This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Being a classic film fan (though do watch films and television of all genres/medium old and new), that 'An Inspector Calls' was based on the classic play with a great story by JB Priestley and had a great actor in Alastair Sim on board were reasons enough to see it.'An Inspector Calls' thankfully did not disappoint. While the 2015 television adaptation with David Thewlis was also wonderful, this film version from 1954 is the marginally better one. Even if it does open up the deliberately confined setting and atmosphere of the play with the inclusion of flashbacks for cinematic reasons no doubt, which some may feel tones down the claustrophobia. To me it isn't as strong as it is on stage but is present still. As well as changing the Inspector's name from Goole to Poole, some may, and have done, find that it misses the point of the character for reasons that won't be gone into here at the risk of spoiling crucial elements of the story. Didn't have as big a problem with this change though it does take away a little from the character's mysteriousness. But what makes this version of 'An Inspector Calls' so good is how well it succeeds on its own merits.It is an incredibly atmospheric film first and foremost, it's not the most technically polished film there is but it does look good. The setting do maintain the sense of confinement and claustrophobia and are produced elegantly. The cinematography and lighting are suitably ominous and while not the most polished look beautiful and add hugely to the atmosphere. A big shout out also has to go to the editing, with 'An Inspector Calls' containing to me some of the best editing of any film seen recently by me and of its kind, with its fluid and seamless transitions between present day and the flashbacks. Something that has been done with wildly variable results elsewhere, many films do it well and just as many others executing it rather clumsily.Regarding the music, much of it is very haunting and adds a lot in giving a sense of constant unease. There are a few instances where it's a touch heavy-handed, my sole complaint of the film but it is not significant enough to bring it down. The script is droll and thought-provoking, never once found it trite, the best lines belong to the Inspector and Sim's delivery has a lot to do with it.Story goes at a deliberate but efficient and never too slow pace, it is unsettlingly suspenseful and very intriguing. The portrayal and dynamic of the central family were beautifully established, there is a lot of great psychological tension and unease when the family are interrogated and the flashbacks were a great way of opening up the story and solving the potential problem while stage to screen adaptations of being stagy. They allowed us to get to know the victim and care for her plight and also the members of the Birling family and how it all affects them. The final twist, while open to interpretation, really sends a chill down the spine.The performances are very fine across the board. Didn't have a problem with Bryan Forbes, though he fares better as a director than an actor in a way. 'An Inspector Calls' is compelling from the get go , but gets even better once the inspector shows up and interrogates the Birlings to utterly transfixing effect. Alastair Sim always had a knack for scene-stealing, whether in lead or support, and he does here in a superb performance that perhaps ranks among his best. Loved his witty but serious line delivery and even more so his understated and oh so expressive eyes and face.Jane Wenham is very touching in her here pathos-filled role. Arthur Young has the right amount of patriarchal authority and crustiness and Olga Lindo brings dignity and class.Concluding, wonderful and not easy to forget. 10/10 Bethany Cox

'If we are all responsible for everything that happened to everybody we'd had anything to do with, it would be very awkward, wouldn't it?' A solid cinematic adaptation of Priestley's classic play, first performed on a London stage in 1946, made more memorable by a captivating performance from Alistair Sim. Since that premiere performance on the stage by Sir Ralph Richardson, the eponymous,unexpected, and unappreciated visitor to the Birling household has been embodied by many a seasoned thespian, but never so enthralling as by Sim. This is partly due to the fact that he portrays a much less abrasive figure than customary. His physicality, from towering presence to heavy-lidded, deep-set eyes, and avuncular, searching expression, embellishes his ability to embody more of an inquisitor examining the souls of those present than a mere police officer examining the details of the case. Though largely adapted from the source material, and ably directed by Guy Hamilton, who would later find greater renown in bringing the far more flamboyant 007 to the 'big screen', this production did introduce a couple of aspects which impacted upon the interpretation of itself and Priestley's work. The first of these concerns the character of the Inspector, stemming from the decision to alter our protagonist's name from 'Inspector Goole' in the play to 'Inspector Poole' here. In doing so, those behind the film have distanced their product from Priestley's clumsier indication of the Inspector's possible spectral nature through his obvious 'play on words' of the character's name. In this instance the audience are more loosely guided in their interpretation by the question embedded in the film's tagline: 'Is he real or the creature of conscience?' The second change to the structure of the play is the inclusion of flashback sequences to 'flesh out', and join together, how each member of the Birling family has had some part to play in the course of events leading to the tragic suicide of a young woman, known to them as either Eva Smith or Daisy Renton. Within the play, there remains greater possibility that the victim is a composite portrait of more than one girl, explaining why the Inspector is so guarded in each unveiling of the photograph. Priestley's tolerance of ambiguity on this point allows for the work to accrue much more of the nature of a parable on social responsibility and a vision of shared humanity. The film's avoidance of Priestley's sermonising tone on this point explains the absence of the Inspector's fundamental final speech in which he serves as the instrument for the author's message on morality: 'there are millions...of Eva Smiths and John Smiths left with us, with their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering and a chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives and what we think say and do.' These flashback sequences do serve as the means for Jane Wenham, the future first wife of Albert Finney, to deliver a touching performance as the ill-fated young girl in what was to be her promising debut in a very short-lived film career. The rest of the cast provide commendable performances, though Eileen Moore, the first wife of George Cole, who himself makes an uncredited performance here as a tram conductor, is miscast as Sheila Birling, being far too attractive for the audience to believe that she would have Eva Smith dismissed in a pique of jealousy as to the latter's beauty. Yet, this film exemplifies above all else Sim's under-appreciated versatility as an actor. Released in the same year as Sim's much more treasured incarnation of the headmistress of St Trinians, it is a shame that his appearances in dramatic roles were not as heralded. Given his character's spectral appearance and disappearance, it is perhaps fitting that this film was coincidentally scheduled the night he passed on to whatever lies beyond this existence where his talents were so evident.

Eschatology is the study of the four last things: death, judgement, heaven and hell. After a death there must be judgement and this will lead to either bliss or damnation. In this film the ghostly Inspector, marvellously played by Alastair Sim, forces a family to face the reality of death, to accept judgement and to choose whether they will repent or stay obdurate. Set in the microcosm of a well-off English household in 1912, the message applies equally to their class and to the nation which they control. When a single working-class woman undergoes what Eva went through, the society which produces it needs reform. No simple solution is given, however. Instead, the story mutely asks us to decide who is my brother and how far am I his keeper.Adapted for the screen by Desmond Davis from the stage play by J.B. Priestley, the film opens out the claustrophobic tale by showing Eva's sad descent in a series of flashbacks, which allow the use of more settings and more characters (including a cameo for George Cole as a tram conductor). Making Eva a neat, quiet, unassuming young woman adds greatly to the pathos, evoking our pity for her fate. Good playing by a young Bryan Forbes, who later switched to directing, as the weak son Eric.

I saw this when I was very young (perhaps 11 or 12) and it changed my life in a way that very few films have before or since. If you want to understand how human morality really works then I'd suggest you watch this film, not just once but repeatedly. You will be a better person for it. The direction is perhaps not that showy, but that just serves to underscore the twist from drawing room drama to the philosophical conundrum that the film ends up presenting. (And by the way Alistair Sim is just amazing, and a perfect example of my long held belief that really good comic actors are really good actors, period, with an understanding of emotion and empathy which transcends their original genre)