The Calendar (1948)

Director:

Arthur Crabtree

Writers:

Geoffrey Kerr (writer)
Edgar Wallace (play)

Release Date:

1949 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

The favourite for the big race is nobbled and suspicion falls on the owner. His secret admirer proves it wasn't him. |

Plot Keywords:

Custom Official | Lawyer | Sequel | Based On Play

Cast

Greta Gynt	...	Wenda
John McCallum	...	Captain Garry Anson
Raymond Lovell	...	Lord Willie Panniford
Sonia Holm	...	Lady Mollie Panniford
Leslie Dwyer	...	Hillcott
Charles Victor	...	John Dory
Felix Aylmer	...	Lord Forlingham
Sidney King	...	Tony
Noel Howlett	...	Lawyer
Barry Jones	...	Sir John Garth
Claude Bailey	...	Inspond
Desmond Roberts	...	Rainby
Diana Dors	...	Hawkins
Fred Payne	...	Andy Lynn
Cyril Chamberlain	...	Customs Official

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:S

Company:

Gainsborough Pictures

Movie Connections:

Follows The Calendar (1931)

Dated but entertaining horse drama

This is actually based on a play by Edgar Wallace, the famous British thriller author who divided his time equally between writing and going to the track; not surprisingly a few of his novels have a racing background. This story isn't actually much of a thriller as such, although it does have some crime content. Our hero (John McCallum) has sent an important message to his gold-digging girlfriend written on a banknote. He knows she's too greedy to destroy it, so the story revolves around how he can get the note back before his racing career is ruined. This is a pleasant lightweight movie, though you probably should know something about English society and/or horse-racing to really understand what's going on. Wallace's biographer Margaret Lane describes THE CALENDAR as "undoubtedly one of Wallace's best plays, for on this ingenious plot he built a structure of authentic and amusing racing detail and provided the incomparable Gordon Harker with another made-to-measure part in a character of a burglar turned butler." Wallace, incidentally, later went to Hollywood and was working on the script of KING KONG when he died.