SEXTON BLAKE FILMOGRAPHY

SEXTON BLAKE

C. Douglas Carlile as Sexton Blake
Russell Barry as Roger Blackburn

Story: Sexton Blake poses as a cleric to save a Squire's daughter from marrying a murderer.

Monochrome — Silent
Released: October 1909
Film Company: Gaumont / Melodrama Production Syndicate
Director: C. Douglas Carlile (Note 1)
Script: Based on a play by C. Douglas Carlile

THE JEWEL THIEVES RUN TO EARTH BY SEXTON BLAKE

Cast: Unknown

Story: Sexton Blake rescues a clerk from a gang of criminals who tie him to a clock-operated gun.

Monochrome — Silent
Released: March 1910
Film Company: Gaumont
Director: Unknown
Script: Unknown

SEXTON PIMPLE

Fred Evans as Sexton Pimple

Story: In this parody, Sexton Pimple takes over a train to save the King of Cork from spies.

Monochrome — Silent
Released: January 1914
Film Company: Folly Films
Director: Joe & Fred Evans (Note 2)
Script: Joe & Fred Evans

SEXTON BLAKE VS. BARON KETTLER

Cast: Unknown

Story: Sexton Blake recovers stolen plans.

Monochrome — Silent
Released: April 1914
Film Company: Humanity Story Films
Director: Hugh Moss
Script: Supposedly based on an issue of UNION JACK (currently unknown) but more likely based on THE ADVENTURE OF THE LADY TYPIST (ANSWERS WEEKLY, issue 1,135).

THE CLUE OF THE WAX VESTA

Cast: Unknown

Story: Mlle. Yvonne seeks revenge on the villains who ruined her mother.

Monochrome — Silent — 3 reels
Released: April 1914
Film Company: Unknown
Director: Unknown
Script: Unknown

THE MYSTERY OF THE DIAMOND BELT

Philip Kay as Sexton Blake
Lewis Carlton as Tinker
Douglas Payne as George Marsden Plummer

Story: Unbeknown to heroine Nora, the secretary for a jewellery firm, her father, George Marsden Plummer, is the head of a gang of jewel thieves. Posing as a nobleman, he steals a priceless diamond belt, shifting the blame to Nora's innocent sweetheart Brahms. It is up to Sexton Blake, his assistant Harry (?), and his faithful dog Pedro to retrieve the belt and expose the guilty party.

Monochrome — Silent — 4 reels
Released: July 1914
Film Company: I. B. Davidson (KTC) British Apex
Director: Charles Raymond
Script: Based on THE MYSTERY OF THE DIAMOND BELT by Lewis Carlton which was serialised in 15 parts in THE BOYS' JOURNAL from issue 57 to 71.

THE KAISER'S SPIES

Philip Kay as Sexton Blake
Lewis Carlton as Tinker

Story: An entomologist runs a spy ring of bus driver from a tower in Epping Forest.

Monochrome — Silent
Released: November 1914
Film Company: I. B. Davidson (KTC)
Director: Charles Raymond
Script: Unknown

BRITAIN'S SECRET TREATY

Philip Kay as Sexton Blake
Lewis Carlton as Tinker
Thomas Canning as The Count

Story: Sexton Blake poses as a foreign war minister but is captured by The Count who attaches him to a bomb and hangs him over Beachy Head.

Monochrome — Silent
Released: November 1914
Film Company: I. B. Davidson (KTC)
Director: Charles Raymond
Script: Unknown

THE STOLEN HEIRLOOMS

Harry Lorraine as Sexton Blake
Bert Rex as Tinker

Story: Sexton Blake is drugged with poisoned flowers and tied to a sawmill while attempting to save an ex-gambler who's been falsely charged with a jewel theft.

Monochrome — Silent
Released: April 1915
Film Company: I. B. Davidson (Walturdaw)
Director: Charles Raymond
Script: Unknown

THE COUNTERFEITERS

Harry Lorraine as Sexton Blake
Bert Rex as Tinker

Story: Sexton Blake tracks a gang of counterfeiters to an old mill where they capture him and tie him to the waterwheel and Tinker to the lock gates.

Monochrome — Silent
Released: April 1915
Film Company: I. B. Davidson (KTC)
Director: Charles Raymond
Script: Unknown

THE GREAT CHEQUE FRAUD

Harry Lorraine as Sexton Blake
Bert Rex as Tinker
Douglas Payne as George Marsden Plummer

Story: Sexton Blake saves Tinker from a bank swindler after using an overhead cable to escape from a raging inferno.

Monochrome — Silent
Released: April 1915
Film Company: I. B. Davidson (Walturdaw)
Director: Charles Raymond
Script: Unknown

THE THORNTON JEWEL MYSTERY

Harry Lorraine as Sexton Blake
Bert Rex as Tinker

Story: A girl frames a drunkard for a jewel robbery. Sexton Blake is rescued from the crook's launch after Tinker performs a 60ft dive.

Monochrome — Silent
Released: November 1915
Film Company: I. B. Davidson — St. George (Serra)
Director: Charles Raymond
Script: Unknown

THE FURTHER EXPLOITS OF SEXTON BLAKE: THE MYSTERY OF THE S.S. OLYMPIC

Douglas Payne as Sexton Blake
Marjorie Villis as Gwenda Howard
Jeff Barlow as Mr. Reece
Neil Warrington as Tinker
Frank Dane as Hamilton
William Brandon
Mickey Brantford

Story: Sexton Blake rescues the kidnapped daughter of an inventor who has been murdered for his secret formula.

Monochrome — Silent — 5 reels
Released: August 1919
Film Company: Atlantic Films (Gaumont)
Director: Harry Lorraine
Script: Unknown

SEXTON BLAKE (SERIES)

Langhorne Burton as Sexton Blake
Mickey Brantford as Tinker

Story: Sexton Blake rescues the kidnapped daughter of an inventor who has been murdered for his secret formula.

Monochrome — Silent
Released: Series started May 1928
Film Company: British Filmcraft (Par)
Director: George J. Banfield
Script: Unknown

SEXTON BLAKE AND THE BEARDED DOCTOR

George Curzon as Sexton Blake
Tony Sympson as Tinker
Henry Oscar as Dr. Gibbs
Gillian Maude as Janest
Philip Ray as Jim Cameron
John Turnbull as Inspector Donnell
Edward Dignon as Hawkins
James Knight as Red
Donald Wolfit as Percy

Story: A doctor kills a violinist to defraud an insurance company.

Monochrome — Sound
Released: July 1935
Film Company: Fox British (MGM)
Director: George A. Cooper
Script: Based on the novel THE BLAZING LAUNCH MURDER (SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series Issue 449) by Rex Hardinge.

SEXTON BLAKE AND THE MADEMOISELLE

George Curzon as Sexton Blake
Tony Sympson as Tinker
Lorraine Gray as Mlle. Roxanne
Edgar Norfolk as Inspector Thomas
Ian Fleming as Henry Norman (Note 3)
Raymond Lovell as the Captain
Vincent Holman as Carruthers
Wilson Coleman as Pierre

Story: Mlle. Roxanne robs the crooked financier who ruined her father.

Monochrome — Sound
Released: October 1935
Film Company: Fox British (MGM)
Director: Alex Bryce
Producer/Screenwriter: Michael Barringer
Script: Based on the novel THEY SHALL REPAY (UNION JACK issue 1,378) by G. H. Teed.

SEXTON BLAKE AND THE HOODED TERROR

George Curzon as Sexton Blake
Tony Sympson as Tinker
Tod Slaughter as Michael Larron
Greta Gynt as Mlle. Julie
Marie Wright as Mrs. Bardell
Norman Pierce as Inspector Bramley
David Farrar as Granite Grant

Story: Sexton Blake unmasks a millionaire stamp collector as the head of a hooded gang.

Monochrome — Sound
Released: February 1938
Film Company: MGM
Director: George King
Script: Based on the novel by Pierre Quiroule.
Screenplay: A.R. Rawlinson.

MEET SEXTON BLAKE

David Farrar as Sexton Blake
John Varley as Tinker
Magda Kun as Mlle. Yvonne
Gordon McLeod as Inspector Venner
Manning Whiley as Raoul Sudd
Kathleen Harrison as Mrs. Bardell
Dennis Arundell as Johann Sudd
Cyril Smith as Belford
Ferdy Mayne as Slant-Eyes
Betty Huntley-Wright as Nobby
Jean Simmons as Eva Watkins (Note 4)
Roddy Hughes
Charles Farrell
Tony Arpino
Charles Rolfe

Story: A crook steals his brother's formula for a new airplane alloy. Sexton Blake is called in to investigate by the War Office.

Monochrome — Sound
Released: October 1944
Film Company: British National Strand (Anglo)
Producer: Louis H. Jackson
Director: John Harlow
Script: John Harlow

THE ECHO MURDERS

David Farrar as Sexton Blake
Dennis Price as Dick Warren
Pamela Stirling as Stella Duncan
Julien Mitchell as James Duncan
Cyril Smith as P.C. Smith
Dennis Arundell as Rainsford
Ferdy Mayne as Dacier
Johnnie Schofield as Purvis
Paul Croft as Marat
Kynaston Reeves as Beales
Desmond Roberts as Cotter
Danny Green as Carl
Patric Curwen as Dr. Grey
Tony Arpino as Fox
Vincent Holman as Col. Wills

Story: In Cornwall, Sexton Blake stages his own death to catch Nazis who have taken over tin mines.

Monochrome — Sound
Released: September 1945
Film Company: British National Strand (Anglo)
Producer: Louis H. Jackson
Director: John Harlow
Script: John Harlow

MURDER AT SITE THREE

Geoffrey Toone as Sexton Blake
Jill Melford as Paula Dane
Richard Burrell as Tinker
Harry Towb as Kenney

Story: Sexton Blake smashes an espionage ring operating within Britain's space program with the help of a truth serum which he develops himself.

Monochrome — Sound
Released: August 1959
Film Company: Francis Searle (RFI)
Producer: Charles Leeds
Director: Francis Searle
Script: Based on the novel CRIME IS MY BUSINESS by W. Howard Baker.

NOTES

Note 1: C. Douglas Carlile played Sexton Blake on film and stage. He was still treading the boards as the Baker Street detective as late as 1931.

Note 2: Fred Evans and his elder brother, Joe, produced several series of short comedy films between 1912 and 1918, the most popular being the long-running Pimple series, with the lead role being played by Fred himself. They both wrote and directed, with Joe playing other parts as required. Their parodies became extraordinarily popular, with the brothers gleefully lampooning topical issues and practically every important film and play of the times. By the mid-1910s they were producing six films a month (Fred claimed they made over 200 in all).

Note 3: Not to be confused with the creator of James Bond.

Note 4: This marks a very early appearance for the actress who would later became a great Hollywood star.