Film Snail

Emil and the Detectives
Emil and the Detectives

5.0

Emil and the Detectives

NR·1935·70m

Summary

Erich Kästner’s beloved novel has been adapted for film or television six times since its publication in 1929; this 1935 British version was the first in English. Believed lost for decades, it was recently rediscovered by the BFI and has now been restored. The film moves the action from Berlin to London, where Emil goes to stay with his grandmother and cousin. Thereafter, the tale of Emil’s adventures with a gang of streetwise London children faithfully follows the original plot.

Crew

Director

Milton Rosmer

Adaptation

Cyrus Brooks

Dialogue

Margaret Carter

Novel

Erich Kästner

Scenario Writer

Frank Launder

Screenplay

Billy Wilder

Reviews

Geronimo1967

Geronimo1967

December 2, 2024

6

John Williams is "Emil", a young lad who is the victim of a robbery whilst travelling on a train to visit his grandmother. Suspicious of the "Man in the Bowler Hat" (George Hayes) it falls to him and group of London street urchins to recover this quite substantial amount of cash. Some British cinema-goers may recall the Children's Film Foundation films, and this comes across very much as they do. Essentially for children, this adventure gives a collection of youngsters the chance to have some fun on screen and for the Saturday morning audience to join in. The oddly placed audio effects spoil it rather, but it is still a well produced little effort with a solid cast, a little scripted humour and Williams and Clare Greet as his grannie manage to keep this moving along quite well. Not really for the grown ups, but as an example of what kept us all amused almost a century ago, it is still worth a gander

Media

No Videos to show.

Status:

Released

Original Language:

English

Budget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Keywords

berlin, germany
based on novel or book
detective
railway car
remake
thief
based on children's book
railroad
children