Spikeopath The Long Arm is directed by Charles Frend and written by Janet Green and Robert Barr. It stars Jack Hawkins, John Stratton, Dorothy Alison and Michael Brooke. Music is by Gerard Schurmann and cinematography by Gordon Dines.Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday (Hawkins) heads up an investigation into a number of safe cracking robberies. Which in turn turns into a murder investigation.Out of Ealing Studios, this is a little cracker of a police procedural detective mystery. The flow of the investigation is natural, not given over to wild implausibilities, and always the air of mystery is potent. On the outskirts of the investigation there's a running thread about how policemen's wives/girlfriends suffer in their own ways, their men are married to the force, and this is delicately handled by the makers. While the moments of wry levity are not misplaced. Production is spiffing, with a number of London locations vibrantly used and given a film noir sheen by Dines (The Blue Lamp), while Frend (Scott of the Antarctic) keeps it tight and interesting whilst getting grand perfs from the cast - notably a wonderfully regal Hawkins.So if you are looking for an old time British policer that doesn't insult your intelligence, then you need look no further. 8/10

JurorNumberThirteen Very solid brit crime drama. Fine performance from Jack Hawkins. Thankfully, not so much stiff upper lip as we were used, the humour between Hawkins and his sidekick the John Stratton bubbles along and the mechanics of the plot is nicely constructed and presented. A veritable glut of fine British actors both future stars like Ian Bannon and Stratford Johns and small part favourites like Sam Kydd and Harold Goodwin. Also keep an eye out for a young Nicholas Parsons playing a copper. If you're a resident of London it will be fascinating looking at the sites of our capital and seeing how much it has changed. An undiscovered gem worth digging out

ianlouisiana To give you some idea how small the world of British TV and movies really is,seven of the actors featured in "The Long Arm" went on to appear in either "Z Cars" and its spin - off "Softly,softly"(or both) and the marvellous Arthur Rigby was a cornerstone of "Dixon of Dock Green". Here they all enjoy a Policemans's Holiday in a rather exciting Jack Hawkins feature that packs in a lot of action in a relatively short time. Sharp and well - scripted,it features many actors beloved of 1950s moviegoers who seldom disappointed their admirers.Mr Hawkins' name on the poster could certainly put bums on seats and he was at the height of his pulling - power in 1956.His strange mixture of kindness and irascibility hit a chord with the British audience and he picked his parts accordingly.As Supt Halliday he has the 1950s senior detective off pat.Not afraid to wield power,sure of his place in the order of things but,overall,decent and fair - minded. Noir - ish but in no way an early "hommage","The Long Arm" is a superior offering in the police - procedural style that will please lovers of British Crime Movies from the age of innocence long before the "No Comment" interview was invented.

johndhq Agree with all previous comments. I first saw this film on TV 20 years ago on a wet Sunday afternoon and loved it. I recorded it on VHS the next time it was shown on telly, bought it when it came out on commercial VHS and have just placed an advance order on Amazon for the DVD version which is due out in February 2008.It's a glimpse into a lost world - 1950s Britain - and all the more charming for it. A surprising amount of location shooting adds to the authenticity. Facsinating to see the Royal Festival Hall, for example, standing alone before the South Bank was developed. I even went on a pilgrimage to Long Acre to check out Stone & Company Ltd - it's still there and looks exactly the same (the building that is)! The detective work is logical, methodical and low-tech. Scraping some clothes fibres of a car radiator is about the height of the forensic work.Some nice touches of humour too. Example: Jack Hawkins complaining that his Sergeant is running off to a payphone to call his girlfriend. "You haven't seen her," comes the reply, "she's worth three shillings for three minutes." That must have had them blushing in the 50s.Things only slow a bit when we're dealing with the Hawkins domestic front but that's a small complaint and was no doubt intended to inject a little social realism.Find yourself a quiet afternoon, make yourself a cup of tea, crack open the custard creams and enjoy.