The Frog
The Frog is a 1937 British crime film directed by Jack Raymond and starring Gordon Harker, Noah Beery, Jack Hawkins and Carol Goodner.[1] The film is about the police chasing a criminal mastermind who goes by the name of The Frog, and the 1936 play version by Ian Hay. It was based on the 1925 novel The Fellowship of the Frog by Edgar Wallace. It was followed by a loose sequel The Return of the Frog, the following year.
| The Frog | |
|---|---|
.jpg.webp) | |
| Directed by | Jack Raymond |
| Produced by | Herbert Wilcox |
| Written by | Ian Hay (adaptation) Gerald Elliott (screenplay) |
| Based on | novel The Fellowship of the Frog by Edgar Wallace |
| Starring | Gordon Harker Noah Beery Jack Hawkins Carol Goodner |
| Cinematography | Freddie Young (as F.A. Young) |
| Edited by | Merrill G. White (as Merrill White) Frederick Wilson (as Fred Wilson) |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | General Film Distributors (UK) |
Release date | 23 March 1937 (London) (UK) |
Running time | 75 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Cast
- Gordon Harker as Sgt. Elk
- Noah Beery as Joshua Broad
- Jack Hawkins as Captain Gordon
- Carol Goodner as Lola Bassano
- Richard Ainley as Ray Bennett
- Vivian Gaye as Stella Bennett
- Esme Percy as Philo Johnson
- Felix Aylmer as John Bennett
- Cyril Smith as PC Balder
- Harold Franklyn as Hagen
- Gordon McLeod as Chief Commissioner
- Julien Mitchell as John Maitland
Critical reception
Writing for Night and Day in 1937, Graham Greene gave the film a poor review, describing it as "badly directed [and] badly acted". Greene admitted that it did have "an old-world charm", but characterized the "well-mannered dialogue [as] dron[ing] on".[2]
Britmovie called it a "routine thriller";[3] while British Pictures wrote, "(it) suffers through being an adaptation of a theatre adaptation (by Ian Hay) of the original novel. Some of the exposition is clunky and at times confusing; and the direction needed someone like Walter Forde to make the most of it. Hawkins and Harker, in the roles they played on stage, hold it together." [4]
See also
- Mark of the Frog (1928, film serial)
- Der Frosch mit der Maske (1959)
References
- "The Frog". BFI. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009.
- Greene, Graham (1 July 1937). "We from Kronstadt/The Frog/Make Way for Tomorrow/Der Herrscher". Night and Day. (reprinted in: Taylor, John Russell, ed. (1980). The Pleasure Dome. Oxford University Press. p. 150. ISBN 0192812866.)
- "The Frog". britmovie.co.uk.
- David Absalom. "ARCHIVE Fou - Fz: British Films of the 30s, 40s and 50s". britishpictures.com.