The Singing Cop (film)

The Singing Cop
Frame from the film, The Daily Film Renter (13 January 1938)[1]
Directed byArthur B. Woods
Written byTom Phipps
Brock Williams
Produced byIrving Asher
StarringKeith Falkner
Chili Bouchier
CinematographyBasil Emmott
Music byBenjamin Frankel
Distributed byWarner Brothers-First National Productions
Release date
  • January 1938 (1938-01)
Running time
78 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Singing Cop (also known as Music and Mystery [2]) is a 1938 British quota quickie musical comedy spy drama film, directed by Arthur B. Woods and starring singer Keith Falkner and Chili Bouchier.[2] It was written by Tom Phipps and Brock Williams based on a short story by Kenneth Leslie-Smith.

Preservation status

The British Film Institute has classed The Singing Cop as a lost film.[3] Its National Archive holds a collection of ephemera and stills but no film or video materials.[2]

Plot

A temperamental opera diva arouses official suspicion that she is a spy, secretly gathering classified information to pass to enemy agents. A policeman who happens to be a talented amateur singer is sent undercover to join the opera company and try to find out whether there is any substance to the allegations. Once there, an immediate attraction springs up between the policeman and a female member of the company. But the diva also sets her sights on him and, used to getting what she wants, becomes the bitter rival-in-love of the other singer. The policeman lets his lady friend into his confidence, and the pair set about sleuthing. They finally prove that all the suspicions were justified and the diva is indeed a foreign agent.

Cast

Reception

Kine Weekly wrote: "Well-staged operatic sequences, light-hearted humour, pleasant romance, and mild spy-chase thrill ensure sufficient variety of appeal to make the picture a useable programme proposition, with special pull for music lovers. ... There are some deft directorial touches, but not enough to conceal the fact that the characters, as well as the theme and situations, are inherently artificial. The mixture of grand opera and spy melodrama, moreover, does not jell too successfully, while the action, as in most films of this kind, with long musical interludes, is inclined to be slow."[4]

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This slight story depends chiefly on the music. There are good operatic sequences made under the direction of Percy Heming with the chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Direction and acting are adequate,but the film will be entertaining chiefly to music lovers."[5]

The Daily Film Renter wrote: "The action is rather slow, and seems to lack sufficient bright dialogue – but the stage settings for Faust are particularly good, and Keith Falkner and Marta Labarr, who almost, needless to say, play Mephistopheles and Marguerita, are in fine singing voice. It is a neat effort, although not perhaps outstanding, but its production values are good."[6]

Picturegoer wrote: "Its thin plot is a mixture of music and melodrama which does not jell very well. Excerpts from Faust are well staged. Keith Falkner sings better than he acts as the hero and Chili Bouchier does her best with the none too fat part of a bright young thing. Marta La Barr is excellent as the opera singer."[7]

Picture Show wrote: "This is a quite entertaining mixture of musical comedy, spy melodrama and grand opera. Although it has little pretence to reality, the music and comedy are good, and Keith Falkner's excellent voice is heard to advantage."[8]

References

  1. ^ "The Singing Cop". The Daily Film Renter (3): 4. 13 January 1938. ProQuest 2826307329.
  2. ^ a b c "The Singing Cop". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 1 March 2026.
  3. ^ Eyles, Allen; Meeker, David, eds. (1992). "The Singing Cop". Missing Believed Lost: The Great British Film Search. British Film Institute. p. 83. ISBN 0851703062.
  4. ^ "The Singing Cop". Kine Weekly. 251 (1606): 25. 27 January 1938. ProQuest 2362041723.
  5. ^ "The Singing Cop". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 5 (49): 37. 1 January 1938. ProQuest 1305804290.
  6. ^ "The Singing Cop". The Daily Film Renter (3369): 6. 20 January 1938. ProQuest 2826307237.
  7. ^ "The Singing Cop". Picturegoer. 8: 24. 5 July 1938. ProQuest 1771124704.
  8. ^ "The Singing Cop". Picture Show. 39 (1): 27. 30 July 1938. ProQuest 1879645507.
allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Singing_Cop_(film)