The little detectives
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The little detectives |
| Original title | Hue and Cry |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1947 |
| length | 85 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Charles Crichton |
| script | TEB Clarke |
| production | Michael Balcon |
| music | Georges Auric |
| camera | Douglas Slocombe |
| cut | Charles Hasse |
| occupation | |
| |
The little detectives (original title: Hue and Cry ) is a 1946 British feature film by Charles Crichton inspired by Erich Kästner's children 's novel Emil and the Detectives .
action
The story takes place among young people in East London, which is in part still heavily marked by the bombings of World War II . Slender Joe Kirby heads a youth "gang" called "The Blood and Thunder Boys". One day he reads to his buddies from a booklet of the popular comic series "The Trump" that he has just found. Annoyingly, however, a crucial aspect is missing, and so Joe has no choice but to buy a complete new edition to follow the adventures of the comic hero Selwyn Pike. Joe is astonished to find out that the events in "The Trump" repeat themselves one to one in his real life. One day he also comes across the two sinister men described in the booklet who are carrying a large box in Mr. Jago's fur shop. In Joe's imagination, the two creepy guys have hidden a body in the box. With the help of a friend who is supposed to distract Iago, Joe goes in search of this ominous box. But Jago catches him snooping and calls the police . Nevertheless, Jago leaves it at that and dispenses with an advertisement. The police officer Ford advises Joe not to let his fantasies run wild in the future. To divert his "stupid" thoughts, Ford sends Joe to a general store named Mr. Nightingale to look for a job. He takes pleasure in Joe's fantasies and gives him something to do.
A little later, Joe meets with his teenage buddies in their hiding place in a bombed-out London building. The boys tease him about the incident with Mr. Jago until suddenly one of the other boys says that he too saw the license plate of these two weird birds, the same license plate number GZ 4216 that Joe saw and that also appears in the comic. Now everyone else finds this quite strange, and the plan is to visit the author of "The Trump", Mr. Felix Wilkinson, to find out something about the background to this strange coincidence. Joe and his buddy Alec meet Wilkinson and discover that the comic was obviously manipulated without Wilkinson knowing about it. He is very surprised and realizes that these are actually very real criminals who misuse his comic as a code book to keep in contact with each other and exchange messages. The somewhat timid Wilkinson does not want to interfere and refuses to help the boys. Joe goes to the police and tells them about his observations, but they don't take him seriously. The boy then went to the editorial office of "The Trump" to investigate on the spot how the manipulation of characters in the booklet came about. He finds a confidante in Norman, who listens to him, and together they try to decipher the secret gangster code of the next issue. A gangster named 'Tattoo Jack' is supposed to be planning the attack on a department store in Oxford Street . So the young detectives are ready to surprise the real gangsters in the department store and capture them, but the police are a tad ahead of them. She has received an anonymous tip. In order not to expose themselves to unpleasant questions, the adolescents pile through a manhole cover.
When Norman meets again with Joe and his supporters, the "Trump" employee tells of his colleague Rhona Davis, who is behaving suspiciously. Joe and his boys follow her home and tie her up. Joe calls Mr. Nightingale, who is horrified by his action and immediately frees Miss Davis. One of the "The Blood and Thunder Boys" boys comes across the crooks' vehicle with the license plate from the comic and is able to smuggle himself into the vehicle. He overhears the criminals and learns that "hot goods" stolen by them are to be brought to Ballard's Wharf. Since this boy never got to know Mr. Nightingale personally, he cannot larvae him, who turns out to be the leader of the gangsters. Again Joe goes to the comic's creator and asks Mr. Wilkinson to write a "Trump" story in which all crooks who abuse his comic as a code book are to be ordered to Ballard's Wharf. The following day, Joe tells Mr. Nightingale of his plan, but realizes too late that he trusted the wrong man. Because he sees that the nightingale's car has precisely that GZ 4216 comic license plate. Meanwhile, Nightingale and Rhonas Davis are reading through the latest Trump story. The gang boss realizes that the little detective who was sent to him by police officer Ford is about to screw up his plans, because all his accomplices have been sent to Nightingale's own camp.
Joe rummages in Nightingale's warehouse and finds stolen furs there. However, he is disturbed by the appearance of Nightingale. Bit by bit, as advertised in the comic, the other gang thugs arrive. However, Nightingale does not know the agreed password, as he has not yet been able to read the last comic to the end, and so he is knocked out by his own cronies. They are now on their way to Ballard's Wharf, where the gang of criminals is already waiting for a few hundred guys who had rounded up Joe's cronies in the meantime. Conscious again, Mr. Nightingale tries to escape in a pickup truck, but Joe jumps on the vehicle, causing an accident. Nightingale jumps out of his minivan and tries to hide in a bomb ruin. Joe runs after him and they both fight. The top villain stumbles and the subsequent fall sends himself into the realm of dreams. At this moment the police appear.
Production notes
The detective story The Little Detectives , retold with humorous undertones, is considered the first classic Ealing comedy. The film was made in 1946 and premiered on February 25, 1947. The German premiere took place on March 4, 1949, on December 26, 1963, the strip had its German television premiere on ZDF .
Henry Cornelius was the associate producer, the buildings were designed by Norman G. Arnold . Seth Holt worked as an assistant editor, Monty Berman was one of several simple cameramen who worked under Douglas Slocombe's chief camera.
Reviews
"The first 'Ealing Comedy' uses vibrant London locations for a hard-hitting comic plot with a climax where the criminals are surrounded by thousands of boys pouring into the waterfront."
"Great fun."
"Refreshing, imaginatively staged detective comedy with wit and suspense that is vaguely reminiscent of Kästner's 'Emil and the Detectives'."
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 2: C - F. John Paddy Carstairs - Peter Fritz. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 82, (entry TEB Clarke).
- ↑ The little detectives. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
Web links
- The small detectives in the Internet Movie Database (English)