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Kate Plus Ten (film)
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Wikipedia article
'Kate Plus Ten' is a 1938 British thriller film directed by Reginald Denham and starring Jack Hulbert, Genevieve Tobin and Noel Madison.[https://web.archive.org/web/20090114021021/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/38790 BFI.org] It was adapted from the Edgar Wallace novel 'Kate Plus Ten'. It was also released as 'Queen of Crime'.
Production
The film was an independent production shot at Shepperton Studios.Wood p.95
The final third of the film makes extensive use of railway locations. Among these, the main line between Bath and Westbury (Wiltshire) was employed, with a stolen train smashing through fake level crossing gates at Freshford station. The branch line through Limpley Stoke and Camerton was also featured, and a closed colliery in the Somerset coalfield was the location for the scene in which a steam locomotive crashes through wooden shed doors.Huntley, John, "Steam in the Movies", Steam Railway magazine, 1995
Plot summary
Kate, the leader of a gang of criminals, works as secretary to an aristocrat allowing her to pick up vital information. However, the police soon become suspicious of her and Scotland Yard's Inspector Pemberton is sent on her trail.
Cast
* Jack Hulbert as Inspector Mike Pemberton
* Genevieve Tobin as Kate Westhanger
* Noel Madison as Gregori
* Francis L. Sullivan as Lord Flamborough
* Arthur Wontner as Colonel Westhanger
* Frank Cellier as Sir Ralph Sapson
* Peter Haddon as Boltover
* Googie Withers as Lady Moya
* Edward Lexy as Sergeant
* Felix Aylmer as Bishop
* Leo Genn as Doctor Gurdon
* James Harcourt as Bank Manager
* Vincent Holman as Detective
* Oliver Johnston as Cunningham
* Ronald Adam as Police Chief
* Philip Leaver as Mulberry
* Arthur Hambling as 3rd Signalman
* Bryan Herbert as 2nd Signalman
* Leonie Lamartine as Stout Woman
* Queenie Leonard
* Walter Sondes
* Albert Whelan
* Arthur Brander
* Geoffrey Clark
* Paul Sheridan
Critical reception
'Britmovie' called it a "light-hearted comedy-thriller," adding, "like so many Wallace stories logic takes a back seat, but the speeding train sequence generates some lively thrills, and Hulbert and Tobin craft a likeable onscreen chemistry. Tobin is wickedly delightful as Kate, and Hulbert, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jeffrey Dell, gives an agreeable performance in spite of the artificiality of the role."
References
Bibliography
* Low, Rachael. 'Filmmaking in 1930s Britain'. George Allen & Unwin, 1985.
* Wood, Linda. 'British Films, 1927-1939'. British Film Institute, 1986.
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