23 Paces to Baker Street

23 Paces to Baker Street
Theatrical release lobby card
Directed by	Henry Hathaway
Screenplay by	Nigel Balchin
Based on	Warrant for X 1938 novel by Philip MacDonald
Produced by	Henry Ephron
Starring	Van Johnson Vera Miles Cecil Parker
Cinematography	Milton R. Krasner
Edited by	James B. Clark
Music by	Leigh Harline
Production company	20th Century Fox
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	May 18, 1956 (1956-05-18)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1,375,000^[1]
Box office	$1 million (US rentals)^[2]

23 Paces to Baker Street is a 1956 American DeLuxe Color mystery thriller film directed by Henry Hathaway. It was released by 20th Century Fox and filmed in Cinemascope on location in London. The screenplay by Nigel Balchin was based on the 1938 novel Warrant for X, original UK title The Nursemaid Who Disappeared by Philip MacDonald. The film focuses on Philip Hannon (Van Johnson), a blind playwright who overhears a partial conversation he believes is related to the planning of a kidnapping. Hannon searches for the child with the help of his butler and ex-fiancée, using his acute sense of hearing to gather evidence and serve as guidance. The plot of the film is similar to Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window of 1954, which also features a disabled protagonist witnessing a crime whom the police refuse to take seriously, therefore placing him in danger and culminating in a final standoff with the killer in the protagonist's darkened apartment.

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Plot

Philip Hannon is a blind man who lives in a London flat with a spectacular view over the Thames river between Waterloo Bridge and Charing Cross Station, with his trusted butler Bob Matthews; he works as a playwright. One day, he overhears part of a conversation in his local pub that possibly involves a plot to commit a crime. He tries to contact Inspector Grovening who offers no help, so he teams up with his butler and his ex-fiancée, Jean, who is over from America, to bring the kidnappers to justice. Their sleuthing soon leads them to a nanny agency with dire repercussions.

Cast

Van Johnson as Phillip Hannon
Vera Miles as Jean Lennox
Cecil Parker as Bob Matthews
Patricia Laffan as Miss Alice MacDonald
Maurice Denham as Inspector Grovening
Isobel Elsom as Lady Syrett
Estelle Winwood as Barmaid
Liam Redmond as Mr. Murch
Martin Benson as Pillings
Natalie Norwick as Janet Murch
Terence De Marney as Sergeant Luce

Reception

In his review in The New York Times, Bosley Crowther observed, "a large part of this picture is curiously casual and slow, as Van Johnson, as the blind man, bores the mischief out of everybody with his hazy suspicions...for that matter, he bores the audience, too. Lots of unimpressed fellows were ho-humming in the balcony at Loew's State yesterday...matters do start popping about half or two-thirds of the way along, when it is finally discovered, through various coincidences, that something has been cooking all the time. But you have to depend on Mr. Johnson — and Nigel Balchin, the screenwriter — to give you the details after they've been discovered. This is not a good way to get people interested in a mystery show...it would be a more exciting picture if it got going with a little more snap, established a more compelling mystery and built up some genuine suspense."^[3]

References

^ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p250.
^ 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1956', Variety Weekly, January 2, 1957.
^ The New York Times review