The Crooked Billet

BFI Most Wanted: the hunt for Britain's missing films

Directed by Adrian Brunel and Robert Atkins, 1929

One of the last films made by Michael Balcon's Gainsborough studios before sound took over from silent cinema.

Guy (Miles Mander) and Joan (Madeleine Carroll) share a brief moment of intimacy

Credits

Director Production Company Screenplay Author of the Original Work Camera Operator Editor	Adrian Brunel & Robert Atkins Gainsborough Pictures Angus MacPhail Dion Titheradge Claude McDonnell Ian Dalrymple
Cast: Madeleine Carroll (Joan Easton); Miles Mander (Guy Merrow); Gordon Harker (Slick); Carlyle Blackwell (Dietrich Hebbirn); Alexander Field (Alf); Frank Goldsmith (Sir William Easton); Helen Langton (landlady); Kim Peacock (Philip Easton); Danny Green (Rogers); Raymond Massey; Margaret Yarde; Marjorie Roach
7,226 feet (also given as 7,002 feet), silent, black & white.

Why are we so keen to find it?

It was released at a key moment in the transition from silent to sound. The film was produced by Gainsborough, Britain's first great studio, and, if found, would add to the picture of the achievements of the studio and its head, Michael Balcon. Adrian Brunel was an accomplished director, who considered this film among his best work. Actress Madeleine Carroll was already established as a star in Britain when she made The Crooked Billet and went on to be a huge success in Hollywood in the late 1930s.

What's it about?

This synopsis appeared in Kine Weekly:

"Sir William Easton, the head of the CID, conceals valuable documents in a village inn, 'The Crooked Billet.' Dietrich Hebbirn, an international crook, determines to secure the documents and carries Sir William off to the inn. He also seizes his daughter, Joan, and his son, Philip, who follow Sir William. Guy Merrow, a young detective, who is in love with Joan, arrives on the scene, and a fierce battle of wits is carried on between Guy and Hebbirn, which eventually results in the eclipse of the latter."

Last seen?

The Trade Show was at the Astoria, Charing Cross Road, sometime in March 1930. From the positive tone of the reviews, it may well have played in London for some weeks, although being 'semi-synchronised' it's possible that it was displaced more quickly by the fully-fledged sound films being released.

What else do we know about it?

In his autobiography, 'Nice Work', Brunel describes the film as "my last, and perhaps my best, silent film." However, the review of the film in Daily Film Renter (20 March 1930) describes it as "all-talking except for the first reel and a section of the final scene." It seems that sound was added later and the film was held back to allow dialogue sequences to be shot; these were directed by Robert Atkins, described by one reviewer as a "well-known stage producer". The sound was recorded using the RCA Photophone method.

Several films which were nearing completion just as sound technology began to be incorporated into the studios were released in this way, with sound effects inserted and dialogue scenes cut in. From reading Brunel's book, it seems that a silent version was actually edited together, although it is doubtful that it was actually released, at least in this country. So, there could in fact be two versions of the film - both missing.

It was adapted from a popular stage play written by Dion Titheradge, first performed at the West End's Royalty Theatre in Dean Street, which has since been demolished.

Does anything survive?

No film material has been tracked down as yet, but the BFI holds several stills from the film. The Adrian Brunel special collection, also housed at the BFI, contains many papers relating to the film, including a list of the intertitles, the location expenses and a dialogue sequence.

Reviews

Daily Film Renter (20 March 1930), described the film as a "piping hot melodrama of international crooks, bombs, torture and other sinister features of ostensibly innocuous country tavern." Most of the reviews emphasised its credentials as a first-rate thriller containing "gun-play, fistic battles, doped drinks, time bombs and the like. Many thrilling situations, plenty of hearty incident, exciting climax" (Kine Weekly). The same journal did point out, however, that "the picture lacks the briskness and smoothness of American pictures of this type."

The cast received good notices, in particular the two leading men. Daily Film Renter wrote that "Carlyle Blackwell acts with force and is a handsome villain; Miles Mander fits the role of Merrow... without having to exert himself; and Madeleine Carroll wilts with charm in her part of Joan." To-Day's Cinema (20 March 1930) added that "as the essential relief to our overwrought nerves, Gordon Harker is delightfully urbane in the part of a minor crook, and Alexander Field gets some good laughs as the apparently silly potman."

The addition of sound was generally welcomed, although Kine Weekly acknowledged that "a 100 per cent talkie picture would have obviously represented a far better booking proposition." The general tone of the reviews is summed up by To-Day's Cinema: "The whole thing is a rather jolly extravaganza, shrewdly directed and powerfully played."

Jo Botting, Curator (Fiction), BFI National Archive

You can find more about Adrian Brunel's work - including entries on each of his surviving films and video clips for users in UK schools, colleges, universities and public libraries, at BFI Screenonline. You can also view several early Powell titles at the BFI Mediatheques.