White Face
| White Face | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Directed by | T. Hayes Hunter |
| Written by | Angus MacPhail (scenario) Bryan Edgar Wallace (adaptation) |
| Based on | play Persons Unknown by Edgar Wallace |
| Produced by | Michael Balcon |
| Starring | Hugh Williams Gordon Harker Renee Gadd |
| Cinematography | Alex Bryce Bernard Knowles |
| Music by | Louis Levy |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Woolf & Freedman Film Service (UK) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 70 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
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]
Plot
[edit]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
[edit]- Hugh Williams as Michael Seeley
- Gordon Harker as Sam Hackett
- Norman McKinnel as Inspector Mason
- Renee Gadd as Janice Harman
- Richard Bird as Donald Bateman
- Nora Swinburne as Inez Landor
- Leslie Perrins as Louis Landor
- J.H. Roberts as Doctor Marford
- D. A. Clarke-Smith as Dr. Rudd
- Gibb McLaughlin as Sgt. Elk
- Jeanne Stuart as Gloria Gaye
- Clare Greet aa Mrs. Albert
Preservation status
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]- ^ "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. 23 March 2023.
Bibliography
[edit]- Sweet, Matthew. Shepperton Babylon: The Lost Worlds of British Cinema (Faber and Faber, 2005)
External links
[edit]- White Face at IMDb
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- 1932 films
- 1932 crime films
- Films based on works by Edgar Wallace
- Films directed by T. Hayes Hunter
- Lost British films
- Gainsborough Pictures films
- Films set in London
- British crime films
- British black-and-white films
- 1932 lost films
- 1930s English-language films
- 1930s British films
- Films scored by Louis Levy
- English-language crime films
- 1930s British film stubs
- 1930s crime film stubs