Someone at the Door ** (1936, Billy Milton, Aileen Marson, Noah  Beery Sr, Edward Chapman, Hermione Gingold, John Irwin) – Classic Movie Review 13,631

Billy Milton stars in the 1936 British comedy thriller Someone at the Door as a dodgy journalist who plots to kick-start his career by inventing the fake murder of his sister Sally (Aileen Marson).

Director Herbert Brenon’s 1936 British comedy thriller Someone at the Door is based on a successful 1935 London West End play by Dorothy Christie and Campbell Christie, and stars Billy Milton, Aileen Marson, Noah  Beery Sr, Edward Chapman, Hermione Gingold, and John Irwin.

Billy Milton stars as a greedy journalist who plots to kick-start his career by inventing the fake murder of his sister Sally (Aileen Marson) but gets in a mess when there is a real murder

Director Herbert Brenon’s 1936 British thriller Someone at the Door is a creaky and corny but amusing enough old, dark house comedy-suspenser about a newspaper writer (Billy Milton) who concocts a story of the suspicious death of his sister (Aileen Marson) when he moves into his creepy, newly inherited mansion and then watches in amazement as his imagined plot really happens with a pair of actual murders.

Someone at the Door is a case of fizzy high-jinks, dated technically but handled and performed with just enough brio and an edge of darkness (lies! deception! theft! murder!) to keep it fairly slick and sort of suspenseful. The performances are rather stagey and overstated, but the actors are eager and game for a laugh. Milton gives a capable turn as the reporter who instigates all the trouble, ably abetted by Marson, Noah Beery Sr as Harry Kapel, Edward Chapman as Price, Hermione Gingold as Mrs Appleby and John Irwin as Bill Reid.

Also in the cast are Charles Mortimer as Sgt Spedding, Edward Dignon as Soames, Jimmy Godden as PC O’Brien, Lawrence Hanray [Laurence Hanray] as Poole, and Eliot Makeham.

Release: 4 May 1936 (UK).

Remade as Someone at the Door by Hammer Films in 1950.

Someone at the Door is directed by Herbert Brenon, runs 74 minutes, is made by British International Pictures, is released by Wardour Films (UK), is written by Jack Davis Jr and Marjorie Deans, is shot in black and white by Bryan Langley, is produced by Walter C Mycroft, and is designed by Cedric Dawe.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,631

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