in black and white by John Wilcox, is produced by Anthony Kimmins and Stephen Mitchell, and is scored by Benjamin Frankel.

Alec Coppel wrote the screenplay for Vertigo (1958) with Samuel A Taylor. He was the first Australian to receive an Oscar nomination for screenwriting when The Captain’s Paradise was nominated for Best Story in 1953.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,074

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