AN INSPECTOR CALLS
UK, 1954, 80 minutes, Black and white.
Alastair Sim, Jane Wenham, Brian Worth, Eileen Moore, Olga Lindo, Arthur Young, Bryan Forbes, Norman Bird.
Directed by Guy Hamilton.
An Inspector Calls is based on a 1945 play, set in 1912, by J.B. Priestley (The Good Companions). An upper-crust English family are at dinner when a mysterious inspector knocks on their door. A young woman has been killed – and it seems that the whole family are implicated somehow or other in her death. The film consists of discussions between the inspector and each of the members of the family – until something of the truth emerges, secrets and lies are unmasked, and a twist at the end is revealed.
The film was remade as a BBC miniseries in 1982 with Bernard Hepton and Nigel Davenport.
In the 1990s, the play was revived on the London West End, revamped by director Sam Mendes and ran for several years in a very popular production.
Alastair Sim, who had shown by this stage that he could do interesting sinister performances like Green for Danger or Scrooge in A Christmas Carol as well as comedy like The Happiest Days of Your Life or The Belles of St Trinian’s. He is excellent as the inspector. A group of character actors comprise the family with a young Bryan Forbes, who became a significant writer, actor and director in a supporting role.
The film was directed by Guy Hamilton at the beginning of his career, he was to make The Colditz Story the next year then move to The Devil’s Disciple in the late 50s. He directed four James Bond films including Goldfinger as well as Battle of Britain and the spy drama The Ipcress File. He also directed two Agatha Christie adaptations: Evil Under the Sun and The Mirror Crack’d.
An Inspector Calls is a classic of British theatre and this is a fine film version.
1. Was this an enjoyable film or an instructive one? Its value as a moral fable?
2. Was it evident that it was based on a stage play? Why? Did this detract from the film? Comment on the dramatic impact of its structure? the arrival of the Inspector and the dinner and the cumulative value of the flashbacks? the discovery of the truth and the disappearance of the Inspector?
3. Comment on the theme of truth and its gradual discovery? The dramatic impact of interaction of stories to discover truth? Comment on the unwillingness of people to face the truth, What did the film have to say about responsibility for one's actions and accepting the consequences? People's unwillingness to face truth and responsibility? How realistic was this theme and its treatment? Its impact for convincing audiences?
4. How well done was the character of the Inspector - as a person, as a figure representing conscience and its stirrings? The film as a judgment and trial?
5. Did the audience sympathize with Eva Smith? The value of seeing her in the flashbacks? What was the truth about her? How was she a victim? The fact that she was to die adding pathos to our response?
6. How important was the social background for 1912? Class snobbery and arrogance? The celebration scene and its interruption? The implications of society, conventions and hypocrisy?
7. How did the film illustrate conventional behaviour and individual hypocrisy: in Mr Birling and his dismissal of Eva Smith from the Works, the details of his actions? Sheila and her dismissal from her next position? Her friendship with Gerald Croft and his leaving her? Her being used by Eric? Her desperation when she applied for assistance and the way Mrs Birling dismissed her claim? What was the overall impact of the behaviour of the family, from seeming innocence and ignorance to full guilt? How much guilt was theirs? How much responsibility?
8. Comment on the acceptance of some guilt by the younger members of the family, the non-acceptance of guilt by the older members rationalizing their situation, the interaction between the family after this knowledge? How would it affect their reactions in future?
9. How successful was the enigma of the disappearing of the Inspector? Did it matter if this could not be explained reasonably? What was the final impact of the film?
