''The Avenging Hand'' (also known as ''Paradise Hotel'') is a 1936 British

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

directed by

Victor Hanbury W. Victor Hanbury (1897 – 14 December 1954) was a British film director and producer. Entering the film industry in 1919 after service in the First World War, he became a director and producer in the early 1930s. His last film as a director w ...

and Frank Richardson and starring

Noah Beery Noah Nicholas Beery (January 17, 1882 – April 1, 1946) was an American actor who appeared in films from 1913 until his death in 1946. He was the older brother of Academy Award-winning actor Wallace Beery as well as the father of characte ...

, Louis Borel, and Kathleen Kelly. It was written by Reginald Long and

Ákos Tolnay Ákos Tolnay (1903–1981) was a Hungarian screenwriter active mainly in Italian cinema, having previously worked in Britain. He also appeared in Roberto Rossellini's 1945 Neorealism (art), neorealist film ''Rome, Open City''.Wagstaff p.440 Selec ...

Plot

A Chicago gangster staying in a London hotel tries to solve the murder of one of the other guests.

Cast

as Lee Barwell * Louis Borel as Pierre Charrell * Kathleen Kelly as Gwen Taylor * Charles Oliver as Toni Visetti *Reginald Long as Charles Mason *Tarva Penna as Conrad Colter *Penelope Parkes as Elizabeth *Billie De la Volta as Muriel *

James Harcourt James Harcourt (born Joseph Hudson, 20 April 187318 February 1951) was an English character actor. Harcourt was born in Headingley, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire. He started work as a cabinet maker, and drifted into amateur dramatics. He app ...

as Sam Hupp

Production

The film was made at

Welwyn Studios Welwyn Studios was a British film studio located at Broadwater Road, Welwyn Garden City, in Hertfordshire. The facility operated between 1928 and 1950. The studios were first constructed by British Instructional Films, and converted to make so ...

as a

quota quickie The Cinematograph Films Act 1927 ( 17 & 18 Geo. 5. c. 29) was an act of the UK Parliament designed to stimulate the declining British film industry. It received royal assent on 22 December 1927 and came into force on 1 April 1928. Description T ...

Duncan Sutherland Duncan Sutherland (1 August 1905 – 1967) was a Scottish-born art director, based in England where he designed the film set, sets for over eighty films and television series between the early 1930s and mid-1960s. Sutherland spent much of the 19 ...

worked on the film's sets.

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' wrote: "Much of the story is never completely explained in the film. Noah Beery is good as the crook tracking down crooks, and proves the superiority of Chicago as the training ground for the trade. The rest of the cast is adequate and James Harcourt does well as the match-seller with £100 to spend. An ordinary film with some quite good moments." ''

Kine Weekly ''Kinematograph Weekly'', popularly known as ''Kine Weekly'', was a trade paper catering to the British film industry between 1889 and 1971. Etymology The word Kinematograph was derived from the Greek ' Kinumai ', (to move, to be in motion, to ...

'' wrote: "Comedy crime drama, a tedious rigmarole, flitting between the serious and the comic to no apparent purpose. A gangster element is introduced for the benefit of Noah Beery, but it is too pale an imitation of the real thing to get the picture anywhere. Here entertainment is a negligible quantity. ... Kathleen Kelly is not unattractive as the manicurist, but the rest of the players are a poor, insignificant lot. The story is unnecessarily complicated and the acting is not so hot, but the weakest department of all is the direction. The producer so quickly loses touch with the many threads that it is not long before thrills poach on comedy and comedy on thrills, and the film degenerates into a hopeless mess. The picture's appeal is to say the least, obscure." In ''British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959'' David Quinlan rated the film as "mediocre", calling it a "confusing thriller" ''The

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

Guide to Films'' gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "This somewhat confused thriller is feeble, forgettable and largely forgotten."

References

External links

* 1936 films 1936 crime films British black-and-white films Films shot at Welwyn Studios Quota quickies Films set in hotels Films set in London Films scored by Jack Beaver British crime films Films directed by Frank Richardson Films directed by Victor Hanbury 1930s English-language films 1930s British films English-language crime films {{1930s-UK-film-stub