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Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror
UK 1938
produced by George King for George King Productions
directed by George King
starring George Curzon, Tod Slaughter, Greta Gynt, Tony Sympson, Charles Oliver, Marie Wright, David Farrar, Norman Pierce, H.B. Hallam, Bradley Watts, Karen Marie Flagstad
written by A.R. Rawlinson, based on characters created by Hal Meredeth (= Harry Blyth) and on the story The Mystery of Caversham Square by Pierre Quiroule, music by Jack Beaver, Bretton Byrd
Sexton Blake, Sexton Blake (George Curzon)
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Almost against his will, Sexton Blake (George Curzon) is drawn into a
fight against the international crimering led by the Snake (Tod
Slaughter), who poses as a respected philatelist by day. Almost before he
knows it, Blake has found the secret hideout of the Snake, but is tied up
and left to die as the building is burned down - and he is only saved by
Julie (Greta Gynt), a woman who he's kind of in love with but who is the
moll of the Snake's second-in-command Max Fleming (Charles Oliver), and a
woman the Snake is after himself. Soon enough, the Snake, Fleming and
Julie are all off to Paris, and Blake and his assistant Tinker (Tony
Sympson) are in hot pursuit. Eventually, the Snake kills Fleming over
Julie, but as he does it before her very eyes, he now has to kill her as
well and throws her into his death chamber, into which he also throws
Tinker, finding him on Julie's trail, but then Blake arrives as the knight
in shining armour and saves Tinker and Julie, who then turns out to be a
secret agent who has been trailing the Snake for years. Unfortunately
though, the Snake manages to escape ... Not a good film by any
means, this one is directed in a stagey manner, full of plotholes and
relying way too much on coincidence in its story development - and yet
there is something loveable about this one, and it's basically its large
collection of pulp mainstays (from trapdoors to hooded villains and the
like) all embedded in its enjoyably simplistic story. By the way, Tod
Slaughter, usually a ham of the highest order, gives a very restrained
performance in this one - but say what you want, his over-the-top
performances are funnier.
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