Smokescreen (film)
Smokescreen is a 1964 British crime drama film, written and directed by Jim O'Connolly and starring Peter Vaughan.[1]
| Smokescreen | |
|---|---|
.jpg.webp) Lobby card autographed by Deryck Guyler | |
| Directed by | Jim O'Connolly |
| Produced by | Ronald Liles John I. Phillips |
| Written by | Jim O'Connolly |
| Starring | Peter Vaughan John Carson Yvonne Romain |
| Music by | Johnny Gregory |
| Cinematography | Jack Mills |
| Edited by | Henry Richardson |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Butcher's Film Service |
Release date | 1964 |
Running time | 70 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Plot
Mr. Roper, an insurance investigator, travels to Brighton to assess the apparent death of a businessman, after his burning car was seen crashing over a cliff into the sea. The insurance company is suspicious, as the man had only recently taken out life insurance for a large sum. When the car is recovered and no body is found, Roper and the police have to find out whether they are dealing with an accident, an insurance fraud or a murder.
Cast
- Peter Vaughan as Roper
- John Carson as Trevor Bayliss
- Yvonne Romain as Janet Dexter
- Gerald Flood as Graham Turner
- Glynn Edwards as Inspector Wright
- John Glyn-Jones as Player
- Sam Kydd as Hotel waiter
- Deryck Guyler as Station master
- Penny Morrell as Helen - Turner's secretary
- David Gregory as the Smudger
- Jill Curzon as June
- Barbara Hicks as Miss Breen
- Bert Palmer as Barman
- Tom Gill as Reception clerk
- Edward Ogden as Police Sergeant
- Anthony Dawes as John Dexter
- Romo Gorrara as Taxi Driver
- Maja Hafernik as Mrs Dexter's Maid
- Derek Francis as Dexter's doctor (uncredited)
- Damaris Hayman as Mrs. Roper's nurse (uncredited)
Critical reception
The Radio Times: "this above-average programme filler has a passable plot (involving a little bit of skulduggery in suburban Brighton) that's kept moving swiftly and painlessly by director Jim O'Connolly...Vaughan plays with a dogged determination that is efficient, engaging and quite at odds with the more sinister characterisations he would essay later in his career".[2] BFI Screenonline described the film as "an utterly charming B-film comedy-thriller that emphasises character as much as plot and makes full use of extensive location footage."[3]
The film historians Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane selected Smokescreen as one of the 15 most meritorious British B films made between World War II and 1970. They describe it as an "uncommonly neat little insurance racket-cum-murder thriller" and praise the way that its comic relief is "built into the fabric of the film's main narrative action".[4]
Locations
The opening scenes were shot in London, but much of the rest of the film was shot on location in West and East Sussex, including the Brighton area. The scene featuring Derek Guyler as the station master was shot at the now closed Hellingly railway station.[5]
External links
References
- "Smokescreen". BFI. Archived from the original on 24 July 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
- "Smokescreen". RadioTimes. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
- "BFI Screenonline: Smokescreen (1964)". Retrieved 17 October 2014.
- Steve Chibnall & Brian McFarlane, The British 'B' Film, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, pp. 286–88.
- "Smokescreen". ReelStreets. Retrieved 15 December 2019.