Tiger in the Smoke **** (1956, Donald Sinden, Muriel Pavlow, Tony Wright, Bernard Miles, Alec Clunes, Laurence Naismith) – Classic Movie Review 9024

Director Roy Ward Baker’s 1956 British black and white noir crime thriller Tiger in the Smoke is based on Margery Allingham’s 1952 novel The Tiger in the Smoke, and stars Donald Sinden, Muriel Pavlow, Tony Wright, Bernard Miles, Alec Clunes and Laurence Naismith.

The smoke is a slang term for London, and that is where a gang of ex-servicemen turned criminals search for treasure, hunt an escaped criminal, a psychopath named Jack Havoc (Tony Wright), and put pressure on a young woman, the heroine Meg Elgin, in a trail that leads to a climax in Brittany, France.

Muriel Pavlow plays Meg Elgin [Elginbrodde in the book], a young war widow whose husband was presumed killed in France during the D-Day landings, but has been receiving mysterious photographs suggesting that he is still alive. As a fog or smog descends on London, she arranges a meeting, with the police accompanying her, at a London railway station with a man who claims to know her husband’s whereabouts. He turns out to be Duds Morrison (Gerald Harper), a former soldier and out-of-work actor recently let out of prison, wearing an old coat of her husband’s. Meg’s father Canon Avril discovers that a member of his household staff (Hilda Barry) sold it to Mrs Lucy Cash to settle a debt.

An almost unrecognisably young Donald Sinden plays the other key character of Meg’s new fiancé Geoffrey Leavitt, who puts his life in danger and is taken prisoner by a gang of ex-soldiers when he secretly follows Morrison after the police let him go. Other key characters are very well played by Laurence Naismith as The Canon, Alec Clunes as Assistant Commissioner Oates, Christopher Rhodes as Divisional Detective Chief Inspector Charles Luke, Bernard Miles as the albino gang leader Tiddy Doll, Charles Victor as Will, Wensley Pithey as Detective Sergeant Pickett and Beatrice Varley, who is excellent in her couple of scenes as the wicked local loan shark Lucy Cash. The character acting is outstanding.

Though this old-style thriller entertainment is perhaps mild and dated, the twisting plot (with the screenplay effectively and closely adapted by Anthony Pelissier from the Margery Allingham novel The Tiger in the Smoke), effective atmosphere and welcome cast keep the action bubbling along very nicely indeed. The cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth conjures up a very effective noirish smog-shrouded London, mostly shot in Pinewood Studios with sets designed by art director Jack Maxsted. It is all very entertaining and satisfying. Roy Ward Baker and Unsworth pull off some fancy black and white visual flourishes.

Also in the cast to reckon with are Christopher Rhodes, Kenneth Griffith, Beatrice Varley, Charles Victor, Thomas Heathcote, Sam Kydd, Gerald Harper, Wensley Pithey, Stanley Rose, Stratford Johns, Brian Wilde, Hilda Barry, Violet Gould, Marianne Stone, Victor Brooks, Aileen Lewis and Dandy Nichols.

Tiger in the Smoke is directed by Roy Ward Baker, runs 94 minutes, is made by British Film and The Rank Organisation, is released by J Arthur Rank Film Distributors (1956) (UK), is written by Anthony Pelissier, based on Margery Allingham’s novel The Tiger in the Smoke, is shot in black and white by Geoffrey Unsworth, is produced by Leslie Parkyn, is scored by Malcolm Arnold, and is designed by Jack Maxsted.

The producers wished to thank The City of London Police for their assistance.

It was shot at Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England.

It is the first of four appearances of Laurence Naismith in Baker’s films.

Margery Louise Allingham (20 May 1904 – 30 June 1966).

Interestingly, Pelissier dumps Allingham’s regular central character investigator, the gentleman sleuth Albert Campion, from the novel, probably because three police detectives are difficult to handle. In the book, Campion is Meg’s cousin. Instead, Alec Clunes plays Assistant Commissioner Oates (who appears in the book) and Christopher Rhodes plays Divisional Detective Chief Inspector Charles Luke (who also appears in the book, investigating with Campion). The script gives Campion’s dialogue and scenes to other characters, particularly Inspector Luke. Otherwise, the film follows the plot of the book very closely, apart from the ending. It is some feat to compress this very complex, multi-character novel into 90 minutes, and Pelissier achieves it, quite impressively too, keeping most of Allingham’s plot and characters, and much of her clever dialogue.

Detective adventurer Campion formed the basis for 19 of Allingham’s novels and many short stories. Her breakthrough was in 1929 with the publication of The Crime at Black Dudley, which introduced Albert Campion.

The main cast are Donald Sinden as Geoffrey Leavitt, Muriel Pavlow as Meg Elgin, Tony Wright as Jack Havoc, Bernard Miles as Doll, Alec Clunes as Assistant Commissioner Oates, Laurence Naismith as The Canon, Christopher Rhodes as Detective Chief Inspector Luke, Charles Victor as Will, Thomas Heathcote as Rolly Gripper, Sam Kydd as Tom Gripper, Kenneth Griffith as gang member, Gerald Harper as Duds Morrison, Wensley Pithey as Detective Sergeant Pickett, Stratford Johns as Police Constable, Brian Wilde as Trumps, Beatrice Varley as Mrs Lucy Cash, Percy Herbert as Copper, and Dandy Nichols as stall owner.

The Tiger in the Smoke was published in 1952 in the UK by Chatto & Windus and in the US by Doubleday as the 14th novel in the Albert Campion series. J K Rowling named it her favourite crime novel.

A popular BBC series of Campion adaptations (available on DVD) was shown in 1989–90, entitled Campion and starring Peter Davison as Campion.

Sir Christopher Rhodes, 3rd Baronet (30 April 1914 – 22 June 1964) was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the US Legion of Merit for his Second World War service with the Essex Regiment, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Jack Maxsted won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction for Nicholas and Alexandra.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9024

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