Inspector Hornleigh

1939
6.7| 1h16m| en
Details

When a landlady finds one of her tenants murdered, Inspector Hornleigh is sent to investigate. Inspector Hornleigh's assistant, Sergeant Bingham, soon finds an attaché case that had been stolen from the murdered man. When Hornleigh examines the case, inside it he finds a bag that was used to carry important government documents. The documents have been taken, and to make things even more confusing, a duplicate of the stolen bag soon turns up.

Director

Producted By

Twentieth Century Productions Ltd

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Reviews

Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!
Borgarkeri A bit overrated, but still an amazing film
Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.
Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
MartinHafer In the 1930s and 40s, B-mystery films were very, very common. There also tended to be some cliches in most of them, such as having a cop (or cops) who is a total idiot and a guy who announces he's going to tell the police everything...and you KNOW he'll soon be dead before he can do so!! This picture has both of these but still manages to be entertaining and novel on occasion.The most novel thing about the story is the initial crime. Someone has stolen state secrets...specifically, Britain's budget before it is officially released. Why could this be a problem? Well, someone knowing about this spending could capitalize on it in the stock market. But when this doesn't happen, you know that there's a bit more afoot.The Inspector is played well by Gordon Harker and he is assisted with an absolute idiot, Sergeant Bingham (Alastair Sim). Again and again, the Sergeant reveals his stupidity and Hornleigh solves the case with just about no help whatsoever from Bingham. Per the genre, Bingham is the comic relief cop.Is it worth seeing? Yes. While far from a must-see, it's a pleasant little crime picture. And, if you like this, the studio made several other Hornleigh pictures....though I have yet to see any of these.
hwg1957-102-265704 The first of the Inspector Hornleigh films this is a good mystery story concerning the death of a man in a boarding house in London that develops wider ramifications as the murder is investigated by Inspector Hornleigh and Sergeant Bingham leading to the uncovering of the murderer, which was a surprise to me. It is well paced and has some great lines of dialogue that made me laugh out loud. The comedy and mystery are nicely balanced. It was directed by Eugene Ford, an American who had directed some good Charlie Chan films in the USA. Inspector Hornleigh is ably played by Gordon Harker who is grumpy but has a good line in sarcastic wit. Sergeant Bingham, his enthusiastic but incompetent assistant, is played by the great Alastair Sim who later on in his career would be even better (and promoted!) as Inspector Cockrill in 'Green For Danger' and Inspector Poole in 'An Inspector Calls.' Familiar actors like Wally Patch, Steven Geray and Gibb McLaughlin make good supporting characters. The other members of the cast are OK.A fine comedy mystery that will keep you entertained.
GManfred I am a sucker for a good whodunit, and "Inspector Hornleigh" was an excellent one. It had an elaborate plot and I could not guess the murderer until... come to think of it, I didn't guess the murderer until it was revealed at the end of the picture, so well-written was the screenplay. And, brother, it was written, and written, and...This picture was loaded with dialogue, enough for 2 or 3 pictures, but in the end I felt it was all worth it. I enjoy Gordon Harker more each time I see him and he is very convincing when playing a police inspector. Here he is Insp. Hornleigh of the title, and he was every bit as good as he was as Insp. Elk in "The Frog" (1937). He is aided by Alastair Sim, playing his weak-minded sidekick police sergeant. Speaking for myself, I did not mind his antics, as films of the 30's and early 40's often tried to blend comedy and mystery, more often than not a futile effort, I have found. But it worked here.The rest of the cast was competent, although two of the suspects looked very much alike, causing occasional confusion. Another reviewer mentioned that the sets looked cheap - that may be, but I gave it a pass and was not conscious of an effort to pinch pennies in any phase of the production.All in all, a worthy effort and worth your while, because I always feel that, ultimately, the play's the thing, don't you?
Snow Leopard The comic duo of Gordon Harker and Alastair Sim make "Inspector Hornleigh" an entertaining and watchable light mystery story. The plot itself has a couple of good touches - for example, getting good mileage out of a pair of similar briefcases - but it is the two main actors who make the film worth watching.Harker (who plays Inspector Hornleigh) began his career with good supporting roles in three of Alfred Hitchcock's silent movies, and had a good sense of comic timing that he puts to good use here as the inspector in charge of a baffling case. Sim was an idiosyncratic, entertaining character actor who is best known for his wonderful portrayal of Scrooge in the 1951 version of "A Christmas Carol". Here he is Sgt. Bingham, the Inspector's earnest but inept sidekick, a good role for his distinctive talents."Inspector Hornleigh" is fairly routine as a mystery, but it is made very watchable by this entertaining comic pair who work well together. It is little known today, but in its time it was considered good enough that it led to two sequels. It is worth seeing if you like mysteries with some comic touches.

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