Scotland Yard Inspector George Gideon starts his day off on the wrong foot when he gets a traffic-violation ticket from a young police officer. From there, his 'typical day" consists in learning that one of his most-trusted detectives has accepted bribes; hunts an escaped maniac who has murdered a girl; tracks a young girl suspected of involvement in a payroll robbery and then helps break up a bank robbery.
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Sadly Over-hyped
i must have seen a different film!!
It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
"Gideon's Day" is an almost forgotten John Ford film about a Scotland Yard Chief Inspector's typical day in his life. It was filmed in England by Columbia Pictures British Division and has an almost all British cast.The picture was filmed in color by Ford and originally ran at 118 minutes. For it's American release, it was cut to 91 minutes and released in black and white re-titled "Gideon of Scotland Yard". Turner Classic Movies has released a restored version of the film (running 100 minutes) in color, as part of its John Ford's Columbia Pictures package.Jack Hawkins plays Chief Inspector George Gideon whom we follow through a "typical" day in his life. First we meet his family, wife Kate (Anna Lee)and daughter Sally (Anna Massey) and two younger children. On his way to his office he is given a traffic ticket by an over zealous constable (Andrew Ray) who keeps turning up over the course of Gideon's day.Over the course of the day Gideon has to deal with one of his detectives, Kirby (Derek Bond), who is caught taking bribes, a payroll robbery, a sex/murder, a deliberate traffic murder and a robbery/murder at a safety deposit box facility. All the time he has to attend to several family matters on the go. His day begins early in the morning and ends in the dark of the evening.Hawkins is excellent as Gideon and pretty well has to carry the whole film. Grizelda Harvey contributes a sympathetic performance as Kirby's wife who first tries to protect her husband and then is forced to accept the truth. Others in the cast include Dianne Foster and Ronald Howard as a husband and wife criminal team, Cyril Cusack as informant "Birdie" Sparrow, Maureen Potter as his wife who has a funny scene with Hawkins in a pub and Howard Marion-Crawford as "The Chief".Howard and Marion-Crawford played Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in the 1954-55 British TV series. Anna Massey was the daughter of actor Raymond Massey and the sister of Daniel Massey.Hawkins was one year removed from his performance in "The Bridge On the River Quai" and was about to embark on his role as Quintas Arias in Ben-Hur.All in all "Gideon's Day" is an excellent film worthy of wider acclaim. Perhaps the above-mentioned DVD release will do the trick.
This is a run-of-the-mill police drama noteworthy for being directed by John Ford. Lots of familiar British character players give it some interest but it compares poorly with The Long Arm, another police picture also starring Jack Hawkins. I don't usually spot mistakes in films but I did notice two in this one. When policeman Andrew Ray follows killer Laurence Naismith down the street he picks up the newspaper Naismith has dropped and we see the headline. When we see it again it has a different headline. When Hawkins' wife Anna Lee takes a hot casserole from the oven she uses an oven cloth but two minutes later daughter Anna Massey takes the lid off with her bare hand.
John Ford produced this picture and it was very entertaining from beginning to the end with Jack Hawkins playing the role of Inspector George Gideon who is a top crime expert in London, England and always manages to get his criminal. George Gideon is never at home and one morning his wife asks him to bring home some salmon for guests she was having for dinner and he files the fish away in a file cabinet in his office. However, Gideon does catch a serial killer with the help of a rookie policeman and always seems to drink while on duty and comes home for lunch with his fellow Scotland Yard buddies and has a fews beers and then runs off to solve another crime. Anna Lee plays the role as Gideon's wife and never complains about his weird comings and goings. This film had me laughing through out the entire picture and I therefore consider this to be a great comedy film from 1958.
The film has some great sayings, such as which you're unlikely to hear in any cops and robbers film again!Gideon has a gun pointed at him by the artist-turned-payroll robber. He calmly smokes his pipe and speculates the outcome for the artist, if he were to shoot, at which the artist/robber says "I don't see why you're using the subjunctive!".
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