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 | |
|---|---|
![Thumb](#/media/File:"The_Ringer"_(1931_film).jpg) 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 | |
| Distributed by | Ideal Films |
Release date |
|
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
Bibliography
External links
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