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Midnight Episode

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1950 film by Gordon Parry

Midnight Episode
Theatrical release poster
Directed byGordon Parry
Written byRita Barisse
Screenplay by
Based onMonsieur La Souris
by Georges Simenon
Produced byTheo Lageard
Starring
CinematographyHone Glendinning
Edited byCharles Hasse
Music byMischa Spoliansky
Production
company		Triangle Film Corporation
Distributed by
Release date
  • 31 December 1950 (1950-12-31) (United Kingdom)
Running time78 minutes
CountryBritain
LanguageEnglish

Midnight Episode is a 1950 British thriller mystery film directed by Gordon Parry and starring Stanley Holloway, Leslie Dwyer, Reginald Tate and Meredith Edwards. The screenplay was by Paul Vincent Carroll, David Evans and William Templeton from an adaptation by Rita Barisse and Reeve Tyler of the 1938 novel Monsieur La Souris by Georges Simenon.

The film was released in United States on 19 May 1955.

Plot

An indigent street performer of Shakesperian verse chances upon a wallet filled with money and private papers. For its loser's desperate acquaintances, the papers have more value than any finder could conceive. A value for them its retrieval makes imperative, and, for the seemingly- fortunate finder, its longed-for riches only involve him in their violent world, and in more trouble than he ever knew, as a poorer man.

Cast

Reviews

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This is an English version of the French film, Monsieur la Souris, in which Raimu played the lead. As transferred to London, scene and atmosphere seem very artificial, and the story, poorly directed, is confused and not particularly exciting. Stanley Holloway, although occasionally achieving a comic moment, misses the character that Raimu found in the part; the rest of the cast is second-rate."

Kine Weekly wrote: "The film, adapted from the French, is admittedly off the beaten track, but it lacks tension and cohesion. After the first 20 minutes interest begins to wane, and not even the experienced and resourceful Stanley Holloway can restore it."

References

  1. Wheeler W. Dixon (1994). Re-Viewing British Cinema, 1900-1992: Essays and Interviews. SUNY Press. pp. 162–. ISBN 978-0-7914-1862-8.
  2. "Midnight Episode". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  3. Andrew Spicer (2010). Historical Dictionary of Film Noir. Scarecrow Press. pp. 445–. ISBN 978-0-8108-7378-0.
  4. Geoff Mayer (2012). Historical Dictionary of Crime Films. Scarecrow Press. pp. 352–. ISBN 978-0-8108-6769-7.
  5. Terence Pettigrew (1982). British Film Character Actors: Great Names and Memorable Moments. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 92–. ISBN 978-0-7153-8270-7.
  6. "Midnight Episode". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 18 (204): 219. 1 January 1951 – via ProQuest.
  7. "Midnight Episode". Kine Weekly. 405 (2270): 19. 28 December 1950 – via ProQuest.

External links

Films directed by Gordon Parry
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