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The Armchair Detective is a 1952 British second feature ('B') mystery film directed by Brendan J. Stafford and starring Ernest Dudley, Hartley Power, and Sally Newton. It was written by Dudley and Derek Elphinstone based on Dudley's BBC radio series of the same name, and made at Viking Studios.

Cast

• Ernest Dudley as himself
• Hartley Power as Nicco
• Sally Newton as Penny
• Derek Elphinstone as Inspector Carter
• Iris Russell as Jane
• David Oxley as Terry
• Lionel Grose as sergeant
• Anna Korda as woman

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Second feature British 'Whodunnit,' obviously cheaply made, and poorly directed. The film serves to show how very far the British are behind their slick American counterparts at this type of thing. Sally Newton (daughter of Robert Newton) once or twice shines through the blanket of the script in this, her first film."

Picturegoer wrote: "Ernest Dudley, the Armchair Detective, brings his radio character to screen-life in a competent whodunit. For a few brief moments everything points to something unusual – the piece opens with a bright little scene satirizing a B.B.C. crime serial. But this outbreak of originality is hastily suppressed, and the film subsides into a well-carpentered but routine mystery ... Frankly, the Armchair Detective is an insufferable prig, alternately patronizing and then snubbing the Scotland Yard bunglers. Dudley acts as smoothly as he writes, Hartley Power is caddish enough in a hammy role; and there's a girl called Sally Newton, Satie of Robert Newton, who looks very promising material."

Picture Show wrote: "Ernest Dudley, noted as the B.B.C. Armchair Detective, stars in this melodrama of a night-club singer who believes that she has killed her employer. Neatly directed, efficiently acted."

According to Stephen Chibnall in The British 'B' Film, "critics thought it better heard than seen."

References

1. ^ Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-8445-7319-6.
2. "The Armchair Detective". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
3. "The Armchair Detective". BBC Programme Index. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
4. "The Armchair Detective". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 19 (216): 19. 1 January 1952 – via ProQuest.
5. "The Armchair Detective". Picturegoer. 23: 15. 6 February 1952 – via ProQuest.
6. "The Armchair Detective". Picture Show. 58 (1507): 10. 16 February 1952 – via ProQuest.

External links

• The Armchair Detective at IMDb

• 1952 films
• British mystery films
• 1950s mystery films
• 1950s English-language films
• Films shot at Kensington Studios
• Films set in London
• British black-and-white films
• 1950s British films
• English-language mystery films