''The Impersonator'' is a 1961 low-budget black and white British

second feature A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second half of a double feature, s ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by

Alfred Shaughnessy Alfred James Shaughnessy (19 May 1916 – 2 November 2005) was an English scriptwriter, film director and producer best known for being the script editor of '' Upstairs, Downstairs''. Early life Alfred Shaughnessy was born in London, his father ...

starring John Crawford, Jane Griffiths,

Patricia Burke Patricia Burke (23 March 191723 November 2003), was an English singer and actress in cinema, stage and TV. She was the daughter of actress Marie Burke and British operatic tenor Thomas Burke. On stage she enjoyed success in the 1943 West End mu ...

and

John Salew John Rylett Salew (28 February 1902 (some sources state 1 January 1897)14 September 1961) was an English stage film and TV actor. Salew made the transition from stage to films in 1939, and according to Allmovie, "the manpower shortage during W ...

. It was written by Kenneth Cavander and Shaughnessy. An American angle was incorporated to give transatlantic

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicket. ...

appeal.

Plot

In an effort to improve relations between a

US air force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

base and the people of the small English town nearby, airman Sergeant Jimmy Bradford organises a school trip to see the pantomime ''

Mother Goose Mother Goose is a character that originated in children's fiction, as the imaginary author of a collection of French fairy tales and later of English nursery rhymes. She also appeared in a song, the first stanza of which often functions now as ...

''. He befriends the children's teacher, Ann Loring, but when he and she arrange to meet at a cafe and go on to a dance at the base, circumstances prevent them from meeting. Thinking Ann has stood him up, Bradford asks the cafe owner, a young widow, Mrs Lloyd, to the dance instead. After the dance, Mrs Lloyd is murdered in a local park. The police and the locals suspect Bradford, but Ann refuses to believe he is guilty. Mrs Lloyd's young son, Tommy, who is one of Ann's pupils, unknowingly holds the vital clue to the murderer's identity.

Cast

* John Crawford as Sgt. Jimmy Bradford * Jane Griffiths as Ann Loring *

as Mrs Lloyd *

as Harry Walker *John Dare as Tommy Lloyd *

John Arnatt John Edwin Arnatt (9 May 1917 – 21 December 1999) was a British actor, best known for his role in ''Doctor Who'' where he played Time Lord Cardinal Borusa in the 1978 serial ''The Invasion of Time'' (1978). Early life and education John Ar ...

as Detective Superintendent Fletcher *Yvonne Ball as Principal Boy in "Mother Goose" *Edmund Glover as Colonel *

Frank Thornton Frank Thornton Ball (15 January 192116 March 2013), professionally known as Frank Thornton, was an English actor. He was best known for playing Captain Peacock in the TV sitcom ''Are You Being Served?'' and its sequel '' Grace & Favour'' (''A ...

as Police Sergeant

Production

The film was shot on a three-week schedule at

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to t ...

and on location in

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon, northwest of Charing Cross. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex. As part ...

. The pantomime sequences were filled at the Metropolitan Theatre,

Edgware Road Edgware Road is a major road in London, England. The route originated as part of Roman Watling Street and, unusually in London, it runs for in an almost perfectly straight line. Forming part of the modern A5 road, Edgware Road undergoes sever ...

, London, which was demolished in 1963.

Critical reception

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 ...

'' said "This is a neatly plotted thriller, partly location-made and managing, within its modest ambitions and running time, to tell its story concisely and on very acceptable human terms. Dialogue, details of staging and playing, the amused look at a provincial pantomime, are all that much fresher and livelier than usual, though the direction itself has only a journeyman adequacy. ''The Impersonator'' is a good start from a new company – a second feature which has been thought about and worked on, and which shows it." Writing in ''

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 ...

'', David Parkinson gave the film two out of five stars, saying, "it's shoestring stuff, but still better than most British B-movies." Britmovie called the film an "excellent British B-thriller produced by Bryanston on a budget of £23,000 that is a cut above the majority of second features." It was one of 15 films selected by Steve Chibnall and

Brian McFarlane Brian McFarlane is a Canadian television sportscaster and author. He is best known as a broadcaster on Hockey Night In Canada and as an author of hockey books. He is also the honorary president of the Society for International Hockey Researc ...

in ''The British 'B' Film'', as among the most meritorious of the B films made in Britain between

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and 1970. They called it "exceptionally proficient" and noted that the critics

Penelope Gilliatt Penelope Gilliatt (; born Penelope Ann Douglass Conner; 25 March 1932 – 9 May 1993) was an English novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and film critic. As one of the main film critics for ''The New Yorker'' magazine in the 1960s an ...

and

Dilys Powell Elizabeth Dilys Powell (20 July 1901 – 3 June 1995) was a British film critic and travel writer who contributed to ''The Sunday Times'' for more than 50 years. Powell was known for her receptiveness to cultural change in the cinema and coin ...

had also praised it at the time of its release.Steve Chibnall &

, ''The British 'B' Film'', Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, pp. 278–80.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Impersonator, The 1961 films 1960s English-language films British thriller films British independent films British black-and-white films 1960s thriller films 1961 independent films 1960s British films English-language independent films English-language thriller films