| 23 Paces to Baker Street | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release lobby card | |
| Directed by | Henry Hathaway |
| Screenplay by | Nigel Balchin |
| Based on | Warrant for X 1938 novel byPhilip MacDonald |
| Produced by | Henry Ephron |
| Starring | Van Johnson Vera Miles Cecil Parker |
| Cinematography | Milton R. Krasner |
| Edited by | James B. Clark |
| Music by | Leigh Harline |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 103 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,375,000[1] |
| Box office | $1 million (US rentals)[2] |
23 Paces to Baker Street is a 1956 AmericanDeLuxe Colormysterythriller film directed byHenry Hathaway. It was released by20th Century-Fox and filmed inCinemaScope on location in London. The screenplay byNigel Balchin was based on the 1938 novelWarrant for X byPhilip MacDonald.
The 1939 British filmThe Nursemaid Who Disappeared was also based on MacDonald's novel.[3]
Philip Hannon is a blind playwright who lives in a London flat with a spectacular view over the RiverThames betweenWaterloo Bridge andCharing Cross Station. One day, he overhears part of a conversation in a pub that possibly involves a plot to commit a crime. He tries to contact Inspector Grovening, who offers no help, so Hannon, his butler and his American ex-fiancée Jean seek to bring the kidnappers to justice. Their sleuthing soon leads them to a nanny agency with dire repercussions.
In a contemporary review forThe New York Times, criticBosley Crowther wrote:
[A] large part of this picture is curiously casual and slow, as Van Johnson, as the blind man, bores the mischief out of everybody with his hazy suspicions. He bores Vera Miles as his ex-sweetheart. She would much rather bill and coo. He bores Cecil Parker as his butler. He would rather make cultivated gags. And, for that matter, he bores the audience, too. ... [M]atters do start popping about half or two-thirds of the way along, when it is finally discovered, through various coincidences, that something has been cooking all the time. But you have to depend on Mr. Johnson—and Nigel Balchin, the screenwriter—to give you the detailsafter they've been discovered. This is not a good way to get people interested in a mystery show. ... But it would be a more exciting picture if it got going with a little more snap, established a more compelling mystery and built up some genuine suspense.[4]
