BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

TheLittleSongbird Being a classic film fan (though do watch films and television of all genres/medium old and new), that 'An Inspector Calls' was based on the classic play with a great story by JB Priestley and had a great actor in Alastair Sim on board were reasons enough to see it.'An Inspector Calls' thankfully did not disappoint. While the 2015 television adaptation with David Thewlis was also wonderful, this film version from 1954 is the marginally better one. Even if it does open up the deliberately confined setting and atmosphere of the play with the inclusion of flashbacks for cinematic reasons no doubt, which some may feel tones down the claustrophobia. To me it isn't as strong as it is on stage but is present still. As well as changing the Inspector's name from Goole to Poole, some may, and have done, find that it misses the point of the character for reasons that won't be gone into here at the risk of spoiling crucial elements of the story. Didn't have as big a problem with this change though it does take away a little from the character's mysteriousness. But what makes this version of 'An Inspector Calls' so good is how well it succeeds on its own merits.It is an incredibly atmospheric film first and foremost, it's not the most technically polished film there is but it does look good. The setting do maintain the sense of confinement and claustrophobia and are produced elegantly. The cinematography and lighting are suitably ominous and while not the most polished look beautiful and add hugely to the atmosphere. A big shout out also has to go to the editing, with 'An Inspector Calls' containing to me some of the best editing of any film seen recently by me and of its kind, with its fluid and seamless transitions between present day and the flashbacks. Something that has been done with wildly variable results elsewhere, many films do it well and just as many others executing it rather clumsily.Regarding the music, much of it is very haunting and adds a lot in giving a sense of constant unease. There are a few instances where it's a touch heavy-handed, my sole complaint of the film but it is not significant enough to bring it down. The script is droll and thought-provoking, never once found it trite, the best lines belong to the Inspector and Sim's delivery has a lot to do with it.Story goes at a deliberate but efficient and never too slow pace, it is unsettlingly suspenseful and very intriguing. The portrayal and dynamic of the central family were beautifully established, there is a lot of great psychological tension and unease when the family are interrogated and the flashbacks were a great way of opening up the story and solving the potential problem while stage to screen adaptations of being stagy. They allowed us to get to know the victim and care for her plight and also the members of the Birling family and how it all affects them. The final twist, while open to interpretation, really sends a chill down the spine.The performances are very fine across the board. Didn't have a problem with Bryan Forbes, though he fares better as a director than an actor in a way. 'An Inspector Calls' is compelling from the get go , but gets even better once the inspector shows up and interrogates the Birlings to utterly transfixing effect. Alastair Sim always had a knack for scene-stealing, whether in lead or support, and he does here in a superb performance that perhaps ranks among his best. Loved his witty but serious line delivery and even more so his understated and oh so expressive eyes and face.Jane Wenham is very touching in her here pathos-filled role. Arthur Young has the right amount of patriarchal authority and crustiness and Olga Lindo brings dignity and class.Concluding, wonderful and not easy to forget. 10/10 Bethany Cox

thefinalcredits 'If we are all responsible for everything that happened to everybody we'd had anything to do with, it would be very awkward, wouldn't it?' A solid cinematic adaptation of Priestley's classic play, first performed on a London stage in 1946, made more memorable by a captivating performance from Alistair Sim. Since that premiere performance on the stage by Sir Ralph Richardson, the eponymous,unexpected, and unappreciated visitor to the Birling household has been embodied by many a seasoned thespian, but never so enthralling as by Sim. This is partly due to the fact that he portrays a much less abrasive figure than customary. His physicality, from towering presence to heavy-lidded, deep-set eyes, and avuncular, searching expression, embellishes his ability to embody more of an inquisitor examining the souls of those present than a mere police officer examining the details of the case. Though largely adapted from the source material, and ably directed by Guy Hamilton, who would later find greater renown in bringing the far more flamboyant 007 to the 'big screen', this production did introduce a couple of aspects which impacted upon the interpretation of itself and Priestley's work. The first of these concerns the character of the Inspector, stemming from the decision to alter our protagonist's name from 'Inspector Goole' in the play to 'Inspector Poole' here. In doing so, those behind the film have distanced their product from Priestley's clumsier indication of the Inspector's possible spectral nature through his obvious 'play on words' of the character's name. In this instance the audience are more loosely guided in their interpretation by the question embedded in the film's tagline: 'Is he real or the creature of conscience?' The second change to the structure of the play is the inclusion of flashback sequences to 'flesh out', and join together, how each member of the Birling family has had some part to play in the course of events leading to the tragic suicide of a young woman, known to them as either Eva Smith or Daisy Renton. Within the play, there remains greater possibility that the victim is a composite portrait of more than one girl, explaining why the Inspector is so guarded in each unveiling of the photograph. Priestley's tolerance of ambiguity on this point allows for the work to accrue much more of the nature of a parable on social responsibility and a vision of shared humanity. The film's avoidance of Priestley's sermonising tone on this point explains the absence of the Inspector's fundamental final speech in which he serves as the instrument for the author's message on morality: 'there are millions...of Eva Smiths and John Smiths left with us, with their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering and a chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives and what we think say and do.' These flashback sequences do serve as the means for Jane Wenham, the future first wife of Albert Finney, to deliver a touching performance as the ill-fated young girl in what was to be her promising debut in a very short-lived film career. The rest of the cast provide commendable performances, though Eileen Moore, the first wife of George Cole, who himself makes an uncredited performance here as a tram conductor, is miscast as Sheila Birling, being far too attractive for the audience to believe that she would have Eva Smith dismissed in a pique of jealousy as to the latter's beauty. Yet, this film exemplifies above all else Sim's under-appreciated versatility as an actor. Released in the same year as Sim's much more treasured incarnation of the headmistress of St Trinians, it is a shame that his appearances in dramatic roles were not as heralded. Given his character's spectral appearance and disappearance, it is perhaps fitting that this film was coincidentally scheduled the night he passed on to whatever lies beyond this existence where his talents were so evident.

Prismark10 Alastair Sim stars in this morality tale as Inspector Poole who suddenly appears like a spectre in the house of a provincial wealthy family and interrogates them over the death of a local girl which each members of the family have been associated with.An Inspector Calls is better known as a stage play and here it has been filled out with flashbacks as we find out more about the life of the dead girl and her interactions with the various members of the family.Although the film is set in 1912 it its themes are still relevant today and especially when you see the division in attitudes with the younger characters in the play and the older characters who are not only more selfish but less remorseful that they pretended to be.Sim is sly and powerful as the Inspector who brings down the selfish members of this family a peg or two, he keeps you watching. Jane Wenham is likable as Eva the deceased girl who over time crosses paths with the Birling family and not for the better.

Spikeopath A toff English family dinner is interrupted by the appearance of Inspector Poole, he announces that a young lady has committed suicide by the ingestion of disinfectant. At first the family is oblivious as to why this concerns them, but as Poole interviews each family member, it's apparent that one thing binds them all to the mystery.Adapted from the J.B. Priestley stage play, An Inspector Calls is everything that was great about 50s British Cinema. Simple in structure it may be, but the lack of clogging in any form shines brighter than many a lavish production from this particular decade. The films cause is helped immensely by the quality of the writing, Desmond Davis adding further quality to the already great source provided by the talented Priestley. At first the film leads you to believe that it's going to be a one room interrogation piece, but thru a series of flash backs we are taken out of the room to follow this intriguing story to its quite brilliant finale. There are no histrionics from the actors in this piece, all of them are wonderful because they adhere to the necessity of letting the story be the star. Alastair Sim is perfectly cast as Inspector Poole, a large presence with those highly sympathetic eyes, Sim may be playing the main character, yet he's playing second fiddle to the fleshing out of the Birling family deconstruction, it's a wonderful case where the acting glue is holding it all together.Director Guy Hamilton does a smashing job of making the film permanently edgy, a sense of unease is palpable throughout, and it's only during the final reel that the heart of the film shows its ace card, and even then, the makers have one more trick up their sleeves. Also worth mentioning is the editing from the sadly uncredited Geoffrey Botterill, so many films containing flash back sequences feel intrusive to the flow of a picture, it isn't here, it's spot on. An Inspector Calls is a wonderful mystery piece that is dotted with moments of unease, but all this would go to waste if the pay off was merely a damp squib, it thankfully isn't, and the likes of Rod Serling and Charles Beaumont were surely nodding in approval.Highly recommended 9/10.*Footnote:Alastair Sim is listed on this site as playing Inspector Goole, that is the characters name in the Priestley play, but i can assure everyone that his characters name is definitely Inspector Poole for this film version.