| The Dark Stairway | |
| Director: | Ken Hughes |
| Producer: | Alec C. Snowden executive Nat Cohen Stuart Levy |
| Starring: | Russell Napier Vincent Ball |
| Narrator: | Edgar Lustgarten |
| Cinematography: | J. M. Burgoyne-Johnson Ron Bicker |
| Editing: | Derek Holding |
| Studio: | Anglo-Amalgamated |
| Distributor: | Anglo-Amalgamated |
| Runtime: | 32 minutes |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
The Dark Stairway (also known as The Greek Street Murder[1]) is a 1954 British short film directed and written by Ken Hughes and starring Russell Napier and Vincent Ball.[2] [3] It was one of the Scotland Yard series of second feature shorts made in the 1950s for British cinemas by Anglo-Amalgamated at the Merton Park Studios.[4] [5] The films in the series are narrated by crime writer Edgar Lustgarten, and were subsequently broadcast as television episodes.[6] [7]
A blind man, George Benson, witnesses the murder of Harry Carpenter by Joe Lloyd. Benson finds himself accused of the murder. Inspector Jack Harmer finds the murder weapon and discovers Carpenter was murdered because he betrayed Lloyd to the police. Benson manages to identify Lloyd by his ring, voice and hair products' smell.
Napier reappeared as Inspector Harmer in the 1954 episode The Strange Case of Blondie, and subsequently went on to play Inspector Duggan in thirteen episodes between 1956 and 1961.
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "An unpretentious and workmanlike crime short in the Scotland Yard series, with broad, elementary characterisation and a clean story-line, which creditably builds up an atmosphere of realism."[8]
Picturegoer wrote: "Imaginative use of camera and pocket-size sets, leaves it unhampered by its modest budget. By and large an enterprising British team."[9]