''Dead Man's Shoes'' is a 1940 British

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Thomas Bentley Thomas Bentley (23 February 1884 – 23 December 1966) was a British film director. He directed 68 films between 1912 and 1941. He directed three films in the early DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process, ''The Man in the Street'' (1926), '' ...

and starring

Leslie Banks Leslie James Banks CBE (9 June 1890 – 21 April 1952) was an English stage and screen actor, director and producer, now best remembered for playing gruff, menacing characters in black-and-white films of the 1930s and 1940s, but also the Chor ...

, Joan Marion and Wilfrid Lawson. A man who has lost his memory, rises to a position of authority and respect. One day he is confronted by a man who claims to have been involved with him in the past. The film is considered an antecedent of British Film Noir.Spicer p.439

Cast

as Roger de Vetheuil * Joan Marion as Viola de Vetheuil * Geoffrey Atkins as Paul de Vetheuil * Wilfrid Lawson as Lucien Sarrou *

Judy Kelly Julie Aileen Kelly (1 November 1913 – 22 October 1991), known professionally as Judy Kelly, was an Australian-born British actress. She arrived in Britain in 1932 after winning a competition organised by the Australian British Empire Films, wh ...

as Michelle Allain *

Nancy Price Nancy Price, CBE (3 February 1880 – 31 March 1970), was an English actress on stage and screen, author and theatre director. Her acting career began in a repertory theatre company before progressing to the London stage, silent films, talkies a ...

as Madame Pelletier *

Walter Hudd Walter Hudd (20 February 1897 – 20 January 1963) was a British actor and director. Stage career Hudd made his stage debut in ''The Manxman'' in 1919, and later toured as part of the Fred Terry Company; first attracting serious attention play ...

as Gaston Alexandri *

Peter Bull Peter Cecil Bull, (21 March 1912 – 20 May 1984) was a British character actor who appeared in supporting roles in such films as '' The African Queen'', ''Tom Jones'', and ''Dr. Strangelove''. Biography He was the fourth and youngest son o ...

as Defence Counsel *

Henry Oscar Henry Wale (14 July 1891 – 28 December 1969), known professionally as Henry Oscar, was an English stage and film actor. He changed his name and began acting in 1911, having studied under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Dram ...

as President of the Court *

Ludwig Stössel Ludwig Stössel (12 February 1883 – 29 January 1973) was an actor born in Lockenhaus, now Austria, then Hungary. He was one of many Jewish actors and actresses who were forced to flee Germany when the Nazis came to power in 1933. Biography S ...

as Doctor Breithaut *

Roddy McDowall Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall (17 September 1928 – 4 October 1998) was a British actor, photographer and film director. He began his acting career as a child in England, and then in the United States, in ''How Green Was My Valley'' (1 ...

as Boy

Production

Inspired by the 1938 French film '' Crossroads'', it was made by Associated British Picture Corporation at the company's

Elstree Studios Elstree Studios is a generic term which can refer to several current and demolished British film studios and television studios based in or around the town of Borehamwood and village of Elstree in Hertfordshire, England. Production studios ha ...

. The film was completed in late 1939, but was not released until the following year.

References

Bibliography

*Spicer, Andrew. ''Historical Dictionary of Film Noir''. Scarecrow Press, 2010.

External links

* * 1940 films 1940 drama films British drama films 1940s English-language films Films directed by Thomas Bentley British black-and-white films Films about amnesia British remakes of French films Films shot at Associated British Studios 1940s British films {{1940s-UK-film-stub