Displaying items by tag: Vernon Sewell

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.

THE FLOATING DUTCHMAN

UK, 1954, 76 minutes, Black-and-white.

Dermot Walsh, Sidney Tafler, Mary Germaine, Guy Verney.

Directed by Vernon Sewell.

Not essential viewing but a small, entertaining thriller, a supporting feature from the British industry in the mid-1950s. The Floating Dutchman this time is a courier whose body is found in the Thames. Police investigate, second an undercover officer to infiltrate the gang and find the murderer.

Dermot Walsh is fairly stolid as the hero. Sidney Tafler, in many of this kind of film and later television series, is much better, a touch more showy as the owner of a club, organising the diamond trade. There is a touch of romance with a woman who works in the club. There are various underlings with sinister backgrounds. And there is an old diamond jeweller in London, a fence for all the diamonds, ultimately trying to protect himself.

Familiar material but a glance back at British filmmaking in the mid-20^th century.