Meet Mr Callaghan *** (1954, Derrick De Marney, Harriette Johns, Peter Neil, Adrienne Corri, Delphi Lawrence, Belinda Lee) – Classic Movie Review 13,637

The 1954 British crime thriller film Meet Mr Callaghan is based on a play version of Peter Cheyney’s novel The Urgent Hangman, and stars Derrick De Marney, Harriette Johns, Adrienne Corri, Delphi Lawrence, and Belinda Lee.

Director Charles Saunders’s entertaining 1954 British black and white crime thriller film Meet Mr Callaghan stars Derrick De Marney, Harriette Johns, Peter Neil, Adrienne Corri, Delphi Lawrence, and Belinda Lee.

Meet Mr Callaghan is a moody, complicated thriller tale of cynical, down-at-heel private eye Slim Callaghan (Derrick De Marney), apparently also disreputable and venal, searching for an elderly millionaire’s murderer, after he is hired by the number one suspect, young socialite Cynthis Meraulton (Harriette Johns), when her wealthy stepfather August Meraulton (Robert Adair) suddenly changed his will to benefit her just before his death.

She pays him £500 to investigate the other family members, fearing he will be killed and suspecting someone will destroy the new will. But then her stepfather is murdered, and suspicion falls on Cynthis, though Callaghan is able to provide an alibi for her as she was supposedly with him at the time, way out of normal office hours, nearly midnight (11.40pm), upsetting the combative, acid Inspector Gringall (Trevor Reid). The Callaghan alibi is false as the murder was committed earlier, giving Cynthis both time and opportunity, as well as motive, to have dunnit.

Callaghan treats his secretary Effie (Delphi Lawrence) badly, so she walks, and he gets his comical sidekick Darky (Larry Burns) to do his legwork. The other family members involved as suspects are four brothers: Peter Neil as William Meraulton, John Longden as Jeremy Meraulton, Roger Williams as Bellamy Meraulton, and Frank Henderson as Paul Meraulton.

Derrick De Marney is good, involving without being charismatic, in an odd, offbeat, quirky performance which is right for the cunning, conniving character, and a series of engaging and amusing, if some pretty ripe, performances and effective scenes brighten up this entertainingly twisty even if pretty standard old-style mystery stuff. But then twisty old-style mystery is good, right?

Harriette Johns is excellent as tough femme fatale Cynthis Meraulton, Peter Neil is particularly good as the slimy William Meraulton, Adrienne Corri vamps and sings alluringly as Mayola, Belinda Lee appears attractively if all too briefly as the maid Jenny Appleby, and Frank Sieman amuses as Gringall’s long-suffering underling Sergeant Fields.

The screenplay by Brock Williams is based on Gerald Verner’s 1952 play version Meet Mr Callaghan of Peter Cheyney’s 1938 novel The Urgent Hangman, which introduced the fictional London-based private detective Slim Callaghan, the first in a series of seven novels as well as two short story collections.

It was shot at Nettleford Studios, Walton-on-Thames in Surrey, England, in September 1953.

This film’s co-producer and star Derrick De Marney directed the stage version at the Garrick Theatre, St Martin’s Lane, London, in 1952, starring his brother Terence De Marney as private eye Slim Callaghan. It ran for 340 performances.

This is the second film based on Peter Cheyney’s character, following Uneasy Terms (1948), with Michael Rennie as Slim Callaghan. This story is similar to Uneasy Terms, with a changed will and a murdered man, but with four brothers suspected instead of three daughters. The title Meet Mr Callaghan suggests the start of a series, but no further films followed.

Release: June 1954 (UK).

The cast are Derrick De Marney as Slim Callaghan, Harriette Johns as Cynthis Meraulton, Adrienne Corri as Mayola, Delphi Lawrence as Effie, Belinda Lee as Jenny Appleby, Larry Burns as Darky, Trevor Reid as Inspector Gringall, Peter Neil as William Meraulton, John Longden as Jeremy Meraulton, Roger Williams as Bellamy Meraulton, Frank Henderson as Paul Meraulton, Michael Balfour as coffee stall keeper, Frank Sieman as Sergeant Fields, Michael Partridge as Jengel, Howard Douglas as Tweest, John Ainsworth as PC Masters, and Robert Adair as August Meraulton.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,637

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