JOHNNY YOU’RE WANTED

UK, 1956, 70 minutes, Black-and-white.

John Slater, Alfred Marks, Gary Marsh, Christine Halward.

Directed by Vernon Sewell.

A small British film from the mid-1950s, directed by Vernon Sewell who directed many such supporting features in these years. It is a star vehicle for John Slater who was best known later for 420 episodes of Z-Cars. Alfred Marks has a more comic role as a sinister seller of novelties.

Slater plays a lorry driver who picks up a frightened woman on the road – and later she is discovered murdered. The police follow through the investigation, discover it is linked with importation of drugs from continental Europe and their distribution through an actor, posing as a fortune-teller, clients receiving their drugs in the theatre.

The lorry driver tries to investigate and follow through clues, getting in the way of the police. He is also attracted to the assistant to the fortune-teller.

Conventional but enjoyable – and, quite a surprise for fans of Are You Being Served to find Frank Thorton, 20 years earlier, as a straightforward police inspector, much like many of similar actors of his day. The comedy was to come much later and, very successfully.