An Inspector Calls

Plot synopsis:
At the Birlings' home in April 1912, Arthur Birling - a wealthy mill owner and local politician - and his family are celebrating the engagement of daughter Sheila to Gerald Croft, the son of one of Birling's competitors, Croft Limited. In attendance are Arthur's wife Sybil and their adult children Sheila and Eric. Eric, the younger, has a drinking problem that is discreetly ignored. After dinner, Arthur speaks about the importance of self-reliance. He talks about his impending knighthood and about how "a man has to look after himself and his own."
Inspector Goole arrives immediately, interrupting the evening and explaining that a woman called Eva Smith has killed herself by drinking strong disinfectant. He implies that she has left a diary naming names, including members of the Birling family. Goole produces a photograph of Eva and shows it to Arthur, who acknowledges that she worked in one of his mills. He admits that he dismissed her from Birling & Co. 18 months ago for her involvement in an abortive workers' strike. He denies responsibility for her death.
Sheila enters the room and is drawn into the discussion. After prompting from Goole, she admits to recognising Eva as well. She confesses that Eva served her in a department store, Milwards, and Sheila contrived to have her fired for an imagined slight. She admits that Eva's behaviour had been blameless and that the firing was motivated solely by Sheila's jealousy and spite towards a pretty working-class woman.
Sybil enters the room and Goole continues his interrogation, revealing that Eva was also known as Daisy Renton. Gerald starts at the mention of the name and Sheila becomes suspicious. Gerald admits that he met a woman by that name in the Palace Bar. He gave her money and arranged to see her again. Goole reveals that Gerald had installed Eva as his mistress, and gave her money and promises of continued support before ending the relationship. Arthur and Sybil are horrified. As an ashamed Gerald exits the room, Sheila acknowledges his nature and credits him for speaking truthfully but also signals that their engagement is over by handing the ring, that Gerald had bought for her, back to him.
Goole identifies Sybil as the head of a women's charity to which Eva had turned for help. Despite Sybil's haughty responses, she eventually admits that Eva, pregnant and destitute, had asked the committee for financial aid. Sybil had convinced the committee that the girl was a liar and that her application should be denied. Despite vigorous cross-examination from Goole, Sybil denies any wrongdoing. Sheila begs her mother not to continue, but Goole plays his final card, making Sybil declare that the "drunken young man" who had made Eva pregnant should give a "public confession, accepting all the blame". Eric enters the room, and after brief questioning from Goole, he breaks down, admitting that he drunkenly raped Eva before meeting up with her several times later and then stole £50 (~ £1570 in December 2016) from his father's business to help her when she became pregnant. Arthur and Sybil are upset by this, and the evening dissolves into angry recriminations.
The implication resulting from Goole's questioning is that each of the people there that evening had contributed to Eva's despondency and suicide. He reminds the Birlings that actions have consequences, and that all people are intertwined in one society, saying, "If men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish", alluding to the impending World War. Goole then leaves.
Gerald returns, telling the family that there may be no "Inspector Goole" on the police force. Arthur makes a call to the Chief Constable, who confirms this. Gerald points out that as Goole was lying about being a policeman, there may be no dead girl. Placing a second call to the local infirmary, Gerald determines that no recent cases of suicide have been reported. The elder Birlings and Gerald celebrate, with Arthur dismissing the evening's events as "moonshine" and "bluffing". The younger Birlings, however, still realise the error of their ways and promise to change. Gerald is keen to resume his engagement to Sheila, but she is reluctant, since he still admitted to having had an affair.
The play ends abruptly with a telephone call, taken by Arthur, who reports that a young woman has died, a suspected case of suicide by disinfectant, and that the local police are on their way to question the Birlings. The true identity of Goole is never explained, but it is clear that the family's confessions over the course of the evening are true, and that they will be disgraced publicly when news of their involvement in Eva's demise is revealed.

Tags: flashback

Review:
Whether it is the superb black-and-white photography, the plaintive theme music by Francis Chagrin ( Eva's Theme ), the masterly way in which the plot unfolds as the film progresses, the surprise ending ...
all contribute to make this a small masterpiece which is never to be forgotten once seen.Basically, a wealthy family in the early part of the 20th century are having a little celebration at home when proceedings are interrupted by a rather mysterious police inspector who says he has come to interrogate them about a young lady who has just died through suicide in an infirmery.
Alastair Sim stars as the mysteriousInspector Goole, who calls upon the wealthy Birling family, toinvestigate the death of a local girl, Eva Smith.
Good supporting cast ofBritish actors, including a young Bryan Forbes as Eric Birling, butas in all his films, Alastair Sim stands head and shoulders aboveeverybody else, and carries the film.
At first the family is oblivious as to why this concerns them, but as Poole interviews each family member, it's apparent that one thing binds them all to the mystery.Adapted from the J.B. Priestley stage play, An Inspector Calls is everything that was great about 50s British Cinema.
Alastair Sim is perfectly cast as Inspector Poole, a large presence with those highly sympathetic eyes, Sim may be playing the main character, yet he's playing second fiddle to the fleshing out of the Birling family deconstruction, it's a wonderful case where the acting glue is holding it all together.Director Guy Hamilton does a smashing job of making the film permanently edgy, a sense of unease is palpable throughout, and it's only during the final reel that the heart of the film shows its ace card, and even then, the makers have one more trick up their sleeves.
An Inspector Calls is a wonderful mystery piece that is dotted with moments of unease, but all this would go to waste if the pay off was merely a damp squib, it thankfully isn't, and the likes of Rod Serling and Charles Beaumont were surely nodding in approval.Highly recommended 9/10.*Footnote:Alastair Sim is listed on this site as playing Inspector Goole, that is the characters name in the Priestley play, but i can assure everyone that his characters name is definitely Inspector Poole for this film version..
I have just finished watching this film on TV,and I must say,what a pleasant diversion it was for the afternoon,plenty of twists and turns,and the ending was excellent also,top performance must go to Alistair Sim for his protrayal of Inspector Poole,rivetting stuff..
What can I add, but to say that I agree with all the previous comments about the magnificent performance of Sim and the intelligence of this film.I've had this film on tape (from TV) for many years now and view it frequently; it is such a pleasure to watch something of this quality: low-key, well-acted, absorbing and, above all (and here's that word again), intelligent.I give this film two thumbs up (and I'd give it even more if I had more thumbs.) P.S. Hadn't seen Jane Wenham (Eva Smith in this film) in anything else until I watched an Inspector Morse rerun from 1992 ("The Death of Self") last night.
The ending was a bit of a surprise.The Birlings, a rich English family are having dinner one evening when a copper calls round to see them and tell them about a girl who has just been found dead.
Later on, we learn the truth and there is something strange about the Inspector...The Inspector is played brilliantly by the great Alastair Sim (Scrooge) and the rest of the cast includes Arthur Young and Brian Forbes.This is a must see, especially for old movie fans.
JB Priestley usually had a moralising theme to his plays.As a Socialist he wanted to show his audience the social ills in society and prick their conscience.This film, which my son studied for his English GCSE was made into a film in 1954 with Alistair Sim in the title role.To help my son get a better understanding we all went up to the West End to see the play acted by professionals.It has a haunting theme about the social ills in the Edwardian society of 1912 when a girl first loses her job at the factory when asking for higher wages by the father, loses her second job courtesy of the daughter, loses her flat courtesy of the daughter's fiancé, is made pregnant by the son and finally is refused genuine charity by the mother.My son returned the favour by giving me a DVD version of the film when I expressed a wish to see it, since one sees so few worthy films on TV these days compared to all the modern rubbish shown.There is rather a ghostly denouement to the film and twist which Priestley cleverly writes into the plot.Although Alistair Sim is only on screen for a short time he effortlessly steals your attention..
I only wish I'd been more impressed with it when I saw it in 1999.The unusual set design - having the Birling residence look like agiant doll's house - was undoubtedly striking, but the whole thingwas a bit too clever-clever and postmodern for my liking and thenot very well known actor playing Inspector Goole at that timesimply didn't possess the requisite charisma.When I caught this movie on TV the other day, it occurred to methat Guy Hamilton's straightforward telling of Priestley's moralitytale packed a moral wallop that Daldry's version patently lacked -and that the presence of the incomparable Alastair Sim helpedimmeasurably..
I have an excellent copy of this rare and wonderful film and Alastair Sim introduces himself -distinctly- as Inspector Poole, the daughter's fiancé asks a police officer about the Inspector using that name and the police officer repeats the name.
The performances are uniformly top notch and Alastair Sim's, in particular, rivals his unsurpassed portrayal of Scrooge in the finest version of "A Christmas Carol." I highly recommend this film as a first class lesson in the common foibles of human nature and how we have the ability to achieve salvation if we take responsibility for our faults..
The always watchable Alistair Sim. This classic JB Priestley play, regularly revived on the stage and filmed numerous times since it was written in 1945, is perfect for a winter's Sunday afternoon on the sofa.
This version is the one to see as the central role of the detective is played by the wonderful Alistair Sim.For British viewers, Eileen Moore, who plays the daughter of the family, was the first wife of George Cole, who has an unbilled cameo as the bus conductor.
As a morality tale it's fairly thought provoking - though it's slightly irritating that the female character has to spell things out for the audience every few minutes - but it probably works even better as a simple character drama.A good cast is headed by the always fantastic Alastair Sim as Inspector Poole (the name changed from the original text - in my opinion for the better, controversially), who, though on screen less often than you might think, is like a burning sun around which orbits everything else in the film.
The Inspector as presented here is more benign than that of the original play, which could have risked making the Inspector seem less interested in the other characters and too detached from them - the Inspector of the film never raises his voice, and some of his more forceful lines are given to the young female role - but Sim is able to maintain a chillingly capable and oppressive demeanour simply by smiling.
A upper class family are celebrating round a dinner table one evening when they receive a visit from Inspector Poole (Alastair Sim).
Due to the fact that everyone in the family knows the victim, the Inspector begins to question each member of the family to try to uncover the truth surrounding her death.An Inspector Calls is a film adaptation of a JB Priestley play and the film does have a very stagy feel about it.
The ending is both surprising and thought-provoking.Aside from a good narrative, the film also benefits from excellent performances from the cast with Sim arguably being the strongest player.
Sim made some unforgettable appearances in films throughout the '40's and '50's - also being unforgettable in The Ladykillers even though he turned it down.In 1912 an enigmatic police inspector named Poole calls on a well-to-do family with information that a girl they've all been involved with has been found dead.
As in Priestley's later story Last Holiday which was filmed earlier (and which also had music by Chagrin and Sim's Ladykillers substitute) the co-incidences pile up, are in turn believed, disbelieved, and eventually boggled over, by the cast and us.Wonderful and engrossing moral entertainment!
In this film the ghostly Inspector, marvellously played by Alastair Sim, forces a family to face the reality of death, to accept judgement and to choose whether they will repent or stay obdurate.
Instead, the story mutely asks us to decide who is my brother and how far am I his keeper.Adapted for the screen by Desmond Davis from the stage play by J.B. Priestley, the film opens out the claustrophobic tale by showing Eva's sad descent in a series of flashbacks, which allow the use of more settings and more characters (including a cameo for George Cole as a tram conductor).
Being a classic film fan (though do watch films and television of all genres/medium old and new), that 'An Inspector Calls' was based on the classic play with a great story by JB Priestley and had a great actor in Alastair Sim on board were reasons enough to see it.'An Inspector Calls' thankfully did not disappoint.
I'd seen on TV Alistair Sim in classic war-time films such as Green For Danger, a few Ealing comedies and Christmas favourites, such as Scrooge.His measured and clipped tones always steal the scene, in both the above and 'An Inspector...', the way his gaze is locked onto the eyes of his subject and is thus always enthralling.
Guy Hamilton's direction is without flair, which might have made it gimmicky but is far enough removed from a theatrical setting to ensure no-one can argue that it's just a filmed play.Critics argue that the play originally had far more impact - who can argue with that?I was disappointed that An Inspector is not available in the Alistair Sim Collection, or other boxed set, as this version on its own, can be expensive, though secondhand, like mine, can be affordable..
Unfortunately, this screen version of an extremely well written play by a George Bernard Shaw-like J.B Priestley does not amount to much good on film.
"Inspector" is supposed to be a moral feasting for the old fashioned type with its piercing social commentary on the rigid social classes in 1912 England, cynical and superior views of the world all in tact.Despite a solid literary publication to cling to, the screenwriter fails to bring forward some of the most vital turns of the script, by seemingly change parts of the play, probably to please his wife.
Alastair Sim stars in this morality tale as Inspector Poole who suddenly appears like a spectre in the house of a provincial wealthy family and interrogates them over the death of a local girl which each members of the family have been associated with.An Inspector Calls is better known as a stage play and here it has been filled out with flashbacks as we find out more about the life of the dead girl and her interactions with the various members of the family.Although the film is set in 1912 it its themes are still relevant today and especially when you see the division in attitudes with the younger characters in the play and the older characters who are not only more selfish but less remorseful that they pretended to be.Sim is sly and powerful as the Inspector who brings down the selfish members of this family a peg or two, he keeps you watching.
They don't make films like this anymore.A wealthy family are having a family celebration when an inspector calls to investigate the death of a lower class young woman.
Alistair Sim is superb as the inspector and the plot twists and turns until the completely unexpected ending – which I won't reveal.As well as a terrific who-dun-it this is a very good social comment of people's plight and their inability to rise above their station, if you are born to a certain class then there you shall remain.I would very much recommend this film to anybody who wants a film with a great plot and first rate acting – both of which seem to have vanished from Hollywood in recent years.I give it a 10 – no question..
Alistair Sim had appeared as Inspector Cockerill in GREEN FOR DANGER shortly after World War II, and gave one of his best performances as that droll Scotland Yarder, who just manages to bungle his successful investigation at the conclusion of that film.
Here he finally repeated the role of an inspector of the police - Inspecter Goole, who disturbs a pleasant evening at the Birling mansion in some midland industrial town with news that there has been a tragedy involving the death of a young woman, and she seems to be connected to the family.J. B.
It is this tension in the genre between the material and the abstract that makes 'An Inspector Calls' so compelling.Priestley's thesis is patently artificial - five members of a prosperous family (well four, and a future in-law) are all supposed to be linked to the suicide of a working-class woman - but for once theatrical contrivance is justified.
The dramatic cuts (with thunderous music) to Poole, the otherworldly lighting that sets him apart from those he interrogates, giving him an almost demonic look, or that of a grim Calvinist prophet, replete with vicar's dress, his omnipotent power and knowledge, whether ordering the family around their own home, judging them, disrupting routine and dangerous assumptions, or the access he has to the life of the dead girl, the way he can connect a woman of various pseudonyms, jobs, lives to one family; his repeated, ungainsayable power to extract the truth, all suggest a supernatural figure, an avenging angel, perhaps, or an embodiment of conscience - after all, the family become aware of their guilt before the crime happens, and, importantly, it is a collective guilt, not just limited to this family, but the ruling classes of England as a whole, two years before blundering into a stupid war, where millions of Eva Smith's class will be slaughtered, while Birling and his like sip sherry and gloat over munitions factories.Most English mystery stories take place in one setting, but are rarely as claustrophobic as this.
Hamilton's direction is serviceable, a little self-mocking; the cast are believable caricatures, but there is still only one real reason to watch 'An Inspector Calls' today, and that is the immortal Alistair Sim, cinema's greatest comedian bar none, bringing a frightening, yet amused and perverse irony to a difficult role to pull off.
One evening in 1912, the well-to-do Birling family are celebrating the engagement of their daughter Sheila to family friend Gerald when a strange policeman, Inspector Poole, arrives with news of the suicide of a young woman, Eva Smith.
It transpires the Birlings all had separate dealings with Eva, and may bear the responsibility for her fate ...John Boynton Priestley's 1946 play An Inspector Calls is a masterpiece of theatre and this film is an excellent screen adaptation, not to be missed.
Guy Hamilton's film version contents itself with introducing the Inspector dramatically and effecting his disappearance in much the same way; in between he relies on his cast.
In the screen version, however, we see the whole of Eva's story and her relationships with the various members of the family, told in a series of flashbacks.There are, however, occasions when "opening up" might with greater accuracy be called "closing down", and this film is an example of what I mean.
In the play the possibility is left open that Goole may have misled the family into believing that they had all known the same person, whereas there may be as many as four women involved- the real Eva Smith who was sacked from Birling's factory, the unnamed shop girl, Gerald's mistress who goes by the name Daisy Renton and Eric's lover, also unnamed, who later asks the charity for help.
In the film, however, where Eva actually appears and is played by one actress, Jane Wenham, this interpretation is effectively "closed down", and in my view this rather detracts from the richness and complexity of Priestley's play.Despite this, "An Inspector Calls" is a pretty good film.
Here Sim makes him much more smooth, persuasive and insinuating- yet makes us believe that this is just as valid an interpretation of the role.Despite Priestley's left-wing views, he was regarded with some suspicion by the "Angry Young Men" of the fifties, who saw plays like "An Inspector Calls" as the sort of drawing-room drama they were reacting against.
An inspector is now on the way to question the family.The film doesn't exactly grip the viewer.
In doing so, those behind the film have distanced their product from Priestley's clumsier indication of the Inspector's possible spectral nature through his obvious 'play on words' of the character's name.
In this instance the audience are more loosely guided in their interpretation by the question embedded in the film's tagline: 'Is he real or the creature of conscience?' The second change to the structure of the play is the inclusion of flashback sequences to 'flesh out', and join together, how each member of the Birling family has had some part to play in the course of events leading to the tragic suicide of a young woman, known to them as either Eva Smith or Daisy Renton.