Meet Sexton Blake! ** (1945, David Farrar, John Varley, Manning Whiley, Dennis Arundell) – Classic Movie Review 11,214

The 1943 British crime thriller film Meet Sexton Blake! stars David Farrar as the famous detective called in by the War Office on the case of significant documents stolen from an air-raid victim’s corpse.

Writer-director John Harlow’s 1943 over-the-top Sexton Blake black and white British wartime crime mystery thriller film Meet Sexton Blake! stars reliable actor David Farrar, who is well cast as the famous detective called in by the British War Office on the important case of some significant documents stolen from an air-raid victim’s corpse.

Hesitant handling, the cheap-looking production and its uncertain tone count against it, but the old-style mystery is quite involving and the performances are fairly appealing.

It is Farrar’s first outing as Blake, following a bit part in 1938’s Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror. John Varley plays his trusty side-kick Tinker.

Harlow’s screenplay is based on the characters created by Henry Blyth (using the pseudonym Hal Meredeth), and The Mystery of the Free Frenchmen by Anthony Parsons.

Also in the cast are Magda Kun, Gordon McLeod, Manning Whiley, Kathleen Harrison, Dennis Arundell, Cyril Smith, Ferdy Mayne, Betty Huntley-Wright, Jean Simmons, Roddy Hughes and Charles Farrell.

Release date: 5 February 1945 (UK).

It is followed by The Echo Murders (1945), released on 17 December 1945 (UK), also with David Farrar in his only other film as Sexton Blake, and also directed by John Harlow.

Meet Sexton Blake is directed by John Harlow, runs 80 minutes, is made by Strand Film Company and British National Films, is released by Anglo-American Film Corporation (1945) (UK), is written by John Harlow, is shot in black and white by Geoffrey Faithfull, is produced by Louis H Jackson, and is scored by Percival Mackey.

The first Sexton Blake story was The Missing Millionaire, written by Harry Blyth (as Hal Meredeth) and published in the story paper The Halfpenny Marvel number 6 on 20 December 1893.

The cast

The cast are David Farrar as Sexton Blake, Manning Whiley as Raoul Sudd, Dennis Arundell as Johann Sudd, John Varley as Tinker, Betty Huntley-Wright as Nobby, Gordon McLeod as Inspector Venner, Kathleen Harrison as Mrs Bardell, Cyril Smith as Belford, Magda Kun as Yvonne, Ferdy Mayne as Slant-Eyes, Charles Farrell as Skipper, Roddy Hughes as Ferraby, Philip Godfrey as James Baird, Tony Arpino as Torch, Charles Rolfe as Mario Carloni, Elsie Wagstaff as Mrs Baird, David Keir as Charlie Kunn.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,214

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