Two Crowded Hours

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

Directed by Michael Powell, 1931

The first film directed by Michael Powell; a comedy thriller in which a detective and a taxi-driver team up to pursue an escaped murderer.

Jerry Verno as Jim, whose taxi provides a crucial ingredient of the film's climax.

Credits

Director Production Company Producers Script Photography Editor Cast	Michael Powell Film Engineering Company Jerome Jackson, Harry Cohen J. Jefferson Farjeon Geoffrey Faithfull John Seabourne (as A. Seabourne) John Longden (Harry Fielding); Jane Welsh (Joyce Danton); Jerry Verno (Jim); Michael Hogan (Scammel); Edward Barber (Tom Murray)
42 mins, sound, black & white.

Why are we so keen to find it?

Because this is Michael Powell's first solo directorial effort. While a number of his early features are now known to survive, several, including The Star Reporter (1931), The Price of a Song (1935), and The Man Behind the Mask (1936) are still lost.

What's it about?

From Kinematograph Weekly, 16 July 1931:

"Scammel, a murderer, who was confined in Broadmoor, escapes. His object is to kill Joyce Denton, a girl who had been a witness for the prosecution. Joyce is protected by Harry Fielding, a detective. Scammel manages to kill Wayne, another Yard man, but with the help of Jim, a taxi-driver, Fielding is able to trace him. However, Scammel gives Fielding the slip and gets to Joyce's flat. He attacks her but Fielding arrives in time. As he is escaping, Scammel is run over by a taxi, and killed".

Last seen?

The film was trade shown in July 1931; in his autobiography Powell refers to its being screened publicly around October 1931 in a double bill with The Affairs of Annabel, an American film starring Jeanette MacDonald. Powell also notes that the negative for Two Crowded Hours was "junked, although there may be a print or two somewhere."

What else do we know about it?

From Michael Powell's autobiography, A Life in Movies:

"I had picked all the locations myself, noting the time of day when the light would be good for each shot - there were sometimes only twenty minutes to grab it... I had picked the location of the taxi-cabmen's shelter in North London, where an impressive railway viaduct crosses the road. Shooting was to start at 9:00am and at 10:00am we had wrapped up that shot and we were on our way to our next London location, Upper Rathbone Place in Soho, north of Oxford Street, where I had timed the scene for 11:30am... when I picked this location for Two Crowded Hours there was an old-fashioned lamppost standing on the corner...

Two Crowded Hours was obviously influenced by Continental films. There were lots of clever angles and quick-cutting, but it was also obvious that the director meant to entertain first and foremost. The shocks and suspense were of the most primitive kind, but they worked... The climax of the film comes when the villain tries to murder the heroine, who is rescued by John Longden in the nick of time. The villain runs out into the road and is run down and killed by Jerry Verno's taxi. John Seabourne (the editor) and I, working hand in hand, achieved a bang-up finish with a kaleidoscopic montage of images inspired by the Soviet cinema."

Does anything survive?

A handful of stills in the BFI's collections give a flavour of the film and show parts of its dramatic climax.

Reviews

"A very good little murder drama with strong comic relief," thought Kine Weekly, "Michael Powell has directed the picture admirably. Not only has he got over the comedy lines with the fullest effort, but has got a real thrill out of the drama and a lot of well-developed action." The reviewer felt that Michael Hogan gave "an excellent rendering of the homicidal maniac" and that Jerry Verno's Cockney taxi-driver "was really brilliant... the laughs he scores make it difficult sometimes to follow the succeeding sentences."

The Bioscope agreed, suggesting that Verno's "ready wit, droll comments and powers of repartee' would be 'certain to arouse laughter anywhere." It described the film as having "good direction, production and acting, with considerable comedy."

Nathalie Morris, Curator (Special Collections), BFI National Archive

You can find more about Michael Powell'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.