Law and Disorder ** (1940, Alastair Sim, Diana Churchill, Barry K Barnes, Edward Chapman, Austin Trevor, Leo Genn) – Classic Movie Review 13,611

The 1940 British comedy crime film Law and Disorder, in which a young solicitor who defends a number of petty criminals is accused of sabotage, stars Alastair Sim, Diana Churchill, Barry K Barnes, Edward Chapman and Austin Trevor.

Director David MacDonald’s 1940 British comedy crime film Law and Disorder stars Alastair Sim, Diana Churchill, Barry K Barnes, Edward Chapman, Austin Trevor, Leo Genn and Ruby Miller. This low-budget second feature promises a lot of lovely nostalgic vintage entertainment but alas it is a somewhat tepid wartime thriller with only minor tension and too many shaky hints of clumsy comedy.

A young married defence solicitor named Larry Preston (Barry K Barnes) working in a London law office defends a number of petty criminals and gets Austin Trevor’s saboteurs off a charge, infuriating his boss Samuel Blight (Alastair Sim) and the police, and surprising his wife (Diana Churchill), and then is accused of sabotage. But then Barnes catches out the spies in their attempts to use radios to bring Nazi fighters to hit their targets.

Law and Disorder is undemanding and unassuming, perhaps too much so, with a script by Roger MacDougall that doesn’t take its potentially interesting yarn seriously enough to keep it always entirely involving. But the nimble light comedy playing of the notable stalwart players helps a lot, especially the performances of A Sim, who can do no wrong, but also of Chapman as Inspector Bray and Trevor as Heinreks.

Cast: Alastair Sim, Diana Churchill, Barry K Barnes, Edward Chapman, Austin Trevor, Leo Genn, Ruby Miller, Geoffrey Sumner, Glen Alyn, Torin Thatcher, Carl Jaffe, Cyril Smith.

Release: 7 June 1940 (UK).

The film was shot at Highbury Studios, North London.

Law and Disorder is directed by David MacDonald, runs 75 minutes, is made by British Consolidated, is released by Adelphi Films (UK), is written by Roger MacDougall, is shot in black and white by Ernest Palmer, is produced by K C Alexander, is scored by Francis Chagrin, and designed by James A. Carter.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,611

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