23 Paces to Baker Street (1956)

Just perfect...

Great Film overall

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Passable suspenser despite a rather muddled script that doesn't acquaint us well with either the suspects or the plot developments. Thus the mystery part minimizes needed involvement. Johnson does an acceptable job feigning a blind man, but perhaps his biggest triumph is removing any sentimentality from Hannon's affliction. Thus the film never, to its credit, descends into the kind of treacle it so easily could have. In fact, Hannon remains understandably irascible throughout.That tightrope struggle on the crumbling roof is a real nail-biter and the film's dramatic highpoint. But frankly the showdown in Hannon's darkened apartment lacks the skillful development of, say, Wait Until Dark (1967), to become memorable. The live London backdrop, however, adds a lot of interesting color and is well photographed. And though she's winsome as heck, Vera Miles is largely wasted in a part that many lesser actresses could have filled. Anyway, the movie's an acceptable time passer with a few good moments, but I'll bet it's not on Scotland Yard's Must-See list.

As the embittered, but successful playwright, Van Johnson gives a wonderful performance. He is followed to England by his ex-secretary, the woman he was supposed to marry, played well by Vera Miles.As is the case with so many films of this genre, Johnson, while in a pub, overhears some sort of plot and the film then becomes devoted to him trying to sort out the information and prevent whatever is going to happen from occurring.His faithful man servant is there with him all the way; of course, there are problems as the London police are quite skeptical of Johnson's plot.How he is able to sort this out is quite interesting. There are plot twists as we eventually find out that a kidnapping was on the way. You can't believe who is involved in this sinister plot.

Philip Hannon is a blind playwright residing in London, during one of his R&R moments at the local public house, he overhears part of a conversation that suggests the vile kidnapping of a child. Getting the police force to take him seriously proves hard to achieve, so with the help of his trusty butler and his ex fiancée, Jean Lennox, he hopes to avert a dastardly crime. Well well well, sometimes you can tune into a film not expecting much more than a B movie rush, yet just occasionally you get submarined and get a mysterious treat that deserves far better support than it actually gets. I have been delighted to log on to this films page and see that others have been entertained by this picture as much as myself. This is not ground breaking or even remotely original, in fact it does play out as some sort of cheap knock off idea that Hitchcock turned down in his sleep, but you know what? Sometimes a film can be great just for having an honest will to entertain the viewers with suspense and mystery being its main fortitudes. Henry Hathaway directs and it's just another film to prove that as up and down as his career was, he was never afraid to tackle different genres, here, with the London location totally interesting, he manages to knit it all together with impressive results. Van Johnson has his critics, and it would be foolish of me to not concur that at times he has been wooden, but here as the blind Phillip Hannon, he shows that if given good enough roles he was more than able to rise to the challenge. Not one to revisit often for sure, but seriously recommended to those who like the genre and are stuck for a good film to watch. 7/10

I saw this movie many years ago and loved it. I was finally able to get a VHS copy. This is one of the few movies I have to watch at least once a year. I am a fan of Van Johnson and I enjoyed him in this movie. He plays an embittered blind writer who is visiting London. He overhears a conversation which sounds like a murder plot. Along with his friend and loyal girlfriend,they try to figure out who is going to be murdered and where. The scene with Van Johnson almost falling from the missing front of an abandoned building is tense. The story moves along well and there are many twists and turns to make even Hitchcock proud. I wish more movies were made as well as this one.