After reading a collection of Sexton Blake novels earlier this year, I Netflixed one of the British PI’s films, THE HOODED TERROR (1938). George Curzon plays Blake, shown on the poster below with his bloodhound Pedro and his human sidekick Tinker; Tod Slaughter plays the eponymous leader of the crime cartel the Black Quorum, which Blake is determined to smash. The hoods don’t make a lot of sense as the cabal doffs them routinely during meetings; this is watchable but as in print, Blake on screen is a poor substitute for Sherlock Holmes.“Before I shoot a man I always like to exchange civilities with him.”
CRIMES IN THE DARK HOUSE (1940) is an adaptation of The Woman in White on the same DVD and way more fun, squeezing everything but the kitchen sink into its hour of running time: illegitimate pregnancy, imposters (Slaughter plays one of them), a lurking madwoman (“I saw her — the woman in white!”), secret marriages, marital rape (off-screen of course, but the bride’s reaction to what she knows is coming is unsettling), an innocent woman committed to an insane asylum and multiple murders before justice is finally served. I’ve no idea how it compares to the original but this was a fun pot-boiler. “You must learn that a wife must sometimes say yes to her husband.”
KILLER OF SHEEP (1977) is a cinema verité movie made as a film-school thesis but not getting released until years later. This shows life in Watts from kids playing in the street (or riding three to a bike, not that this was unique to black America), bullies, petty theft, slow-dancing and the stressed-out slaughterhouse worker of the title. Too plotless to engage me but interesting to watch nonetheless. “I ain’t poor! You can’t give nothin’ away to the Salvation Army if you’re poor!”
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