by Mark Walker
Dingus: A valuable object called by a casual name
Frail: Gangster’s term for a weak female
Grifter: A swindler, a confidence trickster
Guv’: Short for governor; British term for the boss, chief, or main man
Knuckledusters: Brass knuckles
Niggle: Bother; nag
“On the fiddle”: Crooked, on the take, looking to score
Plod: Gangster’s term for the police
Rag and Bottle Man: A trash collector
Rozz: Gangster’s term for the police
Squeaking: Informing to the police
Whizzer: Early 20th century policeman’s term for pickpocket
Literature
Branch, Newton. Calling All Boys. London: A Bulldog Book, Publicity Products Ltd, 1955.
Cheris, Elaine. Fencing, Steps to Success. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2002.
Christie, Agatha. After the Funeral, aka Funerals are Fatal. (Featuring Hercule Poirot) New York, NY: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1953.
Geographer’s A-Z Map Company, Ltd. A-Z Visitor’s London Atlas and Guide. Sevenoaks, Trent, UK: A-Z Publications, 2009.
Halliday, Brett. Blood on the Stars. A Mike Shayne Mystery. New York, NY: Dell Publishing, 1948.
Reader’s Digest, Editors. Great Cases of Scotland Yard. Pleasantville, NY: Reader’s Digest Association, 1978.
Robert, Hank. Defend Yourself! Ketsugo: Complete Self-Defense. New York, NY: Key Publishing, 1961.
Selby, Scott Andrew, Greg Campbell. Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History. New York, NY: Sterling Publishing, Inc., 2010.
Stout, Rex. Over My Dead Body: A Nero Wolfe Mystery. New York, NY: Viking Press, 1940.
Thompson, Laurence. The Story of Scotland Yard. New York, NY: Random House, 1954.
Thompson, Sir Basil. The Story of Scotland Yard. New York, NY: The Literary Guild, 1936.
Thorwald, Jürgen. The Century of the Detective. Harcourt, Brace & World, 1965.
Wallace, Edgar. The Flying Squad. London: Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd., 1929.
Wallace, Edgar. The Scotland Yard Book of Edgar Wallace. New York, Chicago: A. L. Burt & Company, 1929.
Cinema
Bulldog Drummond’s Secret Police (1939) 55 Minutes; Directed by James Hogan, Starring John Howard (as Drummond), Heather Angel, Reginald Denny, H.B. Warner, E.E. Clive, Elizabeth Patterson, Leo G. Carroll.
Secret Police at times plays almost like a horror film as part of Paramount’s Bulldog Drummond series. John Howard makes a terrific Drummond. Once again, he and his bride-to-be have to put the wedding on hold, when an absent-minded professor turns up at Greystoke Manor with tales of a secret treasure buried within the walls. Secret passageways, spooky chambers, and deadly traps abound. H.B. Warner is the long-suffering Col. Neilson, Heather Angel is the perpetual-bride-about-to-be, and Reginald Denny is always a hoot as Drummond’s pal Algie Longworth. Clive is wonderful as the ever-droll Tinney. It’s B-grade fare, but entertaining, old-fashioned fun, as is the series.
Femme Fatale (French translation: “Deadly Woman”)
“An irresistibly attractive woman ... especially one who leads men into danger or disaster.” How often in a mystery do you hear the other French phrase “cherchez la femme”—“look for the woman”? History is replete with irresistible beauties who lure men into danger—or their doom—from Eve to Lilith to Jezebel; Delilah; Salomé; Cleopatra; the “Yellow Rose of Texas”; Evelyn Nesbit, the “girl in the red velvet swing”; and the spy, Mata Hari. Then there is the infamous “Woman in Red” who betrayed gangster John Dillinger the night he finally met justice outside the Biograph Theatre in Chicago in 1934. In Blood Red Stars, the Babe was suggested by several wonderful actresses of the era: haunting, unforgettable Jane Greer in Out of the Past (1947); stoic Bette Davis in The Letter (1940); heartless Joan Bennett in Scarlet Street (1945); merciless Ava Gardner in The Killers (1946); red-hot Rita Hayworth in Gilda (1944) and ice-cold in The Lady From Shanghai (1948); stunning Gene Tierney in Laura (1944), and soulless in Leave Her to Heaven (1946); smouldering Lauren Bacall in The Big Sleep (1946); duplicitous Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity (1944); treacherous Claire Trevor in Murder, My Sweet (1944); hard-bitten Virginia Mayo in White Heat (1949); and the loathsome Lizabeth Scott in Too Late for Tears (1949).
Film Noir (French translation: “Black Film”)
This is a complex genre to define completely, and one that probably never can be. For some, these films are always black and white and span the mid-1940s to the early 1950s. For others, they can encompass color and other decades. There are several other elements inherent in most film noir: a hero or anti-hero, sometimes a private eye or detective; an unsuspecting bystander or victim of circumstance; a femme fatale; a sense of dread and doom in a story of mystery or crime; moody lighting with dark shadows, often with ironic or downbeat endings. All films listed in the paragraph above fit this category. Some others: The Maltese Falcon (1941), This Gun For Hire (1942), Detour (1944), Scarlet Street (1945), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), Notorious (1946), The Naked City (1948), Criss Cross (1949), The Third Man (1949), The Asphalt Jungle (1950) D.O.A. (1950). A color noir: Niagara (1956).
Hamlet
Hamlet (1948) B&W, 155 Minutes; Directed by Laurence Olivier, Starring Laurence Olivier (as Hamlet), Jean Simmons, Basil Sydney, Eileen Herlie, Felix Aylmer, Terence Morgan, Norman Woodland, John Laurie.
Laurence Olivier as both director and star brings William Shakespeare’s story of the “tragic Dane” vividly to the screen. When young Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is confronted by his father’s ghost, he knows what he has suspected: that his father was murdered, that he was betrayed, and that “something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” Beautiful Jean Simmons is poignant as Ophelia, Basil Sydney (The Lady Vanishes) is super as the villainous usurper, Claudius, and Eileen Herlie nails Hamlet’s duplicitous mother, Gertrude. The actors bring the flowery words and characters to life, making them real and very watchable. Sir Laurence Olivier (gently sent up in this novel) was a major force on the British stage and made his mark on screen there and across the pond in America. He directed and starred in many other works of Shakespeare including Richard III, Henry V, and Othello. He starred as heroes and villains in a lengthy screen career: Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights (1939), in Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940), Prince and the Showgirl (1957), The Entertainer (1960), Spartacus (1960), Khartoum (1966), Sleuth (1972), as an evil Nazi in Marathon Man (1978), as a Nazi hunter in The Boys From Brazil (1979), a vampire hunter in Dracula (1979), The Jazz Singer (1980), The Bounty (1984). Part of detection is making connections, and if you look closely, you’ll see many familiar actors in this production of Hamlet: Patrick Troughton (future Doctor Who) as the King of the Players; Peter Cushing (Frankenstein, Hammer Films, Star Wars) as Osric; Stanley Holloway (The Lavender Hill Mob, My Fair Lady, Ten Little Indians) as the Gravedigger; and Anthony Quayle (The Guns of Navarone, Lawrence of Arabia) as Marcellus. And, as uncredited extras: Christopher Lee (Dracula, Hammer Films, Harry Potter); Desmond Llewelyn (“Q” in the James Bond Films), and Patrick Macnee (The Avengers, From a View to a Kill).
Hercule Poirot
Murder on the Orient Express (1974) Color, 128 Minutes; Directed by Sydney Lumet, Starring Albert Finney (as Hercule Poirot), Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Rachel Roberts, Richard Widmark, Michael York, Colin Blakely.
Agatha Christie’s classic mystery is brought vividly to the screen with an all-star cast. An American gangster, Richard Widmark (Pickup on South Street, Judgment at Nuremberg) is murdered on a snow-bound train, and there are more suspects than a Pullman car can hold. Albert Finney (Tom Jones, Skyfall) gives a tour-de-force as Poirot, and assisting him are some of the brightest lights of the 20th century cinema. Ingrid Bergman (Casablanca) won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as a “simple” woman who may know more
than she’s telling. Also in the cast is John Gielgud, who is gently sent up in Blood Red Stars as Sir John Feelgud. (The author was fortunate to see Sir John perform along with Sir Ralph Richardson on the London stage in Harold Pinter’s 1975 No Man’s Land). Lauren Bacall (To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep) was a model for the Babe. Just see if you can figure out whodunit! The elegant production and costume designs are noteworthy, and in Technicolor, giving a real feel for the era. (Our only quibble is Michael York’s hairstyle that is purely 1974).
Alfred Hitchcock
The 39 Steps (1935) B&W, 86 Minutes; Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Starring Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, Lucie Mannheim, Godfrey Tearle, Peggy Ashcroft, John Laurie, Helen Hay, Frank Cellier, Wylie Watson.
One of Hitchcock’s early hits, The 39 Steps is based loosely on John Buchan’s World War I thriller about a man who’s stumbled upon an international spy plot. In London, he’s implicated in a murder, and pursued by spies and the authorities alike. On the night train to Scotland he meets a beautiful blonde who may or may not be his savior. Hitchcock uses imagery, sound, and editing that were innovative for the time. Look for night scenes shot in Piccadilly Circus, at the same time Inspector Riggs might have been there. Look for the scene inside the car, when the camera moves outside and the car drives off into the Scottish Highlands. Listen when the maid finds the body. These are but a few. Donat and Carroll are terrific. For part of the film they’re handcuffed together, which makes for some priceless dialogue, and in a scene later on at an inn when she tries to take off her hose. After being trapped by a master villain and chased across the moors, the denouement takes us back to the bright lights of London. Only then will you learn the secret of The 39 Steps. It’s vintage Hitchcock, and why he was “the master of suspense.”
North by Northwest (1959) Color, 136 Minutes; Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis, Leo G. Carroll, Martin Landau, Josephine Hutchinson, Philip Ober, Adam Williams.
This is the quintessential Hitchcock thriller, with a quintessential Hitchcock theme: the man falsely accused and on the run. This time it’s Madison Avenue ad man Cary Grant running from spies and wanted by the police for a murder he didn’t commit. In escaping, he takes a train where he meets a beautiful blonde (Eva Marie Saint). The head of the spy ring is the velvet-voiced James Mason. Eleven years after being remarked on as making “an excellent villain” in Hitchcock’s own Rope (1948), the “master of suspense” cast him in one of his finest roles. Some of Mason’s many connections: he played Doctor Watson in Murder by Decree (1979); was considered for the role of James Bond twice: first for a never-made 1958 TV version of From Russia With Love, and the original Dr. No; turned down the role of the villain Drax in Moonraker (1979); twice played Nazi general Erwin Rommel, in The Desert Fox (1950) and The Desert Rats (1953); appeared in one of Peter Ustinov’s Hercule Poirot films, Evil Under the Sun (1982); was in one of the greatest film noirs, Odd Man Out (1946), as a gravely wounded IRA soldier. He played numerous screen villains over the years including 5 Fingers (1952), The Prisoner of Zenda (1952), Julius Caesar (1953), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), Lord Jim (1965), The Blue Max (1966), The Destructors (1974), and The Boys From Brazil (1979).
Hopalong Cassidy
In Blood Red Stars, Tex wears a Hopalong Cassidy-styled cowboy getup. This tough hombre was the fictional creation of Clarence E. Mulford in 1904 for a long-running series of short stories and novels. In the 1930s the stories were brought to the screen, starring silver-haired William Boyd as Cassidy. Boyd starred in sixty-six fast-paced B westerns from 1935 to 1948. Filmed mostly on location in gorgeous natural settings in glorious black and white, these westerns were a cut above many of the horse operas of the era and were extremely popular with audiences. Unlike the other western heroes who wore white hats, Boyd dressed all in black—his trademark—and cut quite a figure with his silver hair astride his faithful white horse, Topper. After the series ended, Boyd, a shrewd businessman, sold his ranch and bought the rights to all the films, which began showing on American television in 1948. By the early 1950s Hoppy was one of the most popular figures in America, winning a whole new generation of fans. Recommended favorites include Hop-A-Long Cassidy A.K.A. Hopalong Cassidy Enters (1935), Bar 20 Rides Again (1935), Call of the Prairie (1936), Three on the Trail (1936), Trail Dust (1936), Hills of Old Wyoming (1937), North of the Rio Grande (1937), Hopalong Rides Again (1937), Heart of Arizona (1938), Bar 20 Justice (1938), In Old Mexico (1938), The Frontiersman (1938), Silver on the Sage (1939), Border Vigilantes (1941), Colt Comrades (1943), Hoppy Serves a Writ (1943), The Leather Burners (1943), False Colors (1943), and Mystery Man (1944).
For Jessie Matthews and Googie Withers: Look on Amazon, YouTube, and IMDB.
Laurel & Hardy
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were one of the top comedy teams of 20th century cinema. The rotund, southern drawling “Ollie” played straight man to the beanpole simpleton, spiky-haired Cockney Stan. Together “they were two minds without a single thought.” From the silent into the sound era, this team entertained millions around the world. Here are some of their films, which you must check out, and don’t miss their silent work: Putting Pants on Philip (1927), Two Tars (1928), Blotto (1930), Brats (1930), Another Fine Mess (1930), The Music Box (1932), Helpmates (1932), Their First Mistake (1932), Busy Bodies (1933), Sons of the Desert (1933), March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934), Tit for Tat (1935), Way Out West (1937), Blockheads (1938), Flying Deuces (1939), Saps at Sea (1940), and A Chump at Oxford (1940).
Sherlock Holmes
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) B&W, 80 Minutes; Directed by Sydney Lanfield, starring Richard Greene, Basil Rathbone (as Homes), Nigel Bruce (as Watson), Wendy Barrie, Lionel Atwill, John Carradine, Barlowe Boland, Beryl Mercer, Morton Lowry, Ralph Forbes, E.E. Clive, Eily Malyon.
A fairly faithful retelling of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic Sherlock Holmes novel, with the first teaming of Rathbone and Bruce in roles they were born to play. They are joined by an excellent cast in this atmospheric mystery that takes you from rain-soaked London to the foggy moors of Devonshire. There’s a curse on the Baskervilles, when young Sir Henry returns from abroad to take over the family estate. What is the legend of a supernatural hound that seems to haunt the Baskervilles? Will young Henry die from the curse? Only Sherlock Holmes aided by Doctor Watson can find the answer. This was the first of two Twentieth Century Fox Holmes films. After that, Universal signed Rathbone and Bruce on for another twelve through 1946. Many generations hold these films and this pairing dear, from their first release and into the twenty-first century.
Edgar Wallace
The Gaunt Stranger aka The Phantom Strikes (1938) B&W, 73 Minutes; Directed by Walter Forde, Starring Sonny Hale, Wilfred Lawson, Louise Henry, Alexander Knox, John Longden, Patrick Barr, Patricia Roc, Peter Croft.
This dark, creepy British thriller is based on The Ringer, by Edgar Wallace. A notorious killer returns from the dead, with one mission: to murder the crooked lawyer who betrayed him, but at a set time and set date. Can Scotland Yard stop him in time? This is a well-done telling of the novel, with a surprising ending.
The Red Circle aka The Crimson Circle (1960) B&W, 73 Minutes; Directed by Jürgen Roland, Starring Renate Ewert, Klaüsjurgen Wussow, Karl-Georg Saebish, Thomas Alder, Ernst Fritz Furbringer, Erica Beer, Fritz Rasp, Eddie Arent.
This will introduce you to the “krimi” or German crime thriller with one of Edgar Wallace’s most famous tales. A man survives the guillotine, but is cursed with a crimson circle round his throat. Twenty-five people will die before the Crimson Circle’s reign of terror is over. Scotland Yard is on the case, but after several embarrassing failures, the inspector is forced to resign and private detective brought in. Can he crack the case? Who is the deadly Crimson Circle? Fast-paced, with a twist ending you won’t see coming.
Errol Flynn and David Niven
The Dawn Patrol (1938) B&W, 103 Minute
s; Directed by Edmond Goulding, starring Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, David Niven, Donald Crisp, Melville Cooper, Barry Fitzgerald, Carl Esmond.
A classic story of camaraderie and the harsh realities of war, with Errol Flynn and David Niven together as World War I British Royal Flying Corps aces, along with future Sherlock Holmes Basil Rathbone thrown in to boot. The strain and fatigue of battle wear on the men in this drama as they lose comrade after comrade. The dogfight sequences are engrossing, and death is always close at hand. Flynn gives a heart-felt performance, and watch as Niven goes from clown to cynic.
Internet Investigations
Bowley, Graham. New York Times Blog. “Audacious Jewel Robbery in Paris.” December 5, 2008, http://nytimes.com.
Davies, Lizzy. The Guardian. “Armed Men in Wigs Pull Off £70m Robbery at Top Paris Jewellery Store,” December 6, 2008, http://guardian.co.uk.
Samuel, Henry. The Telegraph. “Pink Panther Gang Jailed for £100m Jewellery Thefts.” December 4, 2008, http://telegraph.com.
Verges, Jean-Pierre. Associated Press. “French Police Arrest 25 in 2008 Jewel Heist.” June 22, 2009, http://breitbart.com.
Cinema Retro.com
IMDB.com
Film Noir Foundation.org
Sinister Cimema.com
TCM.com
Edge of Indigo:
The Next Case for Kelly Riggs
THE PREPARATIONS WERE SOON READY, with the pirates abstaining, and the rest of the group were gathered in a circle in the cellar as the storm raged outside.