Wednesday, November 18, 2020

The Arsenal Stadium Mystery (1939)

A player (Anthony Bushell) collapses during a match at Highbury, is he injured? Is he dead? Was he murdered? Indeed he was and the rather eccentric detective Anthony Slade (Leslie Banks) is bought in, once he is dragged away from a show he is producing (which includes policemen in tutus) and has chosen the correct hat.

So this is a rather strange film but is a decent crime drama. Slade discovers that poison applied to a ring sent to the deceased was the means. The question is who sent the ring and wanted the man dead. Slade begins to look into the pasts of the other team mates...

A rather light film (despite the fact it includes two murders) which is mostly down to the odd but entertaining performance of Banks. Some real Arsenal stars of the day appear as themselves, the manager George Allison actually doing quite well in his role.

The best part of this film is the fascinating look at top level football in the late 1930s, rather different to today!