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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Saturday, December 28, 2013

Sexton Blake And The Hooded Terror (1938)

Starring George Curzon, Tod Slaughter, Greta Gynt, Tony Sympson, Charles Oliver
Directed by George King
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

The head of a secret society of criminals plans a conference with his lackeys in London, but before long reputed detective Sexton Blake is on the villain's trail.

This film offers a bit of a departure from the usual vehicles for British thespian Tod Slaughter, not playing a psychotic killer here, but a master criminal, and also deferring top billing to Curzon's Sexton Blake.  The Slaughter/Curzon interplay comes off very similar to the Professor Moriarty/Sherlock Holmes dynamic in the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Nevertheless, Slaughter is again fine in his role, plotting his evil schemes from behind a wispy beard, and lusting after his henchman's attractive girlfriend, in reality a covert agent for the French government.  As with the other Slaughter/George King collaborations, the pacing is exciting and the unveiling of the plot well-done, a fine complement to Slaughter's engaging performance.

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