The Ringer (1931 film) explained

The Ringer
Director:Walter Forde
Producer:Michael Balcon
Based On:The Gaunt Stranger by Edgar Wallace
Starring:Patric Curwen
Esmond Knight
John Longden
Carol Goodner
Cinematography:Alex Bryce
Editing:Ian Dalrymple
Studio:Gainsborough Pictures
British Lion Films
Distributor:Ideal Films
Runtime:75 minutes
Country:United Kingdom
Language:English

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]

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

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]

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Ringer. https://web.archive.org/web/20090113223149/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/48431. dead. 13 January 2009. BFI.
  2. Web site: Past Masters: EDGAR WALLACE.
  3. Web site: Network ON AIR > Edgar Wallace Presents: The Ringer. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20151007233528/http://networkonair.com/shop/1822-edgar-wallace-presents-the-ringer-5027626398248.html. 7 October 2015.
  4. Wood p.73
  5. News: Movie Review: Sari Maritza, a Continental Film Favorite, in Her First American Picture, a Drama of Soviet Russia . . Mordaunt Hall . Mordaunt Hall . 2 June 1932 .
  6. Book: The BFI Companion to Crime. 9780520215382. Attenborough. Richard. 1997.