An Inspector Calls (1954)

A superb Golden Age style murder mystery set just before the First World War. A posh family are having dinner (in their evening dress of course) when Inspector Poole (Alastair Sim) turns up. He tells them a young girl named Eva has been found dead.

Every family member in turn finds out that they may have had a hand in her death. Mr Birling (Arthur Young) for example sacked her once from his factory for trouble making. The daughter Sheila (Eileen Moore) got her fired from her job in a store for wearing a hat better than she did. As the puzzle continues to unravel via flashbacks then so too does the supposed respectability of the Birling family...

Outwardly a simple film but full of surprises and twists (especially at the end) and so wonderfully done. Alastair Sim plays a wonderful role, he lets the store unfold around him as the hypocrisy and immorality of Edwardian England is laid bare.

Murder is News (1937)

An entertaining if unsurprising murder mystery. Industrialist Edgar Drake (William McIntyre) is going through a divorce with his wife Pauline (Doris Lloyd) as revealed by reporter Jerry Tracy (John Gallaudet). When Edgar Drake calls Tracy to his home Jerry arrives to find Drake dead on the floor. Then Jerry is knocked out cold by an unknown assailant, when he awakes the police (Colin Kenny) are around but there is no sign of Drake...

In conjunction with the police Jerry, with his assistant Brains (not the one out of Thunderbirds) McGillicuddy (George McKay) tries to find out exactly what is going on. Was Edgar Drake killed and if so where is his body, and who committed the crime? Is it the man Pauline plans to marry (John Hamilton)? Or her son Tony (Frank C. Wilson)? Or someone else entirely like night club owner Frank Hammer (John Graham Spacey)?

Its fast paced and breezy, nothing too innovative and the plot is rather contrived but it's well done all the same. The film follows the well-worn 1930s trope of a newspaper reporter leading a crime case as if he was on the police force. Iris Meredith plays the heroine.

Midnight Limited (1940)

On an overnight sleeper train a ruthless robber (I. Stanford Jolly) steals diamonds and other valuables from passengers including Joan Marshall (Marjorie Reynolds) who has lost papers vital for her future. Railroad detective Val Lennon (John King) is on the case and Joan demands she be allowed to join him in the hunt for the thief (and the papers).

The investigation begins, just how does the thief get away and who is this professor (George Cleveland) who always seems to be around when the robberies take place?

It is a fair enough crime drama though can be a bit slow at times. Despite being a short film it is a bit ponderous and wordy, though does include a short musical number! However the crime itself is interesting, organised by a crooked hotel clerk (Warren Jackson) who tips off the robbers about train passengers with a lot of cash. Val and Joan make a good team.

Smokescreen (1964)

Smokescreen is a fun little thriller set on the Sussex coast in the early 1960s. When businessman Mr Dexter's car crashes over the cliff in flames, insurance assessor Roper (Peter Vaughan) is sent to find out just what has happened and if the big insurance policy taken out just before the apparent death is valid...

Roper is naturally suspicious and with the insurance broker John Carson (Trevor Bayliss), plus the vaguely interested police (Glynn Edwards), quickly discovers that the death may have been faked and it was certainly no accident. Dexter could be alive but if so who is helping him? As he proceeds he considers that maybe Dexter has been murdered. Is the wife Janet Dexter (Yvonne Remain) involved to get a share of the insurance money? Or was it Dexter's business partner Turner (Gerald Flood)?

The budget is very low but the interest is pretty high with a well thought out story that keeps you guessing. The story is a bit Golden Age in feel, with the keen amateur detective taking charge. Roper is a bit of a strange character though, a bit slimy and always penny pinching though we do find out why and thankfully it isn't just because he is a bit mean!

The Honor of the Press (1932)

Young reporter Daniel (Edward Nugent) starts work at a newspaper while the town is rocking from a series of bank robberies. The newspaper is of course the usual 1930s cliche, full of tough talking and chain smoking newspaper men including the city editor Dan Perkins (Russell Simpson) and publisher Mr Sampson (Franklyn Farnum). Rita La Roy plays Daisy a rather over the top glamourous reporter on the paper.

Star reporter Larry Grayson (Reginald Simpson) seems to have the inside story on the robberies but shuts the door on Daniel when he tries to help out. The paper blames the police for failing in their job in catching the crooks but the police chief Drake (John Ince) seems suspicious about how the paper seems to find out about the robberies so quickly...

Daniel discovers that someone on the newspaper seems to be closer to the crime than seems normal. Well its a decent enough crime and reporting film. Nothing too out of the ordinary. There is a romantic sub-plot with Daniel and his squeeze June (Dorothy Gulliver) which pads out the somewhat flimsy plot a bit.