The Stranger Left No Card **** (1952, Alan Badel, Cameron Hall, Geoffrey Bayldon) – Classic Movie Review 9500

Director-deviser Wendy Toye’s excellent 1952 British black and white short film mystery drama The Stranger Left No Card stars the young Alan Badel in his film debut as an enigmatic stranger who arrives by train in Windsor costumed as an itinerant magician with a bag of tricks, seemingly eccentric and harmless,  but actually to avenge an earlier injustice against him.

The unconventional but ingenious characterisation of the stranger is subtly seductive, especially with Badel’s unusual handling.

The Stranger Left No Card is short, sharp and crafty, with a style all of its own, and a clever, teasing little script by Sidney Carroll from an idea devised by director Wendy Toye.

The location cinematography by Jonah Jones and Doreen Carwithen’s music score rearranging Hugo Alfvén’s Swedish Rhapsody No 1 Midsommarvaka (1903) are further assets.

Also in the cast are Cameron Hall, Geoffrey Bayldon, and Eileen Way.

The Stranger Left No Card is directed by Wendy Toye, runs 23 minutes, is made by Meteor Films, is released by British Lion, is written by Sidney Carroll, is shot in black and white by Jonah Jones, is produced by George K Arthur and is scored by Doreen Carwithen (orchestrator) and Muir Matheson (conductor).

It is shot at Windsor, Berkshire, England.

Alix Stone is the designer of the Stranger’s costume and Dick Bonnor-Morris is the makeup artist.

Director Toye remade it as Stranger in Town (1982) for episode of the TV series Tales of the Unexpected starring Derek Jacobi and Clive Swift.

The film won the Best Fictional – Short Film award at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival, when Jean Cocteau called it a masterpiece.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9500

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