Number Seventeen
Encyclopedia
Number Seventeen is a 1932
film
directed by Alfred Hitchcock
, based on a stage play by J. Jefferson Farjeon, and starring John Stuart
, Anne Grey
and Leon M. Lion
. The film is about a group of criminals who committed a jewel robbery and put their money in an old house over a railway leading to the English Channel
, the film's title being derived from the house's street number. An outsider stumbles onto this plot and intervenes with the help of a neighbour, a police officer's daughter.
After being available only in poor-quality prints for decades, the film was released in high quality by French
media company Canal+
in 2005.
The film starts off with Detective Gilbert arriving at a house marked for sale or rent. The door is unlocked and he wanders in. An unknown person with a candle is wandering about and a dead body is found. When confronted the mysterious person claims innocence of the murdered person. The detective asks the stranger what he has in his pockets (handkerchief, string, sausage, picture of a child, half a cigarette), before the shadow of a hand is shown reaching for a doorknob. The stranger searches the body of the dead person and finds handcuffs and a gun which he takes.
The detective returns from investigating the weird sound and finds the handcuffs which the stranger left on the ground. A person is seen to be crawling on the roof through shadows, who then falls through the roof. This is a woman called Nora who is revived and cries out for her father. She explains that her father went onto the roof and that they are next door in number 16.
The bell tolls half past midnight and the dead body has disappeared. Three people arrive at the windswept house, Mr. Ackroyd, Rose Ackroyd (who is deaf and dumb) and a third person. Ben draws out the gun. Ben accidentally shoots the governor. Mr. Ackroyd draws out a gun and asks him to search the gentlemen, Ben and Nora. The telegram is revealed to Mr. Ackroyd. Sheldrake gets the diamond necklace, which he has hidden in the upper portion of a toilet. Ben causes a commotion and is locked away with Sheldrake.
The two hands of Sheldrake reach out and appear to strangle Ben who is only pretending to be knocked out. More members of the gang arrive. They suggest tying up Nora and Doyle. The three thieves all have to catch a train. However, one of the "thieves" is Nora's father who locks away two of the thieves and frees Nora and Doyle. He opens the door where Ben is locked away with Sheldrake and gets into a fist fight with Sheldrake.
The other man reveals himself as Sheldrake and frees the others. Nora and Forsythe are tied up again. Mrs. Ackroyd reveals herself to be able to speak and says "I'm coming back". She comes back and frees Nora and Doyle. Nora has fainted but recovers. They free Ben and Nora's father. The thieves arrive at the train yard, and board a freight train that is departing. The train says Deutsch-Englisaher fahrverkehr Ferry Service between Germany-Great Britain.
The train departs with Ben aboard and he stumbles onto crates of wine. The thieves, after dispatching the conductor, go to the front of the train, shoot the fireman, and catch the Driver as he faints. Doyle commandeers a bus. Ben is revealed to have the necklace. Sheldrake discovers he doesn't have the diamond and the thieves fight each other. Barton is revealed as a detective posing as a thief. A chase scene occurs on the train as the thieves go after Barton. Barton escapes and handcuffs Mrs. Ackroyd. The bus that Forscythe is on races after the train. The thieves, realizing the train is accellerating, try and find the brakes. They turns dials helplessly and notice the bus that Doyle is on.
Pushing levers and turning dials does nothing, indeed, it only makes the train go faster, leaving the theives unable to escape. at the dock, The Ferry pulls up. as Doyle watches, the train hurtles through the dock, crashes into the train currently on the ferry, and pushes it out to sea, dragging the remaining cars into the ocean. People are rescued from the water. Henry Doyle is posing as Detective Barton he tells Forsythe. But actually Forsythe is Detective Barton! Who says to Barton, you can't be Barton because I am. All of the thieves are apprehended by the police who are on the scene. Detective Barton says to Nora, what are you going to do about it? Barton says you better come along with me. Nora says where? To breakfast Barton says. Ben then reveals he has the Diamond Necklace.
with a new idea for a film. He told John Maxwell about it but said that Mycroft
had a different film for him to do, a filmed version of the film Joseph Farjeon's play Number Seventeen. Hitchcock was unhappy with this as he considered the story to be too full of cliches and that he wanted to do a version of John Van Druten's London Wall. The director who eventually got to do London Wall at the time, wanted to direct Number Seventeen.
Hitchcock was assigned writer Rodney Ackland
for the film, and decided to take the film as a comedy-oriented thriller.
Hitchcock later stated in the book Hitchcock/Truffaut as this film being "A Disaster".
noting the film as, "highly entertaining but practically incomprehensible" and as an "unsatisfactory early tongue-in-cheek comedy/suspense yarn".
1932 in film
-Events:*Cary Grant's film career begins*Katharine Hepburn's film career begins*Shirley Temple's film career begins*Disney released Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.*Santa, first sound film made in Mexico released....
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
, based on a stage play by J. Jefferson Farjeon, and starring John Stuart
John Stuart (actor)
John Stuart, born John Alfred Louden Croall , was a Scottish actor, and a very popular leading man in British silent films in the 1920s. He appeared in two films directed by Alfred Hitchcock....
, Anne Grey
Anne Grey
Anne Grey was a British actress, who appeared in 44 films between 1928 and 1939, including some Hollywood films during the late 1930s. She was educated at Lausanne and King's College London....
and Leon M. Lion
Leon M. Lion
-Selected filmography:* The Woman Who Was Nothing * The Chinese Puzzle * The Chinese Puzzle * The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss * Strange Boarders...
. The film is about a group of criminals who committed a jewel robbery and put their money in an old house over a railway leading to the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, the film's title being derived from the house's street number. An outsider stumbles onto this plot and intervenes with the help of a neighbour, a police officer's daughter.
After being available only in poor-quality prints for decades, the film was released in high quality by French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
media company Canal+
Canal+
Canal+ is a French premium pay television channel launched in 1984. It is 80% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi SA. The channel broadcasts several kinds of programming, mostly encrypted...
in 2005.
Plot
Detective Gilbert is searching for a necklace robbed by a gang of thieves. In the beginning, the gang is in a house in London, before going on the runThe film starts off with Detective Gilbert arriving at a house marked for sale or rent. The door is unlocked and he wanders in. An unknown person with a candle is wandering about and a dead body is found. When confronted the mysterious person claims innocence of the murdered person. The detective asks the stranger what he has in his pockets (handkerchief, string, sausage, picture of a child, half a cigarette), before the shadow of a hand is shown reaching for a doorknob. The stranger searches the body of the dead person and finds handcuffs and a gun which he takes.
The detective returns from investigating the weird sound and finds the handcuffs which the stranger left on the ground. A person is seen to be crawling on the roof through shadows, who then falls through the roof. This is a woman called Nora who is revived and cries out for her father. She explains that her father went onto the roof and that they are next door in number 16.
The bell tolls half past midnight and the dead body has disappeared. Three people arrive at the windswept house, Mr. Ackroyd, Rose Ackroyd (who is deaf and dumb) and a third person. Ben draws out the gun. Ben accidentally shoots the governor. Mr. Ackroyd draws out a gun and asks him to search the gentlemen, Ben and Nora. The telegram is revealed to Mr. Ackroyd. Sheldrake gets the diamond necklace, which he has hidden in the upper portion of a toilet. Ben causes a commotion and is locked away with Sheldrake.
The two hands of Sheldrake reach out and appear to strangle Ben who is only pretending to be knocked out. More members of the gang arrive. They suggest tying up Nora and Doyle. The three thieves all have to catch a train. However, one of the "thieves" is Nora's father who locks away two of the thieves and frees Nora and Doyle. He opens the door where Ben is locked away with Sheldrake and gets into a fist fight with Sheldrake.
The other man reveals himself as Sheldrake and frees the others. Nora and Forsythe are tied up again. Mrs. Ackroyd reveals herself to be able to speak and says "I'm coming back". She comes back and frees Nora and Doyle. Nora has fainted but recovers. They free Ben and Nora's father. The thieves arrive at the train yard, and board a freight train that is departing. The train says Deutsch-Englisaher fahrverkehr Ferry Service between Germany-Great Britain.
The train departs with Ben aboard and he stumbles onto crates of wine. The thieves, after dispatching the conductor, go to the front of the train, shoot the fireman, and catch the Driver as he faints. Doyle commandeers a bus. Ben is revealed to have the necklace. Sheldrake discovers he doesn't have the diamond and the thieves fight each other. Barton is revealed as a detective posing as a thief. A chase scene occurs on the train as the thieves go after Barton. Barton escapes and handcuffs Mrs. Ackroyd. The bus that Forscythe is on races after the train. The thieves, realizing the train is accellerating, try and find the brakes. They turns dials helplessly and notice the bus that Doyle is on.
Pushing levers and turning dials does nothing, indeed, it only makes the train go faster, leaving the theives unable to escape. at the dock, The Ferry pulls up. as Doyle watches, the train hurtles through the dock, crashes into the train currently on the ferry, and pushes it out to sea, dragging the remaining cars into the ocean. People are rescued from the water. Henry Doyle is posing as Detective Barton he tells Forsythe. But actually Forsythe is Detective Barton! Who says to Barton, you can't be Barton because I am. All of the thieves are apprehended by the police who are on the scene. Detective Barton says to Nora, what are you going to do about it? Barton says you better come along with me. Nora says where? To breakfast Barton says. Ben then reveals he has the Diamond Necklace.
Production
Hitchcock returned to England from a trip to the CaribbeanCaribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
with a new idea for a film. He told John Maxwell about it but said that Mycroft
Mycroft
Mycroft may refer to:Family name:* Frank Mycroft , an English cricket er who played for Derbyshire between 1893 and 1895* Thomas Mycroft , an English cricketer* William Mycroft , an English cricketer...
had a different film for him to do, a filmed version of the film Joseph Farjeon's play Number Seventeen. Hitchcock was unhappy with this as he considered the story to be too full of cliches and that he wanted to do a version of John Van Druten's London Wall. The director who eventually got to do London Wall at the time, wanted to direct Number Seventeen.
Hitchcock was assigned writer Rodney Ackland
Rodney Ackland
Rodney Ackland was an English playwright, actor, theatre director and screenwriter.He was educated at Balham Grammar School in London...
for the film, and decided to take the film as a comedy-oriented thriller.
Hitchcock later stated in the book Hitchcock/Truffaut as this film being "A Disaster".
Cast
- Leon M. Lion as Ben
- Anne GreyAnne GreyAnne Grey was a British actress, who appeared in 44 films between 1928 and 1939, including some Hollywood films during the late 1930s. She was educated at Lausanne and King's College London....
as Nora - The Girl - John StuartJohn Stuart (actor)John Stuart, born John Alfred Louden Croall , was a Scottish actor, and a very popular leading man in British silent films in the 1920s. He appeared in two films directed by Alfred Hitchcock....
as Barton - The Detective - Donald CalthropDonald CalthropDonald Calthrop was an English stage and film actor. He starred as the title character in the hit musical The Boy in 1917. He then appeared in 63 films between 1916 and 1940, including five films directed by Alfred Hitchcock.He was born in London and died in Eton from a heart attack.He was the...
as Brant - Nora's Escort - Barry JonesBarry Jones (actor)Barry Jones was an actor seen in British and American films, on American television and on the stage.-Biography:...
as Henry Doyle - Ann Casson as Rose Ackroyd
- Henry CaineHenry Caine-Selected filmography:* The Temporary Widow * Dreyfus * The Shadow Between * The Ghost Train * Number Seventeen * Red Ensign * The Price of a Song * Three Maxims...
as Mr Ackroyd - Garry MarshGarry MarshGarry Marsh was a British film actor. Marsh began acting on the stage at the age of fifteen. He started off in films as a leading man but later became a character actor playing self-important roles.-Filmography:* Long Odds...
as Sheldrake
Reception
On its initial release, audiences reacted to Number 17 with confusion and disappointment. The film is not often seen nowadays, but continues with generally negative reviews with critics from Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
noting the film as, "highly entertaining but practically incomprehensible" and as an "unsatisfactory early tongue-in-cheek comedy/suspense yarn".