crook's tour 1941

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Crook's Tour (1941)

An unofficial sequel to the Hitchcock film The Lady Vanishes (1938) .

The film was based on the six-part 1940 BBC Radio series, broadcast between 23/02/1940 and 28/Mar/1940. [1]

Charters ( Basil Radford ) and Caldicott ( Naunton Wayne ) are touring the Middle East. After visiting Saudi Arabia they find themselves in Baghdad where they are mistaken by a group of German spies for the messengers who are to carry a song record by beautiful singer La Palermo (Greta Gynt) which contains secret instructions of the German Intelligence. Realizing their error, the German spies follow Charters and Caldicott to Istanbul and Budapest, trying to eliminate them and retrieve the record.

Technical Information

• black and white
• sound mix: mono
• aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• running time: 80 minutes
• production studio: Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors

The film is included on the following releases:

• The Lady Vanishes (1938) - Criterion Collection (USA, 2007)
• The Lady Vanishes (1938) - Criterion Collection (Blu-ray, USA, 2011)
• Internet Movie Database

Cast and Crew

People listed in bold also worked on (or appeared in) a Hitchcock film or television programme...

Directed by:

• John Baxter
• Basil Radford - Charters
• Naunton Wayne - Caldicott
• Greta Gynt - La Palermo
• Abraham Sofaer - Ali
• Charles Oliver - Sheik
• Gordon McLeod - Rossenger
• Bernard Rebel - Klacken
• Cyril Gardiner - K.7.
• Morris Harvey - Waiter
• Noel Hood - Edith Charters
• Leo de Pokorny - Hotel Manager
• Cyril Chamberlain - American (uncredited)
• Finlay Currie - Tourist on Desert Bus (uncredited)
• Peter Gawthorne - Bit Role (uncredited)
• Andreas Malandrinos - Nightclub Manager (uncredited)
• Patricia Medina - Hotel Receptionist (uncredited)
• Jack Melford - Desert Bus Tour Guide (uncredited)
• Charles Rolfe - Manservant at Castle (uncredited)
• Bill Shine - Bit Role (uncredited)

Produced by:

• John Corfield

Written by:

• Barbara K. Emary - adaptation
• Sidney Gilliat & Frank Launder - characters (uncredited)
• Max Kester & John Watt - original story

Photographed by:

• James Wilson
• Michael C. Chorlton
• Kennedy Russell

Notes & References

• ↑ See Project Genome: BBC Radio Times Archive . The series was repeated in August 1941.
• Sequels to Hitchcock Films
• This site is part of The Hitchcock Zone

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Crook's Tour

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

John Baxter

Basil Radford

Naunton Wayne

Abraham Sofaer

Charles Oliver

• Cast & crew

User reviews

Crook's Tour

• May 26, 2015
• Apr 10, 2007
• May 7, 2020
• Jun 5, 2001
• richardchatten
• Feb 9, 2021
• Dec 2, 2007
• Leofwine_draca
• Jul 22, 2019
• Jan 21, 2009
• gridoon2024
• Dec 28, 2023
• Aug 24, 2022

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Crook's Tour

Time out says, release details.

• Duration: 84 mins

Cast and crew

• Director: John Baxter
• Screenwriter: John Watt, Max Kester
• Basil Radford
• Naunton Wayne
• Abraham Sofaer
• Charles Oliver
• Gordon McLeod

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Watch Crook's Tour

• 1 hr 20 min
• 5.7   (399)

Crook's Tour is a British comedy film from 1940 starring Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne as two comical Englishmen, Charters and Caldicott. The film also stars Greta Gynt as a mysterious woman named Sigrid who becomes tangled up in their misadventures. The film begins with Charters and Caldicott on a train bound for Istanbul, hoping to catch a cricket match between England and Romania. Their journey takes an unexpected turn when they mistakenly board the wrong train and end up on a luxury liner headed for Paris. On board, they meet Sigrid, who introduces herself as a wealthy Swedish woman. Despite their initial attraction to her, Charters and Caldicott begin to suspect that Sigrid may not be all she seems.

Their suspicions are confirmed when they witness her removing a package from a locker on board the ship in the dead of night. Determined to discover the truth, the two Englishmen follow Sigrid to Paris, where they find themselves embroiled in a dangerous game of espionage.

As Charters and Caldicott attempt to recover the stolen package and clear their names, they find themselves pursued by a gang of ruthless criminals. But with their trademark stiff upper lips and quick thinking, the Englishmen are able to outwit the bad guys and save the day.

Crook's Tour is a classic example of British comedy from the golden age of cinema. Radford and Wayne's performances as Charters and Caldicott are highly entertaining, with their witty banter and bumbling antics providing plenty of laughs. Gynt is also impressive as the femme fatale, adding a touch of glamour and intrigue to the film.

The film's plot is fairly simple, but it is well-executed with plenty of twists and turns to keep the audience engaged. The contrast between the refined English gentlemen and the seedy criminal underworld also adds an interesting element to the story.

One of the highlights of Crook's Tour is the stunning location shots, which capture the beauty and grandeur of Paris and Istanbul in the 1940s. The film also features charming and humorous animated sequences which break up the action and add a whimsical touch.

Overall, Crook's Tour is an enjoyable and entertaining film which showcases some of the best of British comedy. Radford and Wayne's performances are timeless and the film's mix of adventure, romance, and humor make it a classic that is still beloved by audiences today.

Crook's Tour is a 1941 comedy with a runtime of 1 hour and 20 minutes. It has received moderate reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 5.7.

• Genres Comedy Mystery
• Cast Basil Radford Naunton Wayne Greta Gynt
• Director John Baxter
• Release Date 1941
• Runtime 1 hr 20 min
• IMDB Rating 5.7   (399)

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Review by Steve Hill

Crook's tour 1940.

25 May 2018

Steve Hill’s review published on Letterboxd:

BONUS: 'Crook's Tour' [1941] Source: Criterion blu-ray

The characters Charters & Caldicott star in their own film involving spies, secret plans and the desire to get home to watch cricket. Unfortunately, what works in small doses in other films doesn't translate so well over 80 minutes. There are a couple of good lines, but otherwise it's a disappointing use of their characters. The production is cheap, and though they traverse many exotic locales (Baghdad & Budapest, for example), there's little difference in the sets. Greta Gynt plays La Palermo, who gets to sing and dance a lot (her looks and voice reminded my wife of Garbo & Dietrich, in passing), and Caldicott's inability to remember her name throughout the film was an amusing running joke. There's a Hitchcockian MacGuffin in that the bumbling pair are mistakenly handed a gramophone record with secret plans to destroy a pipeline, or something - I admit I was nodding off before the end.

This film is included in the Criterion blu-ray of 'The Lady vanishes'. There was no discernible restoration done, but it was adequately watchable. Unless you happen to own the same blu-ray, I can't think of a good reason to hunt this one down.

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Beautiful, interesting, incredible cinema.

Caldicott and Charters, touring in the Near East, are mistaken for German agents and handed in error a gramophone record which contains vital information for Britain’s enemies.

A History of The Actors Studio

Written by Andreas Manolikakis

The Actors Studio was founded in New York by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford and Robert Lewis in 1947. For seven decades it has been devoted to the service and development of theatre artists –actors, directors and playwrights. To our members, who are primarily actors, The Actors Studio offers free lifetime membership, with no fee or tuition required, which entitles them to a unique opportunity to explore and improve their craft in a safe, laboratory environment with colleagues with whom they share the same process of work.

The roots of The Actors Studio go back to the Group Theatre (1931-1941) whose work was inspired by the discoveries of the great Russian actor and director Konstantin Stanislavski and his best student Eugene Vakhtangov as revealed in the legendary productions that the Moscow Art Theatre toured in America in 1923. In fact Stanislavski’s dedication to his book, ‘My Life in Art,’ (1924) reads: “I DEDICATE THIS BOOK IN GRATITUDE TO HOSPITABLE AMERICA AS A TOKEN AND A REMEMBRANCE FROM THE MOSCOW ART THEATRE WHICH SHE TOOK SO KINDLY TO HER HEART.”

When the Moscow Art Theatre ended its American tour, several members of the theatre stayed behind and trained artists, including Lee Strasberg, Harold Clurman and Stella Adler, who would go on to form the Group Theatre along with other artists such as Elia Kazan, Sanford Meisner and Robert Lewis. These artists studied, explored, developed and improved the work of the Russian masters with extraordinary results that were unique in the history of the American theatre and a new kind of acting was born.

After the Group Theatre closed, in 1941, many of its members went their separate ways. Elia Kazan has stated that one of the principal reasons he created The Actors Studio, in 1947, was in order to preserve and develop this new American acting. He wanted to create a not-for-profit organization that would provide a laboratory, a private workshop in which the professional actor could work on his or her craft, far away from the commercial pressures of casting, rehearsal and performance. It was to be a place that would offer its member-artists an ongoing training, a continuity of work and the feeling of an artistic home like they had at the Group Theatre.

At the Studio, it was eventually decided that membership should be achieved through an audition process of preliminary and then final auditions where the only requirements are talent and the possibility of improvement.

In 1948, Lee Strasberg was asked by Elia Kazan to join the Studio as one of its teachers and in 1951 he became its Artistic Director, a position he maintained until his death in 1982. Strasberg’s deep understanding of the Stanislavski System and the reformulations of Vakhtangov, together with his own personal discoveries and improvements on the acting process, provided the foundation on which The Actors Studio based its work.

At the same time, the work of Elia Kazan as a theatre and film director demonstrated in the most powerful way the extraordinary results of the deep and personal process of acting espoused by The Actors Studio.

For seven decades, the very existence of The Actors Studio, the principles and values that it represents, the methodology of its work process, its consistency and long life have established the Studio as a unique theatre organization and a guiding light for actors, directors and playwrights around the world. For many it is considered the temple of the acting process.

Today the work that is done at The Actors Studio continues the Stanislavski-Vakhtangov-American approach, and most of the leading members of the Studio today have studied with more than one of these great American teachers: Lee Strasberg, Harold Clurman, Elia Kazan, Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner and Robert Lewis.

Currently, Ellen Burstyn, Alec Baldwin and Al Pacino serve as co-Presidents of the Studio. Beau Gravitte serves as Artistic Director in New York and Salome Jens and Lou Antonio serve as interim co-Associate Artistic Directors in West Hollywood at our Actors Studio West branch, which opened in 1966. The Actors Studio is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of members from both coasts.

After 70 years, The Actors Studio continues to thrive because it is needed. Goethe has said that, “The actor’s career develops in public, but his art develops in private.” The Studio provides its members with this special kind of privacy, along with a group of colleagues who share the same passion for what Studio members refer to as “The Work.”

In spite of the presence of The Actors Studio over many years and its extensive influence in America and worldwide, there still persist many misunderstandings of the Studio, its mentors, its philosophy and its process. These errors most often arise from discussions by some academics, theoreticians, historians and even by some theatre professionals who attempt to analyze and interpret a process of work that they have never learned through serious practice. The work of Stanislavski, Vakhtangov and The Actors Studio was arrived at through deep and lengthy practical experiments that elude rational analysis by non-practitioners.

In 1994 The Actors Studio entered a major new phase with the creation of The Actors Studio Drama School MFA (Master of Fine Arts) Program in acting, directing and playwriting, in order to bring the Studio’s method into a university setting. In September 2006, the Actors Studio Drama School moved to Pace University in downtown New York City, which also is the home of one of the program’s most visible teaching platforms, INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO, hosted by James Lipton.

Andreas Manolikakis is a Board Member of The Actors Studio and Chair of The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University in New York City.