Meet Sexton Blake!
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{italic title}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Meet Sexton Blake!
| image = Meet_Sexton_Blake_(1945_film).jpg
| caption = Opening title card
| director = John Harlow
| producer = Louis H. Jackson
| screenplay = John Harlow
| based_on = {{based on|The Mystery of the Free Frenchmen|Anthony Parsons}}{{cite web|url=http://www.mark-hodder.com/blakiana/image.html|last=Hinrich|first=Derek|title=The Living Image|accessdate=26 June 2020|date=2018}}
| narrator =
| starring = David Farrar
Manning Whiley
Dennis Arundell
John Varley
| music = Percival Mackey
| cinematography = Geoffrey Faithfull
| editing = Vi Burdon
| studio = Strand Film Company (for)
British National Films
| distributor = Anglo-American Film Corporation {{small|(UK)}}
| released = {{Film date|df=y|1945|02|05|UK}}
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget =
| gross =
}}
Meet Sexton Blake! is a 1945 British second feature ('B'){{Cite book |last1=Chibnall |first1=Steve |title=The British 'B' Film |last2=McFarlane |first2=Brian |publisher=BFI/Bloomsbury |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-8445-7319-6 |location=London |pages=15}} drama film directed by John Harlow and starring David Farrar, Manning Whiley, Dennis Arundell, and John Varley.{{Cite web |title=Meet Sexton Blake! |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150028329 |access-date=7 June 2025 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/46582|title=Meet Sexton Blake (1945)|publisher=|access-date=9 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018232106/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/46582|archive-date=18 October 2012|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/meet-sexton-blake-v32074/cast-crew|title=Meet Sexton Blake (1944) - John Harlow - Cast and Crew - AllMovie|website=AllMovie}} It was wriiten by Harlow based on the 1940 novel The Mystery of the Free Frenchmen by Anthony Parsons. It was one of two films directed by Harlow in which Farrar played Sexton Blake, the other being The Echo Murders (1945).{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituaries-david-farrar-1603397.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220512/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituaries-david-farrar-1603397.html |archive-date=12 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=OBITUARIES: David Farrar|date=29 September 1995|publisher=}}
Plot
Important documents are stolen from a dead man during an air raid, and the War Office call in Sexton Blake to investigate.{{cite web|url=https://www.silversirens.co.uk/films/meet-sexton-blake-1945/|title=Meet Sexton Blake (1945 film)|first=Richard|last=Williams|website=Silver Sirens}}
Cast
- David Farrar as Sexton Blake
- Manning Whiley as Raoul Sudd
- Dennis Arundell as Johann Sudd
- John Varley as Tinker
- Betty Huntley-Wright as Nobby
- Gordon McLeod as Inspector Venner
- Kathleen Harrison as Mrs Bardell
- Cyril Smith as Belford
- Magda Kun as Yvonne
- Ferdy Mayne as Slant-Eyes
- Charles Farrell as Skipper
- Roddy Hughes as Ferraby
- Philip Godfrey as James Baird
- Tony Arpino as Torch
- Charles Rolfe as Mario Carloni
- Elsie Wagstaff as Mrs Baird
Critical reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This is a long-drawn-out murder story unfolded in confusing manner and with the actual murder sequences photographed in crude detail. The cast, headed by David Farrar as Sexton Blake and John Varley as Tinker, is an efficient one, but they are hampered by dialogue which tends to make their performances seem amateurish."{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1944 |title=Meet Sexton Blake! |volume=11 |issue=121 |pages=114 |id={{ProQuest|1305807622}} |magazine=The Monthly Film Bulletin}}
Kine Weekly wrote: "This British offering attempts a little too much to achieve coherence, let alone convincing entertainment. The story, exploring the crime calendar from opium dens to grisly murder, is never held in clear perspective and only a master mind will follow it with any accuracy. Competently acted and staged, it nevertheless has undeniable box-office claims in its title and, on this score alone, should make a reliable programmer for industrial halls and the masses as a whole."{{Cite journal |date=19 October 1944 |title=Meet Sexton Blake! |volume=332 |issue=1957 |pages=22 |id={{ProQuest|2676996228}} |magazine=Kine Weekly}}
Picturegoer wrote: "If it's blood and thunder – and unitentional laughter – you are after, this is your meat."{{Cite journal |date=5 February 1945 |title=Meet Sexton Blake! |volume=14 |issue= |pages=12 |id={{ProQuest|1771167938}} |magazine=Picturegoer}}
TV Guide called the film "entertaining in an unintended way", rating it two out of five stars.{{cite web |title=Meet Sexton Blake |url=http://www.tvguide.com/movies/meet-sexton-blake/review/105919/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151211014531/https://www.tvguide.com/movies/meet-sexton-blake/105919/ |archive-date=11 Dec 2015 |website=TVGuide.com}}
References
{{John Harlow}}
{{Sexton Blake}}