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Doctor Morelle

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Doctor Morelle
Directed byGodfrey Grayson
Written byWilfred Burr (stage play)
Ernest Dudley (radio show)
Ambrose Grayson
Roy Plomley
Produced byAnthony Hinds
StarringValentine Dyall
Peter Drury
Hugh Griffith
Julia Lang
CinematographyCedric Williams
Edited byRay Pitt
Music byRupert Grayson
Frank Spencer
Production
company
Distributed byExclusive Films (UK)
Release date
  • 27 June 1949 (1949-06-27) (UK)
Running time
73 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$56,000[1]

Doctor Morelle (also known as Dr. Morelle: The Case of the Missing Heiress[2]) is a 1949 British second feature ('B')[3] mystery film directed by Godfrey Grayson and starring Valentine Dyall, Julia Lang, Peter Drury and Hugh Griffith.[4][5] Made by Hammer Films, it was written by Ambrose Grayson and Roy Plomley, based on Wilfred Burr's stage play[6] and Ernest Dudley's long-running BBC radio series, which had originally starred Dennis Arundell and then Heron Carvic.[7][8]

This was the first film Hammer produced at their Cookham Dean studio, and in 1958, when Hammer celebrated their tenth anniversary, they showed a print of Doctor Morelle, citing it as the first real Hammer Film. In addition to writing the radio series, Ernest Dudley also wrote many novels and short stories featuring the character of Morelle.[9] In 1949, Hammer had intended to produce a series of Dr. Morelle films, but Dudley wouldn't allow it, since in 1949 he was planning on producing the films himself. The film is today considered a lost film.[10]

Plot

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Private detective Doctor Morelle, who is intrigued by a case of a wealthy young woman named Cynthia Mason who has mysteriously vanished, visits her gloomy mansion to investigate. His secretary Miss Frayle poses as a maid and gets Bensall the butler to help her investigate two possible suspects, the missing girl's stepfather Samuel Kimber and her paramour Peter Lorrimer. Bensall is murdered along the way, and Miss Frayle is rescued from being buried alive by Dr. Morelle, who manages to reveal who killed Cynthia Mason.

Cast

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Reception

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The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Although the surprise ending provides a gleam of interest, the film as a whole is built on such a mass of absurdities as to be beyond all plausibility. Valentine Dyall brings his imposing presence and intense manner to bear upon the part of Dr. Morelle with good effect, whilst Julia Lang is sufficiently witless as Miss Frayle. The eerie effect produced by lighting and photography is the film's best feature."[11]

The Radio Times noted "The first (and last) of an intended series based on a popular radio detective, this undistinguished B-feature murder mystery is typical of the early postwar output of Hammer before it discovered horror...Dyall has considerable presence but it's not enough to surmount the implausible plot."[12]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "mediocre", writing: "Good radio characters wasted in story built on absurdities."[13]

Sky Movies wrote, "Each week from 1942 on, millions of radio listeners thrilled to the creepy adventures that presented 'the secret papers of perhaps the strangest personality in the history of criminal investigation. The mysterious Dr Morelle and his always-in-peril Girl Friday, Miss Frayle, were a natural for films but, as with so many other popular radio sleuths, the British Cinema failed to do right by them even though the slightly sinister Valentine Dyall was perfect casting as the detective doctor."[7]

References

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  1. ^ Tom Johnson and Deborah Del Vecchio, Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography, McFarland, 1996 p36
  2. ^ "Dr. Morelle - the Case of the Missing Heiress (1949) - Godfrey Grayson - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie".
  3. ^ Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. p. 75. ISBN 978-1-8445-7319-6.
  4. ^ "Doctor Morelle". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  5. ^ "Doctor Morelle The Case of the Missing Heiress (1949)". Archived from the original on 30 May 2008.
  6. ^ Johnson, Tom (1996). Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography. North Carolina: McFarland. p. 36. ISBN 0-7864-0034-X.
  7. ^ a b "Dr Morelle and the Case of the Missing Heiress". Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  8. ^ "Ernest Dudley". Independent.co.uk. 4 February 2006.
  9. ^ Bernstein, Marcelle (7 May 2006). "W Ernest Dudley". The Guardian.
  10. ^ Johnson, Tom (1996). Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography. North Carolina: McFarland. p. 37. ISBN 0-7864-0034-X.
  11. ^ "Doctor Morelle". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 16 (181): 96. 1 January 1949 – via ProQuest.
  12. ^ "Dr Morelle - the Case of the Missing Heiress - Film from RadioTimes".
  13. ^ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 204. ISBN 0-7134-1874-5.
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