Inspector Hornleigh (film)

Inspector Hornleigh of Scotland Yard stumbles upon the theft of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's budget secrets, a crime which he ties to a murder he is investigating.[1]

• Gordon Harker as Inspector Hornleigh
• Alastair Sim as Sergeant Bingham
• Miki Hood as Ann Gordon
• Wally Patch as Sam Holt
• Steven Geray as Michael Kavanos
• Edward Underdown as Peter Dench
• Hugh Williams as Bill Gordon
• Gibb McLaughlin as Alfred Cooper
• Ronald Adam as Wittens
• Eliot Makeham as Alexander Parkinson, leather worker
• Peter Gawthorne as the Chancellor of the Exchequer (uncredited)
• Charles Carson as Chief Superintendent (uncredited)
• Vi Kaley as Landlady (uncredited)
• Julian Vedey as Cafe Proprietor (uncredited)

The film is a spin-off from a popular BBC radio series of the 1930s, Inspector Hornleigh Investigates,[2] created and written by Hans Wolfgang Priwin, which ran on the BBC from 1937 to 1940.

For the purposes of the film, the leading characters are somewhat modified (and, significantly, the screenplay is not written by Priwin): the actor who played Inspector Hornleigh on the BBC, S.J. Warmington, is here replaced by comedian Gordon Harker, and is given a bumbling comedic sidekick, played by Scottish comedy actor, Alastair Sim.

The BBC series was a serious detective drama. However, in this film the two leading characters play the script for laughs, and the casting of two well known comedy stars in the parts indicates that this was the director's intention. Furthermore, the pair's dialogue includes frequent jokes, and Sgt. Bingham's character is included solely as comic relief. Although the rest of the cast behave as if they are in a straight drama, this simply highlights the behaviour of Harker and Sim.

To emphasise that this was a comedy film series, and to enhance the comedy double-act between Harker and Sim, the subsequent films in the series would be written by the noted comedy screenwriting partnership of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat.

Although released in 1939, the film carries a copyright notice dated 1938. It was made by Argyle Television Films, but was given a cinema release in the UK.

The film was sufficiently well-received by audiences to justify two sequels: Inspector Hornleigh on Holiday (1939), and Inspector Hornleigh Goes To It (1940).

• The New York Times called the film "a neat bit of British detective fictionizing, as tailor-made as a Bond Street jacket, now on view at the Rialto."[3]
• TV Guide wrote, "though the film is well-plotted and well-acted (Sim is hilarious), the thick English and Scottish accents were often incomprehensible to American audiences. Aside from that, the suspense is nicely built towards a good denouement."[4]
• Vintage 45 wrote, "this works as a mystery and the occasional snide remarks between Hornleigh and Bingham work to lighten things up a bit. The movie is fun and clever."[5]

• Inspector Hornleigh at IMDb