No Escape (1936)

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Director:

Norman Lee

Writers:

George Goodchild (writer)
Frank Witty (writer)

Release Date:

December 1936 (UK)

Genre:

Mystery

Cast

Valerie Hobson	...	Laura Anstey
Billy Milton	...	Billy West
Robert Cochran	...	Beeston
Leslie Perrins	...	Anthony Wild
Henry Oscar	...	Cyril Anstey
Ronald Simpson	...	Scoop Martin
Margaret Yarde	...	Bunty
Hal Gordon	...	County Constable
J. Neil More	...	Police Commisioner
Hilda Campbell-Russell	...	Barmaid
Kenneth Law	...	Jenner

Runtime:

UK:80 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Company:

Welwyn Studios

An Incongruous and Highly Indigestible Mix

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

A crime novelist tries to fool the police into investigating the "mysterious disappearance" of a socialite friend. In reality, the novelist is hiding the friend in the loft of his country cottage.

A very odd film indeed. The basic plot is a familiar ploy, but it's given some very peculiar additions here — so many in fact that I'm going to find it difficult to list just the main items. I won't even try to discuss them in order of importance. So here they are at random: Although the film makes it plain from the start who the central character is, I regarded the opening scene purely as a spurious addition, designed solely to help late-coming picturegoers find their seats. But in point of fact the hero is Robert Cochran, not Leslie Perrins and still less Billy Milton. Another clue to this status is that despite the length of his role and the finale wrap-up, Mr Perrins is always the one who is slightly out of focus in the group and two-shots. The oddity is that of necessity the Cochran character disappears completely for such long stretches it's difficult to see him as central rather than peripheral. But the director, the film editor and the photographer keep reminding us that come the final act, Mr Cochran will come into his own.

Even though the groundwork has been well laid, most audiences will probably find Cochran's assumption of a major role disconcerting. Still more however will they be discomfited by the movie's wide mood-swings which are not telegraphed at all. Just look at the sequence of scenes: 1. Police procedural with Cochran; 2. comedy of manners with Hobson, Perrins and West; 3. triangle plot with Henry Oscar as the neurotic husband, his mania emphasized by noirishly flashing lights; 4. farce with tipsy West vainly trying to retrieve his car; 5. long unfolding of Beyond a Reasonable Doubt gimmick "murder" plot; 6. extremely low farce with Margaret Yarde as a sodden housekeeper; 7. police procedural with Cochran beginning his investigations; 8. sudden change of mood and scene to knockabout comedy in a country bar with vampish barmaid, assorted bumpkins and Ronald Simpson in what turns out to the "comic" relief lead; 9. moving ahead, "comedy" scene between local constable and eager reporter, closely followed by 10. another comedy scene between a different (and rather better acted) comic constable and Leslie Perrins, all interspersed by 11. 12. 13. 14 etc. lots of tediously "comic" stuff between Perrins and West.

When West is finally murdered, the action is so tame, we think it's all a pre-telegraphed comic pretense or mistake or even a dream. I don't know who was more surprised when it turns out for real, even though Martin keeps on scooping and Bunty imbibing. After a mild chase, the film wraps up with police congratulations all around, and Miss Hobson in the arms of...

Lee does his best with this diverse material. His staging is poor, but he does use flash pans to indicate swings of time and scene and his interrogation close-ups are most effective.

Of the players, only Cochran acquits himself with even the blandest of credit. Miss Hobson is none too flatteringly photographed and sometimes unbecomingly costumed as well. Whilst her performance is less superficial than Perrins, she conveys little real feeling. Oscar tends to over-do his twitching, and as for the obnoxious Billy Milton my only words of praise are that Simpson and Yarde are even worse.

Filmed on an obviously limited budget, but often glossily photographed, No Escape is certainly not unentertaining. All the same I wouldn't want to add it to my permanent collection.