Hugh Sinclair Movies
On-stage from 1922, British leading man Hugh Sinclair made his first important film appearance in the 1935 version of Escape Me Never. Thereafter, Sinclair spent most of his time in the theater, though he continued showing up infrequently but memorably in films until 1953. He played one of the Four Just Men in the 1939 adaptation of the Edgar Wallace suspense novel, and twice played Leslie Charteris' roguish hero Simon Templar (aka the Saint) in The Saint's Vacation (1941) and The Saint Meets the Tiger (1942). One of Hugh Sinclair's better later film roles was Richard Graham in The Rocking Horse Winner (1950). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi- 1953
Paul Henreid stars in the compact British noir thriller Man in Hiding. Henreid plays a detective, out to capture a slippery murderer. At one point, our hero is forced by circumstances to elude the law himself. Future "Miss Moneypenny" Lois Maxwell, former "Saint" Hugh Sinclair, and Kieron Moore costar. For the record, in later years Henreid would claim that he did so many inexpensive foreign films in the 1950s because he'd been politically blacklisted in the US; who are we to doubt him? Man in Hiding was also released as Man-Trap. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1953
The always welcome Greta Gynt plays a mystery writer in Three Steps in the Dark. Greta's uncle, millionaire Nicholas Hannen, calls his heirs together to announce a change in his will. Someone isn't pleased with this codocil, and Hannen is promptly done away with. Herself a suspect, Greta circumvents the cops to solve the mystery herself. With only 60 minutes at its disposal, this British meller dispenses with such inconsequentials as characterization and logic. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1953
In this thriller, an imprisoned psycho killer's wife tries to start a new life. She changes her name and marries again. Her true identity is known only by her employer. The trouble begins when the killer escapes from prison. A detective pursues him and discovers that the killer is perfectly sane and is only trying to find the man who framed him. He then discovers that the woman's employer is the real murderer, and fortunately, he is killed during the final chase. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1952
This romantic mystery involves a young lawyer whose old flame is accused of murdering his mistress. She takes his case and beats her adversary, a lawyer who wants to marry her, by disclosing her former relationship with him. Her reputation is ruined when it is found that the man really is guilty, but this enables her to marry the amorous lawyer. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi
- 1952
In this drama, a woman with a sordid past desires to marry. Her intended is so in love that he disregards the many warnings he receives about her and goes through with the ceremony. Soon he loses every friend, and even his daughter begins to pull away. It does not help that his new wife is abusive to the girl. It is then learned that the step-mother is abusive because the girl's fiancé is one of the wicked woman's many lovers. In the end, the mother is so humiliated and ashamed that she kills herself. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1951
Circle of Danger stars Ray Milland as an American at large in London, Wales and Scotland. During World War 2, Milland's brother had died in a commando raid. The details of his death were somewhat murky, and Milland would like to know the truth. The truth is murder in every sense of the word, though rather disappointingly, Milland himself is never in any peril. While Circle of Danger was produced by longtime Hitchcock associate Joan Harrison, the Master's touch is noticeably absent. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ray Milland, Patricia Roc, (more)
- 1951
In this drama, a reporter helps prove the innocence of a man wrongfully incarcerated for dealing drugs. The reporter learns of the situation when the convict's vagabond pals, with his influence and support, justice soon prevails. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1950
Crime novelist Robert Southley (Hugh Sinclair) has a fondness for basing his books on his own experiences. This means that Southley has to maintain underworld connections, and it is this that leaves him vulnerable to blackmailer Fenton (Michael Brannon). Adopting a disguise, Southley kills Fenton -- then has enough cheek to help Inspector MacDougall (John Laurie) track down the "unknown" killer. Barry Morse, better known as Lieutenant Gerard from TV's The Fugitive, is featured as MacDougall's assistant. No Trace was written by Robert Baker, an old hand at gimmicky murder melodramas. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hugh Sinclair, Dinah Sheridan, (more)
- 1949
The Gay Lady is better known by its British title, Trottie True. Jean Kent stars as Trottie, a turn-of-the-century British music-hall performer who works her way up the ladder from chorus girl to headliner. As her fame increases, Trottie has no time for true love, preferring instead the attentions of men of nobility and wealth who can advance her career. But it's not enough, and at the end Trottie trots back to her husband. Based on the play by Caryl Brahms and S.J. Simon, The Gay Lady is best seen in its original Technicolor British release version, which unlike some American prints leaves most of the musical numbers intact. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean Kent, James Donald, (more)
D.H. Lawrence's tragic fable The Rocking Horse Winner is faithfully transferred to the screen in this 1950 gem. John Howard Davies, the young star of Oliver Twist (and the future chief film editor at the BBC) plays sensitive lad Paul Grahame, whose selfish, grasping mother (Valerie Hobson) warps his values. When his mom once more whines over her lack of wealth, the boy retreats to his new Christmas present, a hobby horse. Having been taught to ride like a real jockey by kindly handyman Bassett (John Mills), Paul furiously bobs up and down on his horse, hoping to drive his mother's words out of his brain. Instead, Paul suddenly acquires the ability to pick the names of winning race horses. Capitalizing on her son's "gift," Paul's mother becomes fabulously wealthy, only to spend the money as quickly as it comes in. Thinking only of his mother's happiness, Paul continues to ride his magical horse, which results in more lucrative racetrack predictions. Before his mother can come to her senses, the boy takes one "ride" too many, dropping dead from the exhaustion. Though essentially a dark fantasy, The Rocking Horse Winner is rendered with utter credibility by writer/director Anthony Pelissier. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Valerie Hobson, John Howard Davies, (more)
- 1949
The British Don't Ever Leave Me stars "cute" Jimmy Hanley as a would-be criminal who is dragooned into a kidnapping plot. Among the potential victims is teenaged Sheila Farlane (Petula Clark), the daughter of Shakespearean actor Michael Farlane (Hugh Sinclair). When the plan goes awry, Sheila and her friends decide that they're having fun being kidnapped and refuse to go home! Featured in the cast is a young Anthony Newley, who'd recently gained fame as the Artful Dodger in Oliver Twist. Don't Ever Leave Me is hardly memorable, though it managed to get plenty of American TV airplay in the 1950s and 1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jimmy Hanley, Petula Clark, (more)
- 1948
Based on a novel by Chris Massie, Corridor of Mirrors is a British attempt to match the poetry and lyricism of the French cinema of the late 1940s. Eric Portman plays a contemporary artist who tends to live in the past. He surrounds himself with Renaissance artwork, obsessed with the notion that he and his lady friend (Edana Romney) are reincarnations of the lovers in a centuries-old painting. Portman's delusions eventually lead to murder. Critical reaction to Corridor of Mirrors was split right down the middle: American critics found the film profound, while British commentators dismissed it as empty and ponderous. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Eric Portman, Edana Romney, (more)
- 1945
Based on a novel by Dorothy Whipple, the British They Were Sisters is not so far removed from the standard Hollywood plot of three sisters' lives taking divergent paths. The siblings in this instance are Phyllis Calvert, Dulcie Gray and Anne Crawford. Each sister is married, thus the film periodically shifts attention from one household to the next. What gives this film teeth is James Mason, playing the nastiest and most abusive of the husbands. Incidentally, They Were Sisters supporting player Pamela Kellino became James Mason's real-life wife. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Phyllis Calvert, Dulcie Gray, (more)
- 1945
In this romance, an impoverished chorine masquerades as a nurse so that she can find a job. She is hired to care for an alcoholic hypochondriac who also happens to be a show-biz composer. Because of his outrageous actions, the composer's wife left him and went to Majorca. To find her, the nurse and her charge go there too. Things do not turn out exactly as planned, and the nurse, and the now-cured composer fall in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1943
The British Alibi is based on the warhorse story by Marcel Archard, previously filmed in France in 1931. Raymond Lovell steps into the old Erich Von Stroheim role as Professor Winkler, a phony mystic playing to capacity crowds in Paris. Confronting a man who'd previously exposed him as a fraud in the US, Winkler kills the man. He then establishes an alibi by paying nightclub hostess Helene (Margaret Lockwood) to tell the police that she was in his company at the time of the murder. The upshot of this is that Helene herself is accused of the crime. Hoping to get to the truth of the matter, Inspector Calas (Hugh Sinclair) asks his deputy Andre Laurent (James Mason) to pretend to be in love with Helene. The plot thickens when Laurent genuinely falls for the distressed damsel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Margaret Lockwood, Hugh Sinclair, (more)
- 1943
Tomorrow we Live is the more upbeat American title of the British war drama At Dawn we Die. When his village is overtaken by Nazis, Frenchman Jean Baptiste (John Clements) tries to go to England. Armed with secret information about a German submarine base, Jean hopes to avenge his countrymen. Unfortunately, thanks to inquisitive soldiers and fifth columnists, Jean may never make it to the White Cliffs of Dover. On the plus side, however, Jean's fellow patriots do their best to sabotage the enemy until the (hopefully) inevitable day of Liberation. The strangest aspect of Tomorrow we Live is that all the Frenchmen are played by popular British actors, despite the influx of French expatriates in the United Kingdom. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Clements, Godfrey Tearle, (more)
- 1943
In this episode of the mystery adventure series, Simon "The Saint" Templar finds a dead man on his doorstep. Soon the ace investigator finds himself mired in more murder, smuggling and a South American mine. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hugh Sinclair, Jean Gillie, (more)
- 1941
The Saint's Vacation was filmed in London by RKO Radio's British division. This time Hugh Sinclair is cast as Leslie Charteris' suave soldier of fortune Simon Templar, aka The Saint. Most of the story takes place in Switzerland (or a reasonable facsimile), with Templar interrupting his holiday to retrieve a missing secret code. The key to the mystery is a Swiss music box with a most unusual tune, diligently sought after by enemy agent Rudolph (Cecil Parker) and British secret service operative Valerie (Leueen McGrath). Aiding Templar in his investigation are intrepid gal reporter Mary Langdon (Sally Gray) and droll sidekick Monty Hayward (Arthur Macrae), while Inspector Teal (Gordon MacLeod) of Scotland Yard can only fuss and fume on the sidelines. Tossed off as a mere quota quickie, The Saint's Vacation nonetheless earned good bookings in England and the US. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hugh Sinclair, Sally Gray, (more)
- 1939
The eponymous Four Just Men of this film are British World War I comrades, who reunite in peacetime to bring disaster to their country's enemies. The quartet is not above murder and sabotage to achieve their ends, but their patriotism is never in question. The goal of the heroes is to thwart a megalomaniac who plans to destroy the Suez Canal, then devastate the British empire in order to create his own world dictatorship. Francis L. Sullivan, Hugh Sinclair, Griffith Jones and Frank Lawton play the Four Just Men, though Lawton's early death reduces the ranks to three. The villainy is in the hands of Basil Sydney, who is every bit as ruthless and resourceful as the heroes. Four Just Men is based on a series of adventure novels by British "writing machine" Edgar Wallace--which also formed the basis of a 1959 TV series of the same name, starring Dan Dailey, Richard Conte, Jack Hawkins and Vittorio De Sica. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hugh Sinclair, Griffith Jones, (more)
- 1939
A Girl Must Live is the philosophy of gold-digging chorus girls Gloria Lind (Renee Houston) and Clytie Devine (Lilli Palmer). Both feel that they could live most comfortably off the money inherited by the Earl of Pangborough (Hugh Sinclair) a handsome but unworldly nobleman. Despite the most strenuous efforts by Gloria and Clytie, it is sweet and demure chorine Leslie James (Margaret Lockwood) who claims the Earl as her husband. Robust comedy relief is provided by the venerable George Robey as a bibulous "sugar daddy". A Girl Must Live was one of three 1939 films directed by Carol Reed, still some distance removed from Odd Man Out, The Third Man and Oliver!. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Margaret Lockwood, Renee Houston, (more)
- 1937
Raised by her wealthy relatives, young October (Constance Cummings) balks when her guardians hand-pick her prospective husband (James Arnold). In a fit of pique, she declares that she'd sooner marry a hobo, which serves as a cue for the appearance of "gentleman tramp" Quigley (Hugh Sinclair). Forced to go through with the wedding, October is marching down the aisle when Quigley, who's been plied with liquor by the jealous bridegroom, shows up unexpectedly. The groom mockingly asks October if she still prefers the inebriated Quigley; she does, and as luck would have it, Quigley is really a nobleman in disguise. A cousin of the jilted bridegroom hires a couple of American thugs (Noah Beery, David Burns) to knock off Quigley, whereupon the film veers towards its unexpectedly melodramatic denouement. Strangers on Honeymoon is based on the equally schizophrenic Edgar Wallace yarn The Northern Tramp. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Constance Cummings, Hugh Sinclair, (more)
- 1936
When Prisoner of Corbal was released in the US in 1939, reviewers were confused as to its country of origin. A bit of extra research would have revealed that the film was lensed in England under the title The Marriage of Corbal, and that it was based on The Nuptuals of Corbal, a swashbuckling novel by Rafael Sabatini. Hazel Terry plays Cleonie, the romantic bone of contention between the French aristocrat Marquis de Corbal (Hugh Sinclair) and insurrectionist Varennes (Nils Asther). To save Cleonie from the guillotine during the Revolution, Varennes disguises her as his nephew (!) and smuggles her out of the country. Unexpectedly, it is the Marquis who proves the hero of the peace, while Varennes willingly becomes a martyr to his own cause. Noah Beery overracts as usual in the role of a rogueish Sergeant. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nils Asther, Noah Beery, Sr., (more)
- 1935
Margaret Kennedy, whose novel The Constant Nymph dealt with a musician's love for a pretty young gamin, penned a variation of the same concept in Escape Me Never. Elizabeth Bergner stars as an unwed mother, who is befriended by impoverished composer Hugh Sinclair. He marries her out of pity, but his heart belongs to Penelope Dudley Ward, the wife of his brother. Sinclair is shaken out of his infidelity when his own wife's baby dies. This popular British version of Escape Me Never was remade by Warner Bros. in 1946, which though not as well cast (Ida Lupino is not a fair exchange for Elizabeth Bergner) boasts a superb musical score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold--who'd also scored Warners' filmization of Margaret Kennedy's Constant Nymph. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Elisabeth Bergner, Hugh Sinclair, (more)
- 1933
Our Betters is adapted from Somerset Maugham's play about the shallowness and hypocrisy of the idle rich. American heiress Constance Bennett snares a titled British husband (Alan Mobray), but when she discovers that he is merely marrying her for her money, she decides to carry on a few affairs of her own. Going from wide-eyed innocent to bitter cynic, Bennett tries to maneuver her own sister (Anita Louise) into a titled marriage so that the "gravy train" of privileges and sexual liaisons will never end. Bennett ultimately ends up alone and miserable, though she retains her wealth and puts up a good front right to the final fade-out. Maugham's original play was intended to satirize wealthy Americans who buy their way into European society, but the film version of Our Betters is far rougher on the Continental Set than it is on Constance Bennett. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Gilbert Roland, (more)
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