Kino Quickies 13 - The Gaunt Stranger (1938) with Adrian Smith

For our first film at a venue other than the Kino, Bermondsey, we were delighted to be hosted on October 8th 2023 at the gorgeous Garden Cinema for our screening of The Gaunt Stranger (1938).

Based on a novel by Edgar Wallace, The Gaunt Stranger is the story of a mysterious criminal called "The Ringer" who, although supposedly dead, has threatened to kill a corrupt lawyer called Maurice Meister at a specific time and date.

Directed by Walter Forde with a screenplay by Sidney Gilliat, The Gaunt Stranger has a small place in history for being the first film to be produced at Ealing studios by Michael Balcon. It stars Mr Jessie Matthews himself, Sonnie Hale, along with Patrick Barr, Alexander Knox, Wilfrid Lawson and the ever fragrant & delightful Patricia Roc.

Our guest for the Q&A was Dr Adrian Smith of the University of Sussex - not this Dr Adrian Smith of the University of Sussex or even this one but this one.

Adrian is on Twitter, has two podcasts - The Wild, Wild Podcast & Second Features and recently published a book about the late Norman J Warren.

Buy your very own copy of the The Gaunt Stranger on DVD....

...and listen to this 1973 BBC radio adaptation.

Visit London's newest and most beautiful independent cinema, The Garden Cinema and follow them on Twitter. They also have a brilliant membership scheme.

Your hosts at Kino Quickies screenings are Dom Delargy and Dr Lawrence Napper.

Subscribe to Dom's other film related podcast, Soho Bites and his non-film related one Mural Morsels.

Watch Lawrence's online talk about quota quickies - its title is controversial! Quota Quickies: the worst films ever made?

Follow Lawrence on Twitter.

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Here's a very good article explaining what Quota Quickies are from the Cinema History Blog.

Well that was fascinating but now I want to find out more.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Kino Quickies podcast. It comes out a few days after each screening.