The Bank Messenger Mystery

The Bank Messenger Mystery
Advertisement from Kine Weekly, 9 May 1940 [1]
Directed byLawrence Huntington
Written byLawrence Huntington
Produced byWill Hammer
StarringGeorge Mozart
Francesca Bahrle
Paul Neville
CinematographyEric Cross
Production
company
Distributed byRenown Pictures (UK)
Release date
  • 1940 (1940)
Running time
56 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Bank Messenger Mystery is a 1936 British crime film directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring George Mozart, Francesca Bahrle and Paul Neville.[2] It was an early Hammer Films production by Lawrence Huntington.

According to the British Film Institute's British Films, 1927–1939, the film was "in production" in 1936[3]; however the BFI database gives the release date as 1940.[2] Advertisements in the trade paper Kine Weekly indicate that the film was trade shown in 1940 in Manchester,[4] Cardiff[5] and London[6]. In 1940 the Monthly Film Bulletin listed the film under "films issued between March 20 and April 24".[7] The British Board of Film Classification dates the film as 1940.[8]

The Encyclopedia of Hammer Films states that no actual evidence of a theatrical release exists.[9] The entry for the film Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography mentions without evidence a 1936 trade show, and states "it is not known if it ever saw the inside of a theatre".[10]

Plot

A bank cashier feels he has been wrongfully fired and teams up with some criminals to rob the bank.

Cast

Receptio

Kine Weekly wrote: "The plot is stereotyed and the conclusion is obvious. Except for one short sequence, when the burglars are in the strong-room, action is slow. There is, however, both humour and sentiment mixed with the crooks' criminality, and the film should be acceptable to industrial type of programme. ...The suspense and the love angle will satisfy all but the sophisticated."[11]

References

  1. ^ "The Bank Messenger Mystery". Kine Weekly. 279 (1725): 8. 9 May 1940. ProQuest 2339655454.
  2. ^ a b "The Bank Messenger Mystery". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
  3. ^ Wood, Linda (1986). British Films, 1927–1939 (PDF). British Film Institute. p. 93. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 October 2022.
  4. ^ "The Bank Messenger Mystery". Kine Weekly. 279 (1725): 24. 9 May 1940. ProQuest 2339659150.
  5. ^ "The Bank Messenger Mystery". Kine Weekly. 279 (1726): 32. 16 May 1940. ProQuest 2339659232.
  6. ^ "The Bank Messenger Mystery". Kine Weekly. 278 (1722): 6. 18 April 1940. ProQuest 2339664624.
  7. ^ "The Bank Messenger Mystery". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 7 (73): 62. 1 January 1940. ProQuest 1305801498.
  8. ^ "The Bank Messenger Mystery". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
  9. ^ Fellner, Chris (2018). The Encyclopedia of Hammer Films. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 13. ISBN 978-1538126592.
  10. ^ Johnson, Tom; Del Vecchio, Deborah (2012). Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography. McFarland and Company. ISBN 978-0786469222.
  11. ^ "The Bank Messenger Mystery". Kine Weekly. 279 (1724): 27. 2 May 1940. ProQuest 2339663823.


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