Scotland Yard (1941 film)
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''Scotland Yard'' is a 1941 American
crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...
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 ...
starring
Nancy Kelly Nancy Kelly (March 25, 1921 – January 2, 1995) was an American actress in film, theater and television. A child actress and model, she was a repertory cast member of CBS Radio's ''The March of Time'' and appeared in several films in the late 1 ...
and
Edmund Gwenn Edmund Gwenn (born Edmund John Kellaway; 26 September 1877 – 6 September 1959) was an English actor. On film, he is best remembered for his role as Kris Kringle in the Christmas film ''Miracle on 34th Street'' (1947), for which he won t ...
about a fugitive whose visage has been altered with plastic surgery. The film was directed by
Norman Foster Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Nor ...
. It is also known as ''Uncensored''. It is a remake of the 1930 film of the same title, which was in turn based on a 1929 play '' Scotland Yard'' by
Denison Clift Denison Clift (1885 – 1961) was an American playwright, novelist, screenwriter and film director. He directed in both America and Great Britain, mainly during the Silent Era. Biography Clift was educated at Stanford University. He began his ...
. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Lewis Creber and Richard Day.


Plot

When bank robber Dakin Barrolles is on the run from the police, he manages to sneak into the house of respectable Sir John Lasher and his wife Sandra. He finds the drunken Sir Lasher in the course of verbally abusing his wife, fearing his upcoming military service. Barolles tells the banker off, then robs the couple of their car and a special locket with pictures of the couple inside. Unfortunately, Barrolles is caught as he is about to leave the house, by Inspector Henry James Cork of the Scotland Yard. Barrolles manages to escape once again from the inspector, and disappears into the night. Some time later Cork finally manages to track the robber down, discovering that he enlisted under a false name and became a respected soldier in His Majesty's Army. Corks intelligence says that Barrolles was killed at Dunkerque, but he is in fact still alive. His face was terribly disfigured during battle and he was sent to a hospital in Scotland to recover. Since the doctors have no identification of the man, they look at the locket, which Barrolles is still carrying, and believe he is the man on the picture. They reconstruct his face so that he looks just like the picture, which is the face of Sir John Lasher. When Barrolles wakes up he decides to play along and pose as Lasher. He figures he can use it to rob the man's bank. Barrolles goes back to Sandra, pretending to be her husband returning from the war, with amnesia, explaining the fact that he doesn't remember a thing about their lives together. Sandra is happy with him returning as a different man than when he left her. After some time Barrolles falls in love with Sandra, but is still set on robbing the bank. He goes to work as Lasher, and starts his first day with ordering a large transfer of gold. He meets a man named Hugh Burnside, who apparently is the uncle of Lasher's young mistress. Hugh asks Lasher/Barrolles to accompany him to the residence of a Lady Constance Fraser. Hugh has discovered that Barrolles is a fraud, since he knows that Lasher is alive in a prison camp in Germany. It turns out Hugh and Lady Constance are the heads of a Nazi spy ring in England. Hugh threatens to hand Barrolles over to the police if he doesn't cooperate and transfer the gold to them. Barrolles sees no other alternative than to play along. Cork discovers the truth about Barrolles' operation and impersonation of Lasher. He comes to the Lasher home and returns the locket to Sandra. She realizes that Barrolles is an impostor. She goes to visit Barrolles at the bank office and unknowingly becomes part of the gold transfer. Barrolles had time to send a message to Cork about the transfer, who arrives in time to stop the gold from being shipped. Cork catches the two spies and tells Barrolles that he is pardoned by the government because of his distinguished service for his country. Barrolles returns to Sandra and they confess their love for each other, but decide to put their relationship on hold until the real Lasher is safely back home from the war.


Cast


References


Bibliography

* Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999. {{DEFAULTSORT:Scotland Yard (1941 Film) 1941 films Films directed by Norman Foster 1940s English-language films 1941 crime drama films American crime drama films 20th Century Fox films Films set in London American black-and-white films 1940s American films Films with screenplays by John L. Balderston American films based on plays Remakes of American films