CRUD Challenge: An Inspector Calls (1954)
Jan. 26th, 2026 07:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skjamAn Inspector Calls (1954) dir. Guy Hamilton
It is spring, 1912 in the English town of Brumley. Wealthy manufacturer Arthur Birling (Arthur Young) and his wife Sybil (Olga Lindo) are having a small dinner party to celebrate the engagement of their daughter Sheila (Eileen Moore) to Gerald Croft (Brian Worth), son of one of Arthur’s business rivals and a touch higher in social status. Sheila’s brother Eric (Bryan Forbes) is also there, though he may have had a bit much to drink. All seems happy enough until an inspector calls. Inspector Poole (Alastair Sim) informs them that a young woman has committed suicide, and he just needs to ask a few questions. A few uncomfortable questions.
I've reviewed a graphic novel version of this story before, and the play was written by J.B. Priestley.
One by one, the family and guest are pressured into confessing that they interacted with Eva Smith (Jane Wenham) and contributing to her death. Except there are some odd holes in the story. Are they certain it was actually the same young woman? Is Poole even an actual inspector? Have they been had by a clever blackmailer? And then there's the end....
The 1912 setting is deliberate. The society that the Birlings live in is about to have the bottom drop out of it with the Great War and all the associated changes. And here we see the corruption that lay beneath the wealth and "good" family image.
The movie makes a couple of important changes from the play. First, the inspector's name is changed from Goole to Poole to make the final twist a bit less obvious. Also, there are flashbacks to the events of the Birlings' and Gerald's interactions with Eva Smith that were merely described in the play. This works quite well.
Alastair Sim gives a great performance as the inspector, and the rest of the cast is also good. The movie is also well-shot.
The family is careless of the consequences of their actions on other people, and the inspector brings it home that all of us are responsible for how we act, and how we affect others.
Content note: Suicide, what's effectively rape, extramarital sex is alluded to. I think junior high students on up will have the maturity to understand the themes of the story.
This is an excellent adaptation if you can't see the original play.
It is spring, 1912 in the English town of Brumley. Wealthy manufacturer Arthur Birling (Arthur Young) and his wife Sybil (Olga Lindo) are having a small dinner party to celebrate the engagement of their daughter Sheila (Eileen Moore) to Gerald Croft (Brian Worth), son of one of Arthur’s business rivals and a touch higher in social status. Sheila’s brother Eric (Bryan Forbes) is also there, though he may have had a bit much to drink. All seems happy enough until an inspector calls. Inspector Poole (Alastair Sim) informs them that a young woman has committed suicide, and he just needs to ask a few questions. A few uncomfortable questions.
I've reviewed a graphic novel version of this story before, and the play was written by J.B. Priestley.
One by one, the family and guest are pressured into confessing that they interacted with Eva Smith (Jane Wenham) and contributing to her death. Except there are some odd holes in the story. Are they certain it was actually the same young woman? Is Poole even an actual inspector? Have they been had by a clever blackmailer? And then there's the end....
The 1912 setting is deliberate. The society that the Birlings live in is about to have the bottom drop out of it with the Great War and all the associated changes. And here we see the corruption that lay beneath the wealth and "good" family image.
The movie makes a couple of important changes from the play. First, the inspector's name is changed from Goole to Poole to make the final twist a bit less obvious. Also, there are flashbacks to the events of the Birlings' and Gerald's interactions with Eva Smith that were merely described in the play. This works quite well.
Alastair Sim gives a great performance as the inspector, and the rest of the cast is also good. The movie is also well-shot.
The family is careless of the consequences of their actions on other people, and the inspector brings it home that all of us are responsible for how we act, and how we affect others.
Content note: Suicide, what's effectively rape, extramarital sex is alluded to. I think junior high students on up will have the maturity to understand the themes of the story.
This is an excellent adaptation if you can't see the original play.
