Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Awesome Movie

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

This rarely seen (or shown) rarity from the great westerns director John Ford, was screened recently as Channel 4's weekday lunchtime movie. The film's alternative title, 'Gideon of Scotland Yard' gives us a clearer picture of where it is set and what it is about.Not paying much attention to what it said in Radio Times beforehand, I assumed it was a Dixon Of Dock Green sort of black & white semi- documentary, along the lines of the excellent 'Blue Lamp'.For a start, it's in colour and opens with breakfast time with the family, for Inspector Jack Gideon, all brisk and jovial. His drive to work results in going through a red light and is embarrassingly challenged by a youth PC.From here-on in, the comedic elements dissipate as Insp Gideon's day unfolds, with phone calls and leads, all going on to illustrate 'the day in the life' that is the title. The mixture of crime is, obviously quite innocent when compared to today and the likes of 'The Bill', but this is 1958 and the censors were always prevalent, not that I'm suggesting that Ford would have set out to paint an overly colourful scenario.The script is by Ealing Studio regular T.E.B Clarke, from John Creasey's novel and whilst it's not exactly electric, it's brisk enough, with a light tone and those of a certain age will find much pleasure in the period detail, scenes around London and the general way of doing things 'back then'.Such viewers might have wanted to give a higher score than I am, though. To be honest, the direction could have been done by anyone proficient and whilst the studio-bound indoor sets are well done, they are just that, though also to be fair, Insp Gideon is seen going about between locations enough to remind us that he's very busy...Finally, there is a nice John Ford sense of irony at the end though, which gives a real sense of satisfaction.

This is the Ford movie that everyone hates – except of course for the entire cast and crew, plus a couple of film critics including yours truly. In production stills, a benign John Ford can be seen with his smiling god-daughter Anna Massey (making her film debut), and an equally happy Jack Hawkins. Co-starring with Jack, albeit in a very small role, is Anna's fellow Canadian, Dianne Foster. The rest of the players, made up of the best of British, parade many very familiar faces doing stand-out work, sometimes in much-larger-than-usual (Michael Trubshawe, Frank Lawton) or unfamiliar (Ronald Howard, Derek Bond, Marjorie Rhodes) roles.Oddly, it's Ronald Howard who walks off with the picture's acting honors. I've never thought highly of the young Howard's ability (in my opinion, he makes a really woeful series' Sherlock Holmes, although admittedly hampered by rock-bottom TV production values), but here he really excels as an impassioned artist who has turned to crime, and even manages to steal the limelight from super-charismatic Dianne Foster.Based on the 1955 novel by John Creasey, the first of a series of 21 books featuring Superintendent George Gideon of Scotland Yard, Gideon's Day, as the title implies, chronicles a typically crowded day in the inspector's calendar. Gideon deals with a variety of problems, petty nuisances and working-day events, some domestic, some humorous, but most dealing with crime and criminals, including a psychopathic killer (Laurence Naismith); an informer (Cyril Cusack) menaced by wide boys who are surprisingly brought to heel by a sissy curate; a payroll robbery; and finally (just when we think it is all over) an attempt to rob a high security bank vault.Through it all, Jack Hawkins displays plenty of bad temper, with lots of frustrated shouting from the very beginning almost to the end, but extremely little of his customary charisma. All the "acting", he leaves for the rest of the cast which is unfortunate because he is the central character and his lack of audience empathy throws the film right off balance.Despite murders, robbery and violence, the tone of the movie (as set by its opening song themes) is generally light. True, it has its suspenseful moments, particularly in the chase sequence with Cyril Cusack pursued in the fog, but Gideon's Day is not film noir. Ford gives equal weight to the humorous sequences which (with the exception of the brief court hearing with Miles Malleson and John Le Mesurier) tend to be tiresome rather than funny. Moreover, the lead character, Gideon, is never in any real danger, even when threatened by the lovely Dianne Foster.

JOHN FORD seems a strange choice to be directing a British film starring JACK HAWKINS in the role of a very busy Scotland Yard inspector who has no time for anyone else in his domestic life as long as he's on the trail of various culprits. ANNA LEE is his patient wife at home who's more concerned with raising two children and cooking meals to pay much attention to her husband's urgent calls of duty.It's a very fragmented kind of story-telling, more a series of vignettes featuring Hawkins in his role as detective, getting able assistance from JOHN LODER (Hedy Lamarr's ex-hubby during the '40s). He covers cases involving a psychotic killer, a hit and run murder and a bank robbery--with some wit and sardonic humor injected into all the proceedings by director Ford. DEREK BOND, ANDREW RAY and ANNA MASSEY (her film debut) round out the supporting cast.Summing up: Above average thanks to some interesting, very flawed characters involved in crime and a brisk pace and brief running time that deserves praise in this day of films that go on and on forever, although the film was not a critical or commercial success.

The film has some great sayings, such as which you're unlikely to hear in any cops and robbers film again!Gideon has a gun pointed at him by the artist-turned-payroll robber. He calmly smokes his pipe and speculates the outcome for the artist, if he were to shoot, at which the artist/robber says "I don't see why you're using the subjunctive!".