Gideon’s Day (1958) - film review

A day in the life of George Gideon, a family man and redoubtable chief inspector at Scotland Yard.  The day starts badly, with Gideon collecting a summons for a minor parking offence from an over-enthusiastic bobby, P.C. Simon Farnaby-Green.  His mood is not improved when he learns, through an informer, that one of his officers has been taking bribes from a crime syndicate.  When this same officer is killed, apparently the victim of a hit-and-run accident, Gideon sees a connection with a recently reported hold-up and begins his investigation.  He is then distracted by news of a brutal sex killing.  Fortunately, the enterprising Farnaby-Green manages to apprehend the murderer, much to the chagrin of his superiors, who have all been victims of his too literal interpretation of the highway code.  Just when Gideon is about to set off to his daughter’s music recital, he is called to the scene of another robbery.  A policeman’s duty is never done...

One of the more improbable digressions for the great American filmmaker John Ford was this tongue-in-cheek police procedural made in London towards the end of his career.  Adapted from John Creasey’s novel, the screenplay was written by T.E.B. Clarke, who had previously scripted several films for Ealing Studios, including Passport to Pimlico (1949) and The Lavender Hill Mob (1951).  Clarke also wrote the screenplay for The Blue Lamp (1950), the groundbreaking police drama which has some similarities with Gideon’s Day, although the latter film is in a somewhat lighter vein.  This was the second of two films that John Ford made for producer Michael Killanin, the first being The Rising of the Moon (1957), which was shot the previous year in Ireland.

Today, Gideon’s Day (a.k.a. Gideon of Scotland Yard) feels like an intended spoof of a somewhat dated genre, although in its day it was praised for its realism, authentic characterisation and complex narrative structure.  Jack Hawkins portrays the lead character, Inspector Gideon, as a reluctant superhero, who deals with an endless barrage of crooks, murderers and other assorted villains with the same air of slightly bored irritation that a school caretaker exhibits when reprimanding a gang of troublesome school kids.  Hawkins brings dry humour and charm to his portrayal, which suits the film perfectly, making it a striking contrast with the far less genteel crime dramas which were coming out of Hollywood at the time.  Whilst the film was shot in glorious Technicolor, for some reason it was only shown in black-and-white for its American release.

Most of the fun of this film comes from the brief but memorable character turns from an extraordinary assortment of British talent.  This is the film in which Anna Massey made her screen debut, a year before she starred in Michael Powell’s highly controversial Peeping Tom (1960).  Other notable contributors include Cyril Cusack as an unlikely police informer, Maureen Potter as his mouthy gin-swigging spouse, Jack Watling as curate who turns out to be a dab hand in the martial arts and Grizelda Harvey as the hysterical wife of a seriously bent copper.  Although John Ford made very few comedies - the only other one of note being The Whole Town’s Talking (1935) - he was reputed to have had a wicked sense of humour, and this film certainly bears testament to that.

© Chris Alderton 2010

Write a review for this film...

What do you think of this film?