IMDb RATING
6.9/10
2.8K
YOUR RATING
A blind American writer living in London stumbles upon a criminal conspiracy involving kidnapping and extortion.A blind American writer living in London stumbles upon a criminal conspiracy involving kidnapping and extortion.A blind American writer living in London stumbles upon a criminal conspiracy involving kidnapping and extortion.
Robin Alalouf
- Bellboy
- (uncredited)
Ashley Cowan
- Lift Operator
- (uncredited)
Arthur Gomez
- Mr. Da Mestre
- (uncredited)
A. Cameron Grant
- Pinball Player
- (uncredited)
Fred Griffiths
- Taxi Driver
- (uncredited)
Walter Horsbrugh
- Shop Assistant
- (uncredited)
Janice Kane
- Miss Da Mestre
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe department store visited by Alice MacDonald and Bob Matthews was a genuine shop, Barkers of Kensington. The 135-year-old art-deco establishment closed in January 2006.
- GoofsThe depicted Portman Square apartment is directly over the Thames. However, Portman Square is actually about 2 miles from the Thames.
- Quotes
Phillip Hannon: [blind man] Well how does it look? Is it beautiful?
Bob Matthews: Yes... yes, very beautiful - view, buildings.
Phillip Hannon: [sarcastically] You make it all so vivid, I can almost see it.
- ConnectionsReferenced in The Crimes of the Black Cat (1972)
Featured review
This I assert is a minor masterpiece of film-making, which has long been underestimated by critics but never by fans. Its images, I suggest, burn themselves into the mind where other cinematic tales soon pale and are forgotten. To mention just a few scenes, the film presents a blind playwright describing the view of the Thames to the fiancé he left behind, a lovely nanny who isn't quite what she seems playing another nanny or perhaps not, a sightless man guiding a lost man through a fog, the same man discovering that a building's front isn't there and a battle in the darkness between a murderer and victim. The script, adapted from a tense Philip MacDonald novel by Nigel Balchin, was made into what I say is an expensive-looking and relentlessly beautiful film by veteran director Henry Hathway. Henry Ephron produced, and every element was realized seemingly by flawless skill, from understated music by Leigh Harline to the cinematography by Milton R. Krasne, to the art direction by Lyle Wheeler and Maurice Ransford, to the outstanding set decorations by Walter M. Scott and Fay Babock and costumes by Travilla. Add famed Ben Nye as makeup artist and the great Helen Turpin as hair stylist and it would be hard for this film to have gone anything but very right. The cast is headed by lovely young Vera Miles as the love interest and Van Johnson coming near something very fine as the blind playwright, Philip Hannon. Maurice Denham plays a befuddled police Inspector, and Cecil Parker tries hard as Hannon's assistant. Patricia Laffan has her best role since Quo Vadis as the mysterious Miss MacDonald, stealing every scene she is in. Other actors showing to advantage include within this strongly-made and taut fictional noir mystery Liam Redmond, Isobel Elsom, lively Estelle Winwood, Martin Benson, Natalie Norwick, and Terence de Marney. On the grounds of pace, intelligence of dialog and sheer memorability alone, this is a Top Hundred film, and the father to many stories starring blind protagonists from TV's "Longstreet" to "Wait Until Dark". There had been films about a blind central character before; but this Technicolor, attractive and exciting film was the project that brought the idea of such films to the minds of producers and viewers alike as none before had done. The mystery I believe is an interesting one, the characters believable from first to last, and the extraordinary work by Patricia Laffan and Vera Miles raise the film far above its competitors' best. It is clearly much better than "in the Heat of the Night", the obsessive "Vertigo" or even "Key Largo". And its makers accomplish its power without striving consciously to achieve it. Were it not for "Rear Window", the film might be considered the best 50's noir of all. I recommend it unreservedly.
- silverscreen888
- Aug 6, 2007
- Permalink
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- 23 pasos al abismo
- Filming locations
- Barkers of Kensington, 63 Kensington High Street, London, Greater London, England, UK(Bob Matthews follows Alice MacDonald into the department store and takes a photograph of her)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $1,375,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 43 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 2.55 : 1
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Top Gap
By what name was 23 Paces to Baker Street (1956) officially released in India in English?
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