The Ringer (1931 film)

The Ringer

Company type	Film
Industry	Motion picture
Founded	1931
Headquarters	United Kingdom
Key people	Walter Forde (director), Bryan Edgar Wallace (production manager)
Products	Crime film
Parent	Gainsborough Pictures, British Lion Films

The Ringer is a British crime motion picture from 1931, helmed by director Walter Forde and featuring performances by Patric Curwen, Esmond Knight, John Longden, and Carol Goodner. The narrative centers on detectives from Scotland Yard who are on the trail of a menacing felon who has recently come back to England. This film adapts the 1925 tale The Gaunt Stranger by Edgar Wallace, which also served as the basis for his theatrical work The Ringer. Forde revisited this material in 1938 with a remake titled The Gaunt Stranger. Prior cinematic versions include a silent film from 1928 and a 1952 adaptation starring Donald Wolfit.

The production took place at Beaconsfield Studios under the banner of Gainsborough Pictures, collaborating with British Lion Films. The visual design of the sets was crafted by art director Norman G. Arnold. Bryan Edgar Wallace, son of the original author Edgar Wallace, contributed as the production manager.

Cast

• Patric Curwen portraying Dr. Lomond
• Esmond Knight in the role of John Lenley
• John Longden as Inspector Wembury
• Carol Goodner playing Cora Ann Milton
• Gordon Harker as Samuel Hackett
• Franklin Dyall in the role of Maurice Meister
• Dorothy Bartlam playing Mary Lenley
• Henry Hallett as Inspector Bliss
• Arthur Stratton portraying Sgt. Carter
• Kathleen Joyce as Gwenda Milton
• Eric Stanley in the role of Commissioner

Critical reception

According to The New York Times, the film is "a melodrama that provides more amusement than excitement"; conversely, in The BFI Companion to Crime, critic Phil Hardy lauded it as "the finest rendition of this frequently adapted play... Directed by Forde with a slickness and pace uncommon in British cinema of that era... Hokum, but enjoyable."

Bibliography

• Wood, Linda. British Films, 1927–1939. British Film Institute, 1986.