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Sexton Blake on the Films Part 1: The Silent Days by Walter Webb This article first appeared in THE COLLECTORS' DIGEST Vol.8 no.96, December 1954. © Walter Webb  Make a note of all the films which have brought the character of Sexton Blake to the screen, endeavour to select just one which was worth the time, trouble and expense of producing, and the result of such an undertaking must inevitably be a negative shaking of the head. To say that those Blake films were poor is to understate; they ranged from mediocrity to rank bad productions and were, with hardly an exception, an insult to the intelligence of the average film-goer. Situations which were supposed to be thrilling and were intended to make audiences grip their seats with suspense only brought involuntary laughter, for some of the attempts to build up an atmosphere of tension and excitement were so crude that the results achieved were quite absurd. Maybe Hollywood's offerings of the Sherlock Holmes films were not extraordinary examples of cinematographic achievements but they were super-productions compared to the sorry efforts of British producers who sought to boost Sexton Blake in the same medium.The dismal record began just before the commencement of the first world war when, on 6 April 1914, a three-reel film called THE CLUE OF THE WAX VESTA was generally released for showing. It was adapted from the first few Yvonne stories, and "stills" from the film were reproduced in the pages of the UNION JACK and PLUCK by an enthusiastic editor who urged his readers to get in touch with their local cinema manager at once and request him to show the film; for, according to him, the production was a hit which every Sexton Blake fan should not miss. But the enraptured editor's opinion was not shared by all his readers, some of whom wrote and told him so in no uncertain manner, one indignant follower going so far as to say that if the rest were going to be like that he would not go and see them. The editor's excuses in the face of these criticisms were somewhat lame; he pointed out that several drawbacks were encountered with this first film, one being that they were strange to the art of filming their stories, and another that it was acted abroad. Seeing that quite a lot of the action in the Yvonne stories did take place abroad a puzzled Blake fan might quite naturally ask what that had to do with it! The second Blake film was generally released for exhibition on 7 September 1914, and was entitled THE MYSTERY OF THE DIAMOND BELT. It featured George Marsden Plummer, a very popular bad character of that period. Once again the editor boosted the film for all he was worth, emphasising the fact that this second Sexton Blake film was superior to the first by reason of the fact that it was produced in London by the finest producer in England - Mr. Charles Raymond. But, by all accounts, the film was not considered to by anything out of the ordinary, for the critics gave it a cool reception - if they bothered to mention it at all! Sexton Blake was played by Mr. Philip Kay; Tinker by the UNION JACK editor, Mr. Lewis Carlton; George Marsden Plummer by Mr. Douglas Payne; and Kitty the Moth by Miss Eve Balfour. The story of the film, written by Lewis Carlton, appeared in serial form in the Boys' Journal, commencing in the issue dated 17 October, 1914.  Title of the third Sexton Blake film, distributed on this occasion by Messrs. Walturdaw & Co. Ltd., was called BRITAIN'S SECRET TREATY, and it commenced its rounds of the halls during the first week of the first world war, and was adapted from the UNION JACK story by Andrew Murray - THE CASE OF THE GERMAN ADMIRAL, featuring the Hon. John Lawless.Following immediately upon this was the film THE STOLEN HEIRLOOMS. Next in line was John William Bobin's story, entitled THE COUNTERFEITERS, which was released during the last week in November, 1915 and featured the popular characters, Ezra Q. Maitland and Broadway Kate, and, of course, Sexton Blake and Tinker, working in co-operation with Detective Inspector Martin, of Scotland Yard. This film was produced by the Davidson Film Company. In those days films were still in the experimental stage, and it was the stars of the American film who filled the cinemas in the days of the early Sexton Blake offerings - the hilariously funny antics of the Keystone Cops, the Mack Sennett comedies, in which were featured the mirth-provoking antics of Mack Swain, Roscoe (Fatty) Arbuckle, Slim Summerville, Ben Turpin, Chester Conklin - and the most famous of them all - Charlie Chaplin. But if there was one who outstripped even those established favourites in popularity it was Pearl White, uncrowned Queen of the Serial Film, who had a tremendous following and whose exploits brought never-to-be-forgotten thrills to millions. Never were Saturday afternoons looked so eagerly forward to by the youth of that generation - never were pennies so promptly parted with at cinemas by wildly excited and happy youngsters as on those occasions when a serial featuring the incomparable Pearl was being shown. The printed adventures of Sexton Blake, Harry Wharton & Co. Nelson Lee and other heroes, were forgotten on those thrilling occasions - UNION JACKS, PLUCKS, MARVELS, BOYS' FRIENDS, REALMS, HERALDS, MAGNETS, GEMS etc., were temporarily cast aside, for, whereas they could be perused at leisure the Pearl White episode was no longer available after the Saturday showing. Against the sustained thrills of the American serial the Sexton Blake film had little to offer, and how puny a figure did the screen Sexton Blake compare with the virile young woman of the former! Pearl White was tall, blonde, well built and, if not exactly beautiful, remarkably good-looking, with dark expressive eyes. Most exciting and the best of all her serials was 'The Exploits of Elaine', which surviving readers of the old boys' papers may remember was shown throughout the country in the year 1915, and was written by Arthur B. Reeve, the American author. It featured Sexton Blake's counterpart in the States, Craig Kennedy, the scientific detective, a part played by Arnold Daly, a stocky not-so-young actor; Creighton Hall played the role of Jameson, a newspaper reporter and friend of Kennedy, and Pearl White was, of course, Elaine. Fifteen episodes of continual thrills, with Pearl White being stalked throughout the whole film by a fearsome-looking individual, known as The Clutching Hand, who with his face practically concealed by a handkerchief and with a paralysed hand bent in a perpetual clutch, must have chilled the blood of the hardiest film-goer. Mr. Reece, of the Criminals' Confederation, one of the most malevolent, black-hearted and double-dyed villians in fiction, was a patron saint compared to him! Could the Sexton Blake films have given even half the entertainment the Pearl White serials did they would be remembered today with the same affection, instead of which they are forgotten, and deservedly so. Acting in the Blake films was often stilted and poor, for most of the players seemed camera-conscious, a defect entirely lacking in Pearl White and her company, whose performances were natural and smooth. And how Pearl White could act! The expression of sheer terror which distorted her attractive features as Sheldon Lewis, playing the part of Perry Bennett, the crooked lawyer, transformed himself gradually into The Clutching Hand before her eyes has not since been surpassed for stark realism.  Seeing this very attractive and most assertive young woman being lassoed from a galloping horse by outlaws hiding in a tree; tightly bound and lowered head-downwards into a large tank, or vat, containing some sort of liquid which sizzled and steamed like lava from a volcano; running and swaying along the roof of a swiftly moving locomotive; or being pulled into the air clinging frantically to the trailing-rope of a balloon, it was not surprising that a marked change should be observed in the character of the heroine in the Sexton Blake stories. Hitherto they had been of the fragile, cringing, timid type of female, who were likely to swoon into the arms of their husbands, or lovers, at the merest suggestion of danger, but the advent of such heroines of the screen like the fabulous Pearl White and Ruth Roland brought about their rapid demise, and they were superseded by the more adventurous and glamorous type, such as Yvonne, Fifette, Marie Galante, Ysabel de Ferre and several others. Mark Osborne, in one of the best Sexton Blake stories he ever wrote - THE WORKINGS OF CHANCE (Union Jack No. 536, dated 17 January 1941) - went so far as to introduce a woman who combined strength with beauty - who could bend an ordinary poker easily with her own bare hands - a feminine Eugene Sandow, in fact!The war resulted in the suspension of several other planned Sexton Blake productions, and also caused enforced changes to be made in the editorial departments of the various boys' papers. L.H. Pratt was deposed temporarily in the "Sexton Blake Library" by the youthful William Home-Gall, son of the old writer of the same name, who wrote as Regional Wray, and Thomas Burke took over the "Boys Realm". The latter was to become famous soon afterwards as the author of "Limehouse Nights", which provided the foundation for the highly successful D.W. Griffith's film, "Broken Blossoms". Trevor C. Wignall, who wrote one or two Sexton Blake's and created a Japanese detective named Saburo, thereby anticipating Charlie Chan, used to wander all over London with Burke while the latter collected material for "Limehouse Nights". Together they traipsed for many months about the great city, Burke with his dog-eared manuscript under his arm, but failing to find a publisher. William J. Elliott, another casual Sexton Blake writer, was also busy in the film world during this period and his name was to be seen in the credit-titles as the writer of the scenario in several British productions. For example, he wrote the scenario of the big production of Charles Dickens' "Bleak House", which Maurice Elvey produced in 1919, with Constance Collier in the role of Lady Deadlock. He was also responsible for the scenario of George R. Sims' famous drama of London life, "The Ever Open Door", distributed by Ideal Films Ltd., in 1920. The next Sexton Blake film, completed by Harry Loraine for Gaumont, was trade shown at the New Gallery Kinema on 14 August 1919, and was entitled "THE FURTHER EXPLOITS OF SEXTON BLAKE - THE MYSTERY OF THE S.S. OLYMPIC". Filming took place around the Liverpool docks and a good deal of the action occured on board the liner. An interesting fact is that when the film was being produced, the Olympic was still a troopship. The producer, however, desired to reproduce faithfully some of the cabin interiors which consisted of some very fine and expensive panelling. This panelling had been taken out of the Olympic early in the war and stored, and to help Mr. Loraine to get his settings correct, the owners of the Olympic courteously allowed him to bring the actual panelling down to London to be set up in the studio, in order to make a faithful replica of the cabin on board the vessel. The story of the film was written specially by Robert Murray for copy in the "Union Jack", and was published in issue No. 857 under the same title as the film. Several years elapsed before the next series of Sexton Blake films went into production. Then, in 1928 Captain George Banfield, of British Filmcraft Ltd., set to work on a number of two-reelers with Langhorne Burton in the role of Sexton Blake, and Mickey Brantford playing the part of Tinker. Title of the first film in the series was THE MYSTERY OF THE SILENT DEATH, and this was followed immediately by SILKEN THREADS. Number three was called THE GREAT OFFICE MYSTERY, and the remaining three, making six in all were entitled as follows: BLAKE THE LAWBREAKER; SEXTON BLAXE, GAMBLER and THE CLUE OF THE SECOND GOBLET, which featured George Marsden Plummer. All six films were adapted from stories published in the "Union Jack", and distributed at a time when silent films were on the way out, for the "talkies" had already captured public fancy following the miracle of the first part-talking film, "The Jazz Singer" in which the voice of Al Jolson was heard in British cinemas for the first time. These Sexton Blake films were widely distrubuted and compared to those which had gone before were not too bad, but they did nothing to enhance the reputation of Mr. Langhorne Burton, a most accomplished actor. Such is the dismal record of Sexton Blake on the silver screen - not one really worth-while production covering a period of fourteen years, which was a striking contrast to the American offerings of their own fictional detectives such as Nick Carter, Craig Kennedy, Ellery Queen, and one or two others who appeared in some quite inexpensive but really thrilling films. By the year 1930 it was obvious that the sound film had come to stay, and this gave British producers an opportunity to make some amends for their lamentable failures in the silent era, for in the not-so-distant future plans were to be put into operation whereby Sexton Blake was to go on the track again. This time, however, there would be a big difference, for the sort he was to be put on was in opposition to anything he had ever embarked on before - the sound-track of the all-talking film. © Walter Webb |