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.

Tim Kidner I'd not seen any other version of this J B Priestly play and its reputation preceded it, for me. I'd seen on TV Alistair Sim in classic war-time films such as Green For Danger, a few Ealing comedies and Christmas favourites, such as Scrooge.His measured and clipped tones always steal the scene, in both the above and 'An Inspector...', the way his gaze is locked onto the eyes of his subject and is thus always enthralling. Not ever having known it to be on TV, at least recently, I bought this lovely, BFI release, in its trademark distinctive packaging, that always stamps an air of superior approval over other editions. The transfer is very good, with good blacks and clean whites and with good, undistorted sound.These days, it may seem all a bit Agatha Christie 'whodunnit' but there's far more to it than that. Not only Sim, quietly and cleverly quizzing the family, but social comment on the 1912 in which it is set and the various members of a factory-owning, exploiting upper classes, that goes far beyond mere history books or documentaries. In between the layers of the story are all types of characters that we all know must have existed but in the interests of social whitewash, were quietened, to the point of extinction.The acting is superb throughout and the script intelligent enough to keep everyone, of all ages and types, intrigued and entertained. Guy Hamilton's direction is without flair, which might have made it gimmicky but is far enough removed from a theatrical setting to ensure no-one can argue that it's just a filmed play.Critics argue that the play originally had far more impact - who can argue with that?I was disappointed that An Inspector is not available in the Alistair Sim Collection, or other boxed set, as this version on its own, can be expensive, though secondhand, like mine, can be affordable.

writers_reign I can't, of course, prove it but the cynic in me says that Arthur Miller ripped off Priestley's An Inspector Calls, which was produced on stage in 1946, a full year before Miller's All My Sons. Not so much the plot - although even here there are similarities; Priestley set his play in the English Midlands in 1912, on the eve of the First World War and it revolved around a young woman who committed suicide after being used and abused by four members and one member-to-be of an affluent family, Miller set his play in the American mid-West in the wake of the Second World War and it revolves around the suicide of a young man who discovered that his father, a war profiteer, was responsible for the deaths of several pilots - as the theme that we are all responsible for each other. The play was revived by the Royal National Theatre in London about ten years ago and featured a spectacular 'theatrical' effect. Guy Hamilton's film version contents itself with introducing the Inspector dramatically and effecting his disappearance in much the same way; in between he relies on his cast. As the play is to a great extent actor-proof this is no bad thing although it is easy to see why Bryan Forbes abandoned acting for directing before the phone stopped ringing. It's also interesting to speculate why George Cole, who made his first film in 1941 and had appeared in some 25 by 1954, agreed to one uncredited scene as a bus conductor in one of the few 'opened out' scenes. Overall this remains a very watchable entry.

theowinthrop This was a nice surprise when I saw it in 1977 or so. Alistair Sim had appeared as Inspector Cockerill in GREEN FOR DANGER shortly after World War II, and gave one of his best performances as that droll Scotland Yarder, who just manages to bungle his successful investigation at the conclusion of that film. Here he finally repeated the role of an inspector of the police - Inspecter Goole, who disturbs a pleasant evening at the Birling mansion in some midland industrial town with news that there has been a tragedy involving the death of a young woman, and she seems to be connected to the family.J. B. Priestly was a highly successful novelist and dramatist of the middle years of the 20th Century. Besides AN INSPECTOR CALLS, he wrote LAST HOLIDAY and the novel (later a television series) LOST EMPIRES. He usually sets his stories (not LAST HOLIDAY) in the Edwardian period. That is the setting of LOST EMPIRES, which follows the London Music Halls in the years before and during World War I, and in this film, set in 1912. As it is set in 1912 it is like Terrance Rattigan's THE SLEEPING PRINCE (filmed as THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL) - a story whose plot line is complicated by the knowledge of the audience that history is headed in a disaster of war that will destroy the world of the characters.They are quite complacent these Birlings. The father is an industrialist, who has become Lord Mayor of the city. A bluff old codger, he thinks that most of the problems of the world can be covered over by a smile and some cash. His alcoholic son and his daughter and her fiancé seem less cynical, and his wife seems more proper. But each is forced to look at a photograph of the dead girl, shown by the Inspector and suddenly see their sins of pride, lust, cruelty all arising. But in the end when about to admit they did wrong they learn that the Inspector may not be what he said he was. But the conclusion leaves them facing the same crisis that Goole seemed to be on the edge of resolving - and Goole is no longer there to advise them on how to solve it.Sim, with minimal effort, controlled the film although he was off the screen most of the time. His Goole is a pleasant enough figure - apparently just doing his duty - and not being hard on the Birlings. He is just letting their consciences act out their feelings of contrition. But in the end the contrition (for the older Birlings) was too weak. So something stronger was needed to make them aware of their sins.