Apr 21
Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror (1938)
"Well! Bombs exploding, men falling dead, drugged cigars - what kind of place is this, I'd like to know? A gentleman's house or the chamber of horrors?"
#sexton blake and the hooded terror#sexton blake#1938#tod slaughter#british cinema#pierre quiroule#a.r. rawlinson#george king#george curzon#greta gynt#tony sympson#charles oliver#marie wright#david farrar#norman pierce#h.b. hallam#billy watts#andreas malandrinos#jack beaver#leonard sharp#something of a sideways step for Slaughter and his longterm collaborator King; eschewing for once the ever tempting call of victorian#melodrama‚ our favourite prize ham instead finds himself in a contemporary crime thriller; what's more‚ it's a pre existing series no less!#a little odd to see Tod so clearly cast in the support role‚ rather than the film being built around him. Sexton Blake was a big deal in#the 30s though; one of the many (many many) Sherlock Holmes clones to appear once that particular detective proved so very popular‚ Blake#was one of the comparatively few with staying power and has been realised on screens big and small‚ on radio and stage many times over the#last century. star Curzon had already played Blake twice before‚ both times alongside Sympson as the mildly exhausting Tinker‚ so this very#much was a pre existing series that Slaughter somehow found himself inserted into. eagle eyed viewers might catch a young David Farrar in#an early scene; Farrar would play Blake himself in the following decade. minor fun to be had here and Tod on grand form but alas too#often off screen while we follow Blake and his allies. give me Tod! give the people what they want!
