The Four Just Men (1939 film)
The Four Just Men, also known as The Secret Four, is a 1939 British thriller film directed by Walter Forde and starring Hugh Sinclair, Griffith Jones, Edward Chapman and Frank Lawton.[1] It is based on the 1905 novel The Four Just Men by Edgar Wallace. There was a previous silent film version in 1921.[2] This version was produced by Ealing Studios,[3] with sets designed by Wilfred Shingleton.
| The Four Just Men | |
|---|---|
.jpg.webp) Original Australian trade ad | |
| Directed by | Walter Forde |
| Produced by | Michael Balcon |
| Written by | Edgar Wallace (novel) Angus MacPhail Sergei Nolbandov Roland Pertwee |
| Starring | Hugh Sinclair Griffith Jones Francis L. Sullivan Frank Lawton Anna Lee |
| Music by | Ernest Irving |
| Cinematography | Ronald Neame |
| Edited by | Stephen Dalby Charles Saunders |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | ABFD (UK) Monogram Pictures (US) |
Release date | June 1939 |
Running time | 85 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Four Just Men was re-released in 1944 with an updated ending featuring newsreel of Winston Churchill and the Allied war effort as a fulfilment of the ideals of the Four. The adviser on the House of Commons of the United Kingdom scenes was Aneurin Bevan.[4]
Premise
The Four Men are British World War I veterans who unite to work in secret against enemies of the country. They aren't above a spot of murder or sabotage to achieve their ends, but they consider themselves true patriots.
Cast
- Hugh Sinclair – Humphrey Mansfield
- Griffith Jones – James Brodie
- Francis L. Sullivan – Leon Poiccard
- Frank Lawton – Terry
- Anna Lee – Arm Lodge
- Alan Napier – Sir Hamar Ryman M.P.
- Basil Sydney – Frank Snell
- Lydia Sherwood – Myra Hastings
- Edward Chapman- B. J. Burrell
- Athole Stewart – Police Commissioner
- George Merritt – Inspector Falmouth
- Garry Marsh – Bill Grant
- Ellaline Terriss – Lady Willoughby
- Roland Pertwee – Mr Hastings
- Eliot Makeham – Simmons
- Frederick Piper – Pickpocket
- Henrietta Watson – Mrs Truscott
- Jon Pertwee – Rally campaigner
- Liam Gaffney – Taxi driver
- James Knight – Policeman Outside Parliament
- Charles Paton – Platform Speaker
- Percy Walsh – Prison Governor
- Percy Parsons – American Broadcaster
- Bryan Herbert – Taxi driver
- Arthur Hambling – Constable Benham
Critical reception
The New York Times reviewer wrote, "Four Just Men, by Edgar Wallace, whatever it might have been, was probably not a work of literature, and therefore, on that charitable assumption, it is gently, rather than harshly, that one must deal with the British-made screen version, now on view at the Globe Theatre. Like all pictures seeping over from England nowadays, it is more than a little infected with the virus propagandistus, but, over and above that common-carrier failing, it is a model of sheer incredibility crossed with what (carrying out the charity idea) we might designate as espionage melodrama".[5] According to a writer for the Radio Times decades later "it defiantly suggests that Britain could never fall under the sway of a dictator. But in all other respects it's a rollicking boys' own adventure, with some of the most fiendishly comic-book murders you will ever see... hugely entertaining sub-Hitchcockian antics".[6]
References
- "The Four Just Men". BFI. Archived from the original on 13 January 2009.
- "The Four Just Men". BFI. Archived from the original on 14 July 2012.
- Wood p. 100
- "The Four Just Men".
- "Movie Review - The Four Just Men - THE SCREEN; Two Spy Melodramas, 'The Secret Four' at Globe and 'Enemy Agent' at the Rialto, Are Seen Here - NYTimes.com".
- David Parkinson. "The Four Just Men". RadioTimes.
Bibliography
- Low, Rachael. Filmmaking in 1930s Britain. George Allen & Unwin, 1985.
- Perry, George. Forever Ealing. Pavilion Books, 1994.
- Wood, Linda. British Films, 1927-1939. British Film Institute, 1986.