Misplaced Pages

23 Paces to Baker Street

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
1956 film by Henry Hathaway
23 Paces to Baker Street
Theatrical release lobby card
Directed byHenry Hathaway
Screenplay byNigel Balchin
Based onWarrant for X
1938 novel
by Philip MacDonald
Produced byHenry Ephron
StarringVan Johnson
Vera Miles
Cecil Parker
CinematographyMilton R. Krasner
Edited byJames B. Clark
Music byLeigh Harline
Production
company		20th Century Fox
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • May 18, 1956 (1956-05-18)
Running time103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,375,000
Box office$1 million (US rentals)

23 Paces to Baker Street is a 1956 American DeLuxe Color mystery thriller film directed by Henry Hathaway. It was released by 20th Century-Fox and filmed in CinemaScope on location in London. The screenplay by Nigel Balchin was based on the 1938 novel Warrant for X by Philip MacDonald.

The 1939 British film The Nursemaid Who Disappeared was also based on MacDonald's novel.

Plot

Philip Hannon is a blind playwright who lives in a London flat with a spectacular view over the Thames River between Waterloo Bridge and Charing Cross Station. One day, he overhears part of a conversation in a pub that possibly involves a plot to commit a crime. He tries to contact Inspector Grovening, who offers no help, so Hannon, his butler and his American ex-fiancée Jean seek to bring the kidnappers to justice. Their sleuthing soon leads them to a nanny agency with dire repercussions.

Cast

Reception

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther wrote:

large part of this picture is curiously casual and slow, as Van Johnson, as the blind man, bores the mischief out of everybody with his hazy suspicions. He bores Vera Miles as his ex-sweetheart. She would much rather bill and coo. He bores Cecil Parker as his butler. He would rather make cultivated gags. And, for that matter, he bores the audience, too. ... atters do start popping about half or two-thirds of the way along, when it is finally discovered, through various coincidences, that something has been cooking all the time. But you have to depend on Mr. Johnson—and Nigel Balchin, the screenwriter—to give you the details after they've been discovered. This is not a good way to get people interested in a mystery show. ... But it would be a more exciting picture if it got going with a little more snap, established a more compelling mystery and built up some genuine suspense.

See also

References

  1. Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p250.
  2. 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1956', Variety Weekly, January 2, 1957.
  3. "23 Paces to Baker Street (1956)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films.
  4. Crowther, Bosley (1956-05-19). "Screen: Foggy Mystery". The New York Times. p. 12.

External links

Films directed by Henry Hathaway
Categories: