Director: Guy Hamilton
Screenplay: Desmond Davis
Based on a play by: J.B. Priestly
Starring: Alastair Sim, Olga Lindo, Arthur Young, Brian Worth, Eileen Moore, Bryan Forbes, Jane Wenham
Country: United Kingdom
Running Time: 80 min
Year: 1954
BBFC Certificate: PG
Do you have a guilty conscience? What would you do if you found out a person who had been affected by your actions had taken their own life? That’s the moral core of Guy Hamilton’s tight detective mystery, adapted from the play by J.B. Priestly – are you ready to reconcile with the consequences of your actions?
Shone through the lens of social inequality, An Inspector Calls starts fairly innocuously with a dinner party at the home of a wealthy family, the Birlings. Daughter Sheila (Moore) is engaged to be married to the handsome Gerald Croft (Worth), Mr Birling’s (Young) business is booming and the only blot on this delightful family evening is the drunken behaviour of son Eric (Forbes). That all changes when Inspector Poole (an absolutely wonderful Alastair Sim) turns up to question Mr Birling on the apparent suicide of one Eva Smith (Wenham), a young woman who Birling had fired from his business several months previous. But, as the evening progresses and the atmosphere among the family grows ever more tense, it seems that there is more to the Birling’s relationship with Eva Smith than meets the eye.
An Inspector Calls is a delicious little mystery and one that’s best approached with as little knowledge of the plot aside from the basic synopsis as possible. While the core of the story, that of a detective mystery, is fairly straightforward in its set up, Hamilton lets Desmond Davis’ screenplay fully breathe on the screen, and the small cast of characters helps to open up the tale as the strands begin to unravel. With most of the story being told in flashback, each member of the family gets a chance to shine in their respective roles, but the standouts here are absolutely Jane Wenham and Alastair Sim. Wenham is utterly captivating as the tragic figure of Eve Smith, the girl at the centre of the intrigue who seems to have played more of a part in the lives of this family than they realise, while Sim is very much the cool and calculating inspector, pressing and prodding the family members for information and letting them reveal their own stories, very much setting out the template for modern detectives such as Columbo or Knives Out’s Benoit Blanc.
It is an older film and play now, but its themes still ring true. Set in 1912, the themes of social injustice and the skewering of upper and lower class inequalities could still make headlines today, but the more intriguingly prescient angle to the plot is that of the divide of age, as the children of the Birling family begin to come to terms with and accept the darkness that Poole peels away from their seemingly happy life, while their parents remain defiant and in denial at the accusations. It’s a nuanced story but it’s still an easy watch, helped definitely by the performances and Hamilton’s tight direction and its ambiguous twist will no doubt fuel many a discussion among viewers over the true meaning of this morality tale. This has been a film that I’d recently added to my watchlist following my youngest son studying the play for school and I was pleased to find a gripping tale that’s aged well and still delivers a surprising punch – highly recommended!
AN INSPECTOR CALLS is out on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital on 7 October via StudioCanal Vintage Classics
Bonus Features
- Film critic Anna Smith on An Inspector Calls
- Audio commentary by author and film historian David Del Valle
- Interview with actress Jane Wenham
Another gorgeous looking black and white UHD transfer here, with the contrast in the image looking super crisp. The audio is also impeccable and clear with nothing to complain about.
It’s a shame that the bonus features are a little sparse, but what’s here is fascinating in its insight into the film, its themes and its history, particularly the Jane Wenham interview.
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