Meet Mr. Callaghan

Meet Mr. Callaghan is a 1954 British crime drama film directed by Charles Saunders and starring Derrick De Marney.[1] Based on the 1938 novel The Urgent Hangman by Peter Cheyney, which Cheyney had then turned into a play.

For the Les Paul song from the film, see Meet Mister Callaghan.

Meet Mr. Callaghan
British quad poster
Directed byCharles Saunders
Screenplay byBrock Williams
Based onThe Urgent Hangman by Peter Cheyney
Produced byGuido Coen
Derrick De Marney
W.A. Smith
StarringDerrick De Marney
Adrienne Corri
Delphi Lawrence
Belinda Lee
CinematographyHarry Waxman
Edited byJack Slade
Music byEric Spear
Production
company
Pinnacle Productions
Distributed byEros Films
Release date
  • June 1954 (1954-06) (UK)
Running time
88 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Co-producer and star Derrick De Marney had directed the stage version of Meet Mr. Callaghan at the Garrick Theatre in 1952, which starred Derrick's brother Terence as Cheyney's private eye Slim Callaghan. Derrick played this role in the film.[2][3]

The play was notable for the theme music and score by Eric Spear which became a best-selling record for Les Paul.[4]

Plot

Down at heel private detective Slim Callaghan is hired by young socialite Cynthis Meraulton to investigate other family members after her rich stepfather changes his will in her favour. She suspects he will be killed and the new will destroyed. When her stepfather is subsequently murdered, suspicion falls on Cynthis.

Cast

Production

Peter Cheyney's novel The Urgent Hangman was published in 1938. It was the first in a series of novels by Cheyney featured private investigator Slim Callaghan, others including Dangerous Curves (1939), You Can't Keep the Change (1940), It Couldn't Matter Less (1941), Sorry You've Been Troubled (1942), They Never Say When (1944) and Uneasy Terms (1946). Uneasy Terms was turned into a 1948 film.

The Urgent Hangman was adapted by Gerald Verner into a play Meet Mr Callaghan which premiered at the Garrick Theatre in 1952. The role of Slim Callaghan was played by Terence De Marney and the production was directed by De Marney's brother Derrick.[5][6] The play was very successful, with 340 performances.[7] It inspired a hit song.

Terence De Marney played Callaghan in another Gerald Verne theatrical adaptation of a Callaghan story, Dangerous Curves, which premiered at the Garrick in April 1953.[8][7]

In the film version of Meet Mr Callaghan, the role of Slim Callaghan was played by Derrick De Marney, not Terence. Filming took place at Nettleford Studios in September 1953.[9][10]

It was the second film from Belinda Lee.[11]

Critical reception

Monthly Film Bulletin said the "transference" from stage to screen "has been made without much imagination. The involved plot is helped along by a few barbed lines but Derrick de Marney fails to make a sympathetic hero out of a private detective who stoops to robbery, blackmail and bribery in his investigations."[12]

TV Guide wrote, "Mystery programmer has a couple of good moments, but little else":[13] whereas MysteryFile noted, "The detective work is very good, and the complicated plot holds together, but it's the overall sense of good humor that really carries the day — not laugh out loud funny, but the mood is light enough to smile almost constantly."[14]

References
  1. "Meet Mr. Callaghan (1954)". Archived from the original on 13 January 2009.
  2. "Meet Mr Callaghan".
  3. Hesse, Beatrix (2 August 2015). The English Crime Play in the Twentieth Century. Springer. ISBN 9781137463043 – via Google Books.
    1. 5, Billboard
  5. ""TIMON OF ATHENS" AT OLD VIC". The Manchester Guardian. Manchester (UK). 26 May 1952. p. 5.
  6. Review of 1952 stage production at Variety
  7. Lachman, Marvin (2014). The villainous stage : crime plays on Broadway and in the West End. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-9534-4. OCLC 903807427.
  8. Review of Dangerous Curves stage production at Variety
  9. "GLAMOR PLUS!". Truth. No. 2789. Brisbane. 6 September 1953. p. 5. Retrieved 8 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. Nepean, Edith (28 November 1953). "Round the British Studios". Picture Show. Vol. 61, no. 1600. London. p. 11.
  11. Vagg, Stephen (7 September 2020). "A Tale of Two Blondes: Diana Dors and Belinda Lee". Filmink.
  12. "MEET MR. CALLAGHAN". Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 21, no. 240. London. 1 January 1954. p. 122.
  13. "Meet Mr. Callaghan".
  14. "» Movie Review: MEET MR. CALLAGHAN (1954)".
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