Gideon's Day (1958)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

John Creasey (novel)
T.E.B. Clarke (screenplay)

Release Date:

February 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama

Tagline:

24 Tension-Taut Hours in the Life of a Top Crime Fighter!

Plot:

L'ispettore Gideon di Scotland Yard è, in fondo, una persona tranquilla. Il film racconta di una sua giornata di lavoro...

Plot Keywords:

Scotland Yard | Ticket | Robbery | Bank Robbery | Bank

Cast

Jack Hawkins	...	Insp. George Gideon
Dianne Foster	...	Joanna Delafield
Cyril Cusack	...	Herbert 'Birdie' Sparrow
Andrew Ray	...	PC Simon Farnaby-Green
James Hayter	...	Robert Mason
Ronald Howard	...	Paul Delafield
Howard Marion-Crawford	...	Chief of Scotland Yard
Laurence Naismith	...	Arthur Sayer
Derek Bond	...	Det. Sgt. Eric Kirby
Grizelda Harvey	...	Mrs. Kirby (as Grizelda Hervey)
Frank Lawton	...	Det. Sgt. Frank Liggott
Anna Lee	...	Mrs. Kate Gideon
John Loder	...	Ponsford (the Duke)
Doreen Madden	...	Miss Courtney
Miles Malleson	...	Judge at Old Bailey

Also Known As:

Gideon of Scotland Yard (USA)

Runtime:

91 min | UK:118 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White (USA, theatrical prints) | Color (Technicolor) (UK prints)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (nf) | USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ken Adam: Designing Bond (2000) (V)

John Ford Directs a BBC America Cop Show

This resoundingly ordinary film about the busy day of a Scotland Yard inspector is likely to be a disappointment to those seeking a great unknown film by a great film director. The themes and larger than life characters and scenery one tends to find in a Ford picture just aren't here. What we have instead is a likable Jack Hawkins playing a Scotland Yard detective with a busy life that gets in the way of his life at home. It's all pretty amusing, swiftly paced, and there are good bits throughout. Any of the above-average directors of in the US could have made this picture, and it would have looked pretty much the same. The one exception -- Jack Hawkins sidekicks act and behave in much the same way as John Wayne's sidekicks in his various Ford calvary movies.

Best way to deal with this one is ignore it was directed by John Ford. Think of it as one of those cop shows on BBC America, except that it's the 50s and therefore the family being ignored is NOT dysfunctional, just comically bemused.

Acting is all professional British -- all very good, efficient, and not terribly memorable when it is all over (except for Jack Hawkins, who does his usual good job here). And, because all the little mysteries must be wrapped up at the end of the day, none of those are especially complex or deep. So, at the end of the day, this is worth seeing, but not worth a film school thesis.