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BFI Most Wanted: the hunt for Britain's missing films
Deadlock
Directed by Ronald Haines, 1943
A murderous twin gets his come-uppance in this twisted thriller.
This tantalisingly cryptic still is the BFI's only visual evidence of the film's existence.
Credits
|
Director Production Company |
Ronald Haines British Foundation Pictures Ltd |
| Cast: John Slater (Fred Bamber/Allan Bamber); Cecille Chevreau (Eileen); Molly Hamley-Clifford (Martha); Huge Morton (Arkell); Gordon Edwards (Geoffrey); Mirren Wood (a village girl); Richard Lindsay (the judge); George Dewhurst (Slaks - a sailor) | |
| 59 mins, 5,373 feet, sound, black & white. | |
Why are we so keen to find it?
John Slater is a familiar face in British films and played a great many character roles, often as a spivvy type; this was a rare big-screen starring role for him and, as he actually plays two roles, it's safe to assume he commands considerable screen time. During the Second World War, most films being made in Britain aimed to promote a sense of national pride, but some small companies were still making this kind of low-budget thriller, in much the same way that the 'poverty row' producers in America existed alongside the big Hollywood studios. Those small-scale American programme fillers now generate interest among film historians and British examples of such productions tell an equally interesting story about the history of the British film industry.
Little is known about director Ronald Haines. He spent most of his career making short documentary subjects (racking up some 200 titles), many of them travelogues. His most interesting non-fiction film is a great favourite among archivists; This Film is Dangerous (1948) describes the hazards of nitrate film. He did make a few fiction films, however, most of which are not preserved in the archive, including The Man with the Magnetic Eyes (1945); he also worked on the Quiz Crimes series of shorts (1943-46), which offered cinematic detection opportunities for amateur sleuths.
What's it about?
The following plot synopsis is adapted from the press sheet for the film.
Allan Bamber is in a prison cell accused of the murder of his partner. He is awaiting trial. Fred, his ne'er-do-well twin brother, visits him and learns from Allan that he is acting insanity and has a plan for escape. Fred is to go to Allan's home, tell Allan's wife Eileen and his business manager, Arkell, about the plan and the three are to put it into effect. At the trial, Allan is found guilty but insane, and is committed to Widemore for life.
The plan is that they should go to the country and stay at the cottage of the Bamber's old family nurse, Martha, Fred pretending to be a blind semi-invalid. In due course when Allan escapes he will come and change places with Fred, while the latter leaves the country.
When settled at Martha's cottage, Geoffrey, who was engaged to Eileen sometime before her marriage to Allan turns up. His suspicions over the "blind" Fred are roused. The signal that Allan has escaped comes through and Allan and Fred meet at a pre-arranged spot and exchange clothes, Allan having escaped in those of a warder he has "temporarily incapacitated." Allan assumes Fred's role and joins his wife and Arkell at the cottage.
Arkell goes off by car to meet Fred and complete the plan by getting him aboard a friend's boat. But Fred does not turn up. Fred's body is later found at the bottom of a disused quarry and accepted as that of Allan.
Eileen, realising what Allan had done, makes up her mind to get away. She confesses the whole business to Geoffrey, who goes to town to see her lawyers.
Arkell, too, goes to town, taking Allan with him. Arkell is to return the next day to look after Eileen until Allan is ready for her to join him. Arkell returns and while Eileen is out in the village, takes a drink which has been poisoned by Allan. Eileen returns and is only just saved from a similar fate.
She discovers Arkell's body and is surprised by the sudden reappearance of Allan - who is clearly mad. He blatantly proclaims his crimes and his further intention of killing Eileen and Geoffrey. He draws a revolver and standing over her awaits Geoffrey's return. As he enters the door, there is a shot and a scream. Geoffrey rushes into the dining room and finds Eileen half unconscious. Allan is dead - shot - but who killed him? That is the unexpected twist in this story of retribution.
Last seen?
The film was reviewed in November 1943, but the exact date of release is not known. It screened twice on US television - on 30 November 1953 and 10 June 1956.
Does anything survive?
The BFI Stills, Posters and Designs collection holds one image from the film.
Reviews
The Monthly Film Bulletin (30 November 1943), was characteristically sniffy: "direction and dialogue are uninspired and the cast fail to evoke much sympathy." Kinematograph Weekly didn't give the film a full review, describing it briefly in its issue of 4 November 1943 as an "unpretentious crime melodrama... hardly suitable for youngsters."
However, Today's Cinema (3 November 1943) was more generous, judging it "somewhat fantastic as to by-play, and even a little confusing at times, the development nevertheless exercises some appeal on its mounting surge of confected melodrama," citing as examples "the killer's trial and sentence, his facile swopping of identity with a fraternal pawn, the implication of bestialities in the two further killings... the looming murder of the wife... and the averting of this final crime when the killer is himself killed - by a sailor who had been double-crossed over his financial part in the proceedings." The film, the same reviewer says, "is competently portrayed in the leading roles. John Slater... makes a forbidding figure of the maniac and secures some sympathy for the ill-used brother."
Jo Botting, Curator (Fiction), BFI National Archive
You can find more about British films of the early 1940s, including entries on surviving films and video clips for users in UK schools, colleges, universities and public libraries, at BFI Screenonline. You can also view similar titles at the BFI Mediatheques.
