Meet Mr. Callaghan

For the Les Paul song from the film, see Meet Mister Callaghan.

Meet Mr. Callaghan
British quad poster
Directed byCharles Saunders
Screenplay byBrock Williams
Based onThe Urgent Hangman by Peter Cheyney
Meet Mr. Callaghan by Gerald Verner
Produced byGuido Coen
Derrick De Marney
W.A. Smith
StarringDerrick De Marney
Adrienne Corri
Delphi Lawrence
Belinda Lee
CinematographyHarry Waxman
Edited byJack Slade
Music byEric Spear
Production
company
Pinnacle Productions
Distributed byEros Films
Release date
  • June 1954 (1954-06) (UK)
Running time
88 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Meet Mr. Callaghan is a 1954 British crime drama film directed by Charles Saunders and starring Derrick De Marney and Adrienne Corri.[1][2] The screenplay was by Brock Williams, based on the 1952 play of the same name, adapted for the stage by Gerald Verner from Peter Cheyney's 1938 novel The Urgent Hangman.

Co-producer and star De Marney had directed the stage version at the Garrick Theatre in 1952, which starred his brother Terence as private eye Slim Callaghan. Derrick played this role in the film.[3][4]

Plot

Down at heel private detective Slim Callaghan is hired by young socialite Cynthis Meraulton to investigate other family members after her rich stepfather changes his will in her favour. She suspects he will be killed and the new will destroyed. When her stepfather is subsequently murdered, suspicion falls on Cynthis.

Cast

Production

Filming took place at Nettleford Studios in September 1953.[5][6]

It was the second film from Belinda Lee.[7]

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin said the "transference" from stage to screen "has been made without much imagination. The involved plot is helped along by a few barbed lines but Derrick de Marney fails to make a sympathetic hero out of a private detective who stoops to robbery, blackmail and bribery in his investigations."[8]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Sort of street-level Thin Man is effective thick ear, short on charm."[9]

TV Guide wrote, "Mystery programmer has a couple of good moments, but little else."[10]

References

  1. ^ "Meet Mr. Callaghan". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Meet Mr. Callaghan (1954)". Archived from the original on 13 January 2009.
  3. ^ "Meet Mr Callaghan".
  4. ^ Hesse, Beatrix (2 August 2015). The English Crime Play in the Twentieth Century. Springer. ISBN 9781137463043 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ "GLAMOR PLUS!". Truth. No. 2789. Brisbane. 6 September 1953. p. 5. Retrieved 8 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ Nepean, Edith (28 November 1953). "Round the British Studios". Picture Show. Vol. 61, no. 1600. London. p. 11.
  7. ^ Vagg, Stephen (7 September 2020). "A Tale of Two Blondes: Diana Dors and Belinda Lee". Filmink.
  8. ^ "MEET MR. CALLAGHAN". Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 21, no. 240. London. 1 January 1954. p. 122.
  9. ^ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 346. ISBN 0-7134-1874-5.
  10. ^ "Meet Mr. Callaghan".