The Dummy Talks

The Dummy Talks
Directed by	Oswald Mitchell
Produced by	Wallace Orton
Written by	Michael Barringer
Based on	the story by Jack Clifford & Con West
Starring	Jack Warner Claude Hulbert Beryl Orde
Music by	Kennedy Russell (uncredited)
Cinematography	James Wilson
Edited by	Jack Harris Fergus McDonell
Production company	British National Films
Distributed by	Anglo-American Film Corporation (UK)
Release dates	25 October 1943 (UK)
Running time	85 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Dummy Talks is a 1943 British crime film directed by Oswald Mitchell and starring Jack Warner, Claude Hulbert and Beryl Orde.^[1] It marked the film debut of Jack Warner.^[2]

Synopsis

The murder of a ventriloquist takes place during a variety performance at the Empire Theatre. A midget is then sent in undercover as the dummy.

Cast

• Jack Warner - Jack
• Claude Hulbert - Victor Harbord
• Beryl Orde - Beryl
• Evelyn Darvell - Peggy
• Derna Hazell - Maya
• Manning Whiley - Russell Warren
• Charles Carson - Marvello
• G.H. Mulcaster - Piers Harriman
• John Carol - Jimmy Royce
• Gordon Edwards - Marcus
• Max Earl - Yates
• Ivy Benson and her orchestra - Themselves
• Uncle Sylvester & Nephew (Eric Mudd also played the "dummy") - Themselves, Specialty Act

Critical reception

Britmovie noted "a number of genuine variety acts add a flavour of the period, although they provide rather too much of the film’s running time" ;^[2] and TV Guide called it "a weird but engaging second feature."^[3]

References

Bibliography

• Murphy, Robert. Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain 1939-48. Routledge, 1989.

External links

• The Dummy Talks at the Internet Movie Database