Mr. Denning Drives North is a 1951 British mystery film directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring John Mills, Phyllis Calvert and Sam Wanamaker. Alec Coppel wrote the script, adapted from his own 1950 novel of the same title. An aircraft manufacturer accidentally kills his daughter's boyfriend and tries to dispose of the body.
Contents
Plot
Wealthy aircraft manufacturer Tom Denning and his wife Kay have a daughter, Liz, who is having an affair with Mados, an international crook. Denning meets Mados in an attempt to get him away from his daughter, but accidentally kills him with a punch when Mados falls and strikes his head. Instead of calling the police, Denning disposes of the body in a ditch. He tries to disguise the identity of the body by placing a large ornate ring on a finger. A gipsy finds the body and steals the ring. Later, torn with his guilt, Denning goes back to pick up the body only to find that it has disappeared.
Cast
John Mills as Tom Denning
Phyllis Calvert as Kay Denning
Eileen Moore as Liz Denning
Sam Wanamaker as Chick Eddowes
Herbert Lom as Mados
Raymond Huntley as Wright
Russell Waters as Harry Stoper
Wilfrid Hyde-White as Woods
Freda Jackson as Ma Smith
Trader Faulkner as Ted Smith
Sheila Shand Gibbs as Matilda
Bernard Lee as Inspector Dodds
Michael Shepley as Chairman of Court
Ronald Adam as coroner
John Stuart as Wilson
Hugh Morton as Inspector Snell
David Davies as chauffeur
Ambrosine Phillpotts as Miss Blade
Herbert C. Walton as Yardley
John Stevens as first patrolman
Lyn Evans as Mr Fisher
John Warren as Mr Ash
Raymond Francis as Clerk of the Court
Edward Evans as second patrolman
Production
Film rights were bought by Alexander Korda's London Films. John Mills's casting was announced in May 1951. It was Mills's first film in almost two years. At one stage Dane Clark and Patricia Roc were reportedly going to support Mills.
Sam Wanamaker had been living in England since 1949 and was offered the part after writing to his agent from holiday in France asking if any jobs were going.
The film was made at Shepperton Studios. The sets were designed by the art director John Elphick.
Instead of credits appearing on screen at the beginning of the film, a narrator announces the film's title, and then reads out the list of actors' names.
Reception
Box office
The film performed poorly at the British box office.
Critical reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The plot is excessively complicated, depends very largely on coincidence, and makes the remarkable assumption that a man who apparently feels no guilt about his crime should be worried almost to the point of a breakdown by the fact that he appears to have got away with it, and should deliberately begin an investigation likely to lead – as it nearly does – to his own arrest. ... The extreme unreality of the story is echoed in the characterisation; John Mills has a foolish and unpredictable part, played at least with technical assurance; Phyllis Calvert does little with the understanding wife, and the most enjoyable moments are those provided by Freda Jackson, as a tyrannical and avaricious queen of the gipsies."
The New York Times wrote: "this little melodrama serves as still another reminder, from a country that jolly well knows how to exercise it, that restraint can work minor wonders [...] Persuasive and tingling, minus one false note [...] No doubt about it. The British have what it takes."
Variety reviewed the film in 1951 calling it "unconvincing and involved" where the direction was "completely inadequate." Two years later the magazine reviewed it more favorably calling it "tense and skillfully developed."
The Washington Post thought the Rolls-Royce "made more sense than any of the alleged human characters [...] a bit pretentious."
Leslie Halliwell said: "Initially suspenseful but finally disappointing melodrama which seems to lack a twist or two."
In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Film walks tightrope between comedy and suspense with varying success."