Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror
Release date: February 1938
Cast:
George Curzon as Sexton Blake
Tod Slaughter as Michael Larron
Greta Gynt as Mademoiselle Julie
Tony Sympson as Tinker
Based on the story The Mystery of Caversham Square by Pierre Quirole
Screenplay by A.R. Rawlinson
Directed by George King
Plot:
Sexton Blake and his sidekick Tinker match wits with the criminal mastermind known as The Hooded Terror.
Richard’s Thoughts:
This film stirs up the status quo a little with Tod Slaughter in a supporting role alongside George Curzon’s low-rent Sherlock Holmes wannabe, Sexton Blake. Slaughter does play the villain (of course) and is pining after Mademoiselle Julie (naturally). His character of Michael Larron aka The Hooded Terror, is essentially a Professor Moriarty-type arch rival to Sexton Blake.
Slaughter turns in his usually good scene-chewing performance. He just needed a more worthy hero to match wits with. Unfortunately, Sexton Blake isn’t quite it. I understand that Blake has his fans and is well-loved as an alternative to Sherlock Holmes. But in that comparison lies the problem for me. Here, he simply isn’t on the same level and his sidekick Tinker comes nowhere close to being as effective as Dr. Watson usually is. However, comparisons to Holmes were soon abandoned in his literary adventures. So, I can only assume the strong Holmes comparisons here are due to a conscious decision to do so from the director and screenwriter.
While Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror suffers because of that decision, in my opinion, I still enjoyed the film to a degree. But it is my least favorite of the Slaughters’ films from this time period. Yet, I would revisit this at some point in the future to see how my opinion might change over time.
Karla’s Thoughts:
I struggled with this one because of the similarities between Sexton Blake and Sherlock Holmes. However, Sexton is definitely no Sherlock as he really didn’t figure anything out with his very low powers of deduction. The plot really was all over the place and I never really understood the Asian connection. Slaughter was good in his usual villain role but not his best performance. I did enjoy this one but I wouldn’t watch it again. I’d rather find a good Sherlock Holmes movie instead.
Trivia:
The character of Sexton Blake was created by Harry Blyth in 1893 and has since appeared in more than 4,000 by over 200 different authors. He’s also appeared on stage, screen and radio.
This was George Curzon’s third and final appearance as Sexton Blake. His two previous films were Sexton Blake and the Mademoiselle (1935) and Sexton Blake and the Bearded Doctor (1935), both of which also featured Tony Sympson as Tinker.
Availability:
The Ticket of Leave Man is available on The Criminal Acts of Tod Slaughter: Eight Blood-and-Thunder Entertainments, 1935-1940 box set available on Blu-ray from Powerhouse Films.
Recommend Reading: Mr. Murder: The Life and Times of Tod Slaughter by Denis Meikle, Kip Xool & Doug Young is available from Hemlock Film.
Monster Movie Kid 