Too Many Crooks

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

Directed by George King, 1930

A comedy-drama based around a playboy breaking into a safe. Laurence Olivier's first film in the UK.

Undercover policewoman Dorothy Boyd gets the upper hand over Laurence Olivier's playboy.

Credits

Director Production Company Producer Screenplay Story	George King George King Productions George King Billie Bristow Basil Roscoe
Cast: Laurence Olivier (The Boy); Dorothy Boyd (The Girl); A Bromley Davenport (The Man upstairs); Arthur Stratton (The Burglar); Ellen Pollock (Rose); Mina Burnett (The Maid).
38 mins, 3,500 ft, sound, black & white

Why are we so keen to find it?

It is interesting because it represents a very early example of Laurence Olivier on film - although not his debut, it appears to be his second screen appearance, and his first in an entirely British film. It is also the first film in a series of formulaic quota quickies made by prolific director George King, that were made by a regular team.

What's it about?

A charming girl invites a young man to a continental party, so he needs his passport, recently left at his country house. It is too late to wake his new tenants, and he is encouraged to break in and get it from the safe. As he opens the safe he is surprised by a young woman, and is then robbed at gunpoint by a real burglar. The tenant then arrives, quickly followed by the police, and revelations follow: the young girl is a plain clothes detective, who arrests the young playboy as a spy, the burglar having been caught outside. The playboy cancels his trip abroad, as he is now attracted to the policewoman.

Last seen?

The Cinema Exhibitors' Association report for 9 August 1930 indicates that the release date had yet to be set. It was finally released on 15 December.

What else do we know about it?

The film was shot in four days around 17 May and it earned Olivier £60. According to his biographer he had already made an Anglo-German co-production, The Temporary Widow, in the Ufa studios.

Does anything survive?

Some stills survive, as does a press-sheet.

Reviews

The CEA Report of 9 August 1930 was very positive indeed, awarding it a mark of 8¾ out of ten. It commented: "Recording good, and the dialogue excellent with many sparkling passages. Well photographed, and adequately set, with very capable acting".

Other reviews were equally enthusiastic. The 6 August edition of Bioscope called it: "...entertainment of a pleasing order, which will undoubtedly have a wide appeal... [Olivier's] appearance in the leading role of a more ambitious film is assured."

...while Kine Weekly the following day said it was: " A very creditable little picture... which does full justice to the cast's pleasant speaking voices."

David Sharp, Head Librarian, BFI National Library

You can find more about British films of the early 1930s, 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.