No Exit

This is a fairly zappy and rather intriguing little crime thriller from 1936. The majority of the British cast featured in this quite polished production from the now long defunct Welwyn Studios is all but forgotten now with perhaps the exception of Valerie Hobson, whose name might just be familiar to the modern reader thanks to her portrayal as ‘Baroness Elizabeth Frankenstein’ in the 1935 James Whale classic 'Bride of Frankenstein'.

The premise here is an interesting but in truth, slightly daft one. It is pretty obvious that this film is based on a play. Society girl Laura Anstey (Valerie Hobson) tends to spend a shade too much of her leisure time with her young and dashing male friend Billy West (Billy Milton), or so it would seem. And on this particular occasion she's been to see a play called The Vanishing Crook – there’s some irony in this and if you don't get it you soon will. Joining the pair was their smart friend Anthony Wild (Leslie Perrins) who just happens to be a successful crime novelist. After the performance, Laura and Billy go back to Wild's posh Sloane Square apartment for a little nightcap. No sooner have they arrived than the telephone rings - it is Laura’s irate husband Cyril (Henry Oscar), who is not exactly an attractive man, considerably older and rather humorless. Indeed, once must wonder what Laura saw in him in the first place and yes, one must wonder even more why she ISN'T having an affair with another man! Clearly Cyril is not happy about the situation, he is forever jealous and suspects Laura of philandering. Cyril arrives at Wild's flat to pick her up. The atmosphere is a little cold to say the least. This being the home of a successful crime novelist, a discussion about murder inevitably takes place and Laura's staid husband is of the opinion 'that all murderer's are fools'. Well, this is a comment that is bound to get the charmingly complacent Wild going and he suggests a rather silly wager to the effect that he is capable of hoodwinking the police and getting away with murder. Billy teases Cyril even more about being a 'wife-stealer' - not a good thing to do, as it will emerge later on.

Back to the wager, and it’s Billy suggesting to Wilde that it might be an idea if he would ‘vanish’ so Wilde can get first hand experience for his next novel. Wise and Billy set about their 'ingenious' ploy and sure enough, one week later Billy’s concerned father liaises with newly promoted Detective Sergeant Beeston (Robert Cochran) to search for the missing son. It’s not before long when Beeston arrives at Wilde’s apartment for some questioning and it’s from then on that things slowly but surely spin out of control, though not as Wilde and Billy had initially anticipated. Things are not helped by the fact that self-styled journo Scoop Martin (Ronald Simpson) is hell-bent on finding the trunk murder, and an increasingly out-of-control Cyril has his own motifs for tracing Billy…

The acting is spot-on and the interplay between the film’s stock characters nicely tick all the range from dramatics to humorous.