Rent The Arsenal Stadium Mystery (1939)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Amateur football team The Trojans face their toughest challenge: a charity match against Arsenal in front of a capacity crowd. During the game their star player collapses and dies of poison. Inspector Slade (Leslie Banks) of Scotland Yard is assigned to catch the murderer - and he has only three days to solve the case before it interferes with his theatre performance!
- Actors:
- Leslie Banks, Greta Gynt, Ian Mclean, Liane Linden, Anthony Bushell, Esmond Knight, Brian Worth, Richard Norris, Wyndham Goldie, Alastair MacIntyre, George Allison, Tom Whittaker, E.V.H. Emmett, Dennis Wyndham, David Keir, Johnnie Schofield, Bruce Winston, Maire O'Neill, Cliff Bastin, Gordon Bremner
- Directors:
- Thorold Dickinson
- Producers:
- Josef Somlo
- Writers:
- Leonard Reginald Gribble, Thorold Dickinson, Alan Hyman, Patrick Kirwan, Donald Bull
- Studio:
- Network
- Genres:
- Classics, Comedy, Drama, Sports & Sport Films, Thrillers
- Collections:
- A History of Cricket Films, A Brief History of Film..., Top 10 Films By Year, Top 10 Films of 1939
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 07/09/2020
- Run Time:
- 86 minutes
- Languages:
- English Dolby Digital 1.0, English LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.37:1
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Image Gallery
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Reviews (2) of The Arsenal Stadium Mystery
Leslie Banks is funny - The Arsenal Stadium Mystery review by BN
Really not sure why I added this to my CP list but actually it wasn't a bad mystery. I know nothing about football; this I think has real newsreel shots of playing; it was the first British film to be made with a central soccer theme. Was surprised it was 1939 as the suits and hairstyles looked much earlier '30s to me. In B&W (which apart from the girls in their hats, curly hairstyles and huge shouldered suits) made it somewhat difficult to identify the men, who all looked the same to me, so by the end I was getting totally mixed up who was who, along with the character names being quite unusual. Real commentators and football luminaries of the time appear as themselves.
Leslie Banks is Scotland Yard's Inspector Slade and at times looks a complete bumbler, as is his sidekick (didn't catch who that was). Banks has quite a few very funny moments, but he's sharp and the mystery unravels so he gets his man in the end.
Comedy Whodunit. - The Arsenal Stadium Mystery review by Steve
This unique combination of oddball comedy, football and whodunit adds up to one of the great British cult films. After an extended action sequence on the field at Highbury where one of visiting players is murdered, we are introduced to the inspector (Leslie Banks) who is training his officers for a drag show.
So policemen in tutus becomes a recurring feature. Banks is (in my opinion) often quite a grey presence in early British films, but here he is a revelation as a strange, quirky flamboyance freely escapes his buttoned up exterior. There is a trace of camp, but not enough to dominate.
The film is more surreal, with the actual legendary Arsenal side of the '30s up against a team of proper actors speaking their inhibited pre-war received pronunciation. One of them is a killer, and the chief suspect is played by an unrecognisably handsome Brian Worth! Yes, a very young Foggy Dewhurst. The performances are comically stiff, by design.
The mystery is fine. The football setting is offbeat. The pantomime humour is a riot. The film is a testament to that strand of eccentricity often present in British comedy. And the breezy brass band soundtrack just enhances this feeling of oddness. There is an impression of the director throwing everything at the screen. And it all sticks.