White Face
White Face (also known as Edgar Wallace's White Face the Fiend) is a 1932 British crime film directed by T. Hayes Hunter and starring Hugh Williams, Gordon Harker and Renee Gadd. The film is based on a play by Edgar Wallace.[1]
| White Face | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | T. Hayes Hunter |
| Produced by | Michael Balcon |
| Written by | Angus MacPhail (scenario) Bryan Edgar Wallace (adaptation) |
| Based on | play Persons Unknown by Edgar Wallace |
| Starring | Hugh Williams Gordon Harker Renee Gadd |
| Music by | Louis Levy |
| Cinematography | Alex Bryce Bernard Knowles |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Woolf & Freedman Film Service (UK) |
Release date | May 1932 (London) (UK) |
Running time | 70 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Plot
A doctor becomes a blackmailer and a jewel thief in order to raise funds for a hospital in East London but is uncovered by an ambitious reporter.
Cast
- Hugh Williams - Michael Seeley
- Gordon Harker - Sam Hackett
- Norman McKinnel - Inspector Mason
- Renee Gadd - Janice Harman
- Richard Bird - Donald Bateman
- Nora Swinburne - Inez Landor
- Leslie Perrins - Louis Landor
- J.H. Roberts - Doctor Marford
- D.A. Clarke-Smith - Dr. Rudd
- Gibb McLaughlin - Sgt. Elk
- Jeanne Stuart - Gloria Gaye
- Clare Greet - Mrs. Albert
Preservation status
The film is now considered a lost film, but the screenplay still exists.[2] While working on this film, an affair between Hugh Williams and Renee Gadd began.[3]
Critical reception
The New York Times wrote, "the British studios contribute a well-bred little mystery picture to the Broadway market in White Face, which is at the Broadway Theatre. An Edgar Wallace product, tailor-made according to the formula for these matters, it places a corpse in a slummy London street at midnight, sets the hounds of Scotland Yard baying up several wrong trees, and in good time whips the mask off the mysterious White Face. On Hollywood standards it is a pleasant enough item for the homicide enthusiasts, suffering generally from a faintly anemic quality and specifically from an absence of humor."[4]
References
- "White Face". BFI. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009.
- Sweet p.90
- Sweet p.88-90
- "Movie Review - White Face - An Edgar Wallace Story". New York Times.
Bibliography
- Sweet, Matthew. Shepperton Babylon: The Lost Worlds of British Cinema (Faber and Faber, 2005)