The Ringer (1931 film)

The Ringer is a 1931 British crime film directed by Walter Forde and starring Patric Curwen, Esmond Knight, John Longden and Carol Goodner. Scotland Yard detectives hunt for a dangerous criminal who has recently returned to England.^[1] The film was based on the 1925 Edgar Wallace story The Gaunt Stranger, which is the basis for his play The Ringer.^[2] Forde remade the same story in 1938 as The Gaunt Stranger. There was also a silent film of The Ringer in 1928, and a 1952 version starring Donald Wolfit.^[3]

The Ringer
Poster with Esmond Knight and Carol Goodner
Directed by	Walter Forde
Written by	Sidney Gilliat Angus MacPhail Robert Stevenson
Based on	The Gaunt Stranger by Edgar Wallace
Produced by	Michael Balcon
Starring	Patric Curwen Esmond Knight John Longden Carol Goodner
Cinematography	Alex Bryce
Edited by	Ian Dalrymple
Production companies	Gainsborough Pictures British Lion Films
Distributed by	Ideal Films
Release date	April 1931 (1931-04)
Running time	75 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

It was made at Beaconsfield Studios in Buckinghamshire by Gainsborough Pictures in a co-production with British Lion Films.^[4] The film's sets were designed by the art director Norman G. Arnold. The author's son Bryan Edgar Wallace acted as a production manager.

Cast

• Patric Curwen as Dr. Lomond
• Esmond Knight as John Lenley
• John Longden as Inspector Wembury
• Carol Goodner as Cora Ann Milton
• Gordon Harker as Samuel Hackett
• Franklin Dyall as Maurice Meister
• Dorothy Bartlam as Mary Lenley
• Henry Hallett as Inspector Bliss
• Arthur Stratton as Sgt. Carter
• Kathleen Joyce as Gwenda Milton
• Eric Stanley as Commissioner

Critical reception

The New York Times wrote, "at the Cameo is a picturization of the late Edgar Wallace's play The Ringer. This film, which hails from England, is the sort of melodrama that provides more amusement than excitement";^[5] while in The BFI Companion to Crime, Phil Hardy wrote, "this is the best version of this oft-filmed play...Directed by Forde with a slickness and pace unusual in British films of the period, especially considering the film's stage origins...Hokum, but enjoyable."^[6]

References

1. "The Ringer". BFI. Archived from the original on 13 January 2009.
2. "Past Masters: EDGAR WALLACE".
3. "Network ON AIR > Edgar Wallace Presents: The Ringer". Archived from the original on 7 October 2015.
4. Wood p.73
5. Mordaunt Hall (2 June 1932). "Movie Review: Sari Maritza, a Continental Film Favorite, in Her First American Picture, a Drama of Soviet Russia". New York Times.
6. Attenborough, Richard (1997). The BFI Companion to Crime. ISBN 9780520215382.

Bibliography

• Wood, Linda. British Films, 1927–1939. British Film Institute, 1986.

External links

• The Ringer at IMDb