IMDb RATING
7.4/10
5.8K
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A Scotland Yard Inspector investigates odd hospital deaths during the London Blitz.A Scotland Yard Inspector investigates odd hospital deaths during the London Blitz.A Scotland Yard Inspector investigates odd hospital deaths during the London Blitz.
Richard Duke
- Orderly
- (uncredited)
Ronald Ward
- Bit Part
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAlastair Sim would play another eccentric police officer in An Inspector Calls (1954) eight years later.
- GoofsAs the movie takes place in 1944 whilst Britain is being attacked by V1 bombs ('doodlebugs'), the windows and glass doors in the hospital should have been taped to prevent glass being shattered by an explosion and blowing in on people inside.
- Quotes
Dr. Barney Barnes: I gave nitrous oxide at first, to get him under.
Inspector Cockrill: Oh yes, stuff the dentist gives you, hmmm -- commonly known as "laughing gas."
Dr. Barney Barnes: Used to be -- actually the impurities cause the laughs.
Inspector Cockrill: Oh, just the same as in our music halls.
- ConnectionsFeatured in TCM Guest Programmer: Thelma Schoonmaker (2007)
Featured review
Alastair strikes again
The British film industry has had a chequered history, but was arguably at its finest in the 40's and 50's when it produced little gems like this.
Straightforwardly plotted convergent mysteries of this genre, with or without a major twist, never fail to give simple satisfaction when acted by such a cast of stalwarts and regular journeypersons as we find here. Some may find the stiff upper lips and well modulated tones of the middle classes a little grating for modern tastes, where nurses all speak naicely and ordinary folk are played by caricature cockneys. Speaking of stiff upper lips, their very personification Trevor Howard is, of course, in it, playing a surgeon with a cloud over his career. Which is why the whole is leavened by the unique figure of Alastair Sim.
No matter how serious the role he must play, his lugubrious features invariably betray an innate whimsicality, that essence of grown-up-naughty-schoolboy that we find so universally engaging, and which is the world's view of Britishness at its best. He makes it possible to insert a pratfall or quip to lighten the atmosphere without losing it.
Films like this were very easy and cheap to make - minimal locations, scenery munching, explosions or car wrecks. Current film makers might take note of their bang-per-buck in an era when nostalgic baby boomers are making their cinema presence felt again. But where will they find another Alastair Sim?
Straightforwardly plotted convergent mysteries of this genre, with or without a major twist, never fail to give simple satisfaction when acted by such a cast of stalwarts and regular journeypersons as we find here. Some may find the stiff upper lips and well modulated tones of the middle classes a little grating for modern tastes, where nurses all speak naicely and ordinary folk are played by caricature cockneys. Speaking of stiff upper lips, their very personification Trevor Howard is, of course, in it, playing a surgeon with a cloud over his career. Which is why the whole is leavened by the unique figure of Alastair Sim.
No matter how serious the role he must play, his lugubrious features invariably betray an innate whimsicality, that essence of grown-up-naughty-schoolboy that we find so universally engaging, and which is the world's view of Britishness at its best. He makes it possible to insert a pratfall or quip to lighten the atmosphere without losing it.
Films like this were very easy and cheap to make - minimal locations, scenery munching, explosions or car wrecks. Current film makers might take note of their bang-per-buck in an era when nostalgic baby boomers are making their cinema presence felt again. But where will they find another Alastair Sim?
helpful•6010
- mosmanic
- Nov 11, 1999
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- The Mad Killer
- Filming locations
- Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK(made at D&P Studios Pinewood England)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- £202,400 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 31 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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