BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

GodeonWay Have seen this film several times and always enjoy it. Very typical John Ford: easy-going, some high drama, some great on-location color photography, wonderful performances (with quite a bit of Fordian over-acting).There have been some frankly negative reviews of this picture (Leonard Maltin's book gives it just 1 and a half stars!) but don't let that deter you if you just want to be entertained for 90 minutes and transported to London 1958.It's not a thriller, not a who-done-it. It's just John Ford's treatment of a colorful day in the life of a Scotland Yard inspector and his family. If that's something that appeals to you, then by all means sit back and enjoy.

bsmith5552 "Gideon's Day" is an almost forgotten John Ford film about a Scotland Yard Chief Inspector's typical day in his life. It was filmed in England by Columbia Pictures British Division and has an almost all British cast.The picture was filmed in color by Ford and originally ran at 118 minutes. For it's American release, it was cut to 91 minutes and released in black and white re-titled "Gideon of Scotland Yard". Turner Classic Movies has released a restored version of the film (running 100 minutes) in color, as part of its John Ford's Columbia Pictures package.Jack Hawkins plays Chief Inspector George Gideon whom we follow through a "typical" day in his life. First we meet his family, wife Kate (Anna Lee)and daughter Sally (Anna Massey) and two younger children. On his way to his office he is given a traffic ticket by an over zealous constable (Andrew Ray) who keeps turning up over the course of Gideon's day.Over the course of the day Gideon has to deal with one of his detectives, Kirby (Derek Bond), who is caught taking bribes, a payroll robbery, a sex/murder, a deliberate traffic murder and a robbery/murder at a safety deposit box facility. All the time he has to attend to several family matters on the go. His day begins early in the morning and ends in the dark of the evening.Hawkins is excellent as Gideon and pretty well has to carry the whole film. Grizelda Harvey contributes a sympathetic performance as Kirby's wife who first tries to protect her husband and then is forced to accept the truth. Others in the cast include Dianne Foster and Ronald Howard as a husband and wife criminal team, Cyril Cusack as informant "Birdie" Sparrow, Maureen Potter as his wife who has a funny scene with Hawkins in a pub and Howard Marion-Crawford as "The Chief".Howard and Marion-Crawford played Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in the 1954-55 British TV series. Anna Massey was the daughter of actor Raymond Massey and the sister of Daniel Massey.Hawkins was one year removed from his performance in "The Bridge On the River Quai" and was about to embark on his role as Quintas Arias in Ben-Hur.All in all "Gideon's Day" is an excellent film worthy of wider acclaim. Perhaps the above-mentioned DVD release will do the trick.

rogerblake-281-718819 Not classic John Ford by any stretch of the imagination but I watched for the first time in years on t.v. this afternoon, and it certainly brightened up a wet afternoon.There are some lovely comic moments such as Andrew Rays young rookie policeman booking Jack Hawkins(Gideon)for speeding then in the final scene getting caught him self with Gideon as a passenger, by then he is son in law material.Miles Mallison as an eccentric judge and John Le Mesurier as a prosecuting council have delicious little cameos, so much so that they might have drifted in from another film set. How I cheered when Jack Watling's timid vicar suddenly floors the toughs in his church who are threatening him, it turns out he is an ex wartime para.Michael Trubshawe plays the typical British police sargeant. Jack Hawkins is of course his usual irrascible but dependable self.What a success rate,three murders solved in one day.Always a pleasure to watch Anna Lee as the long suffering wife who in one scene tells her daughter played by Anna Massey never to marry a policeman,too late her eyes are already set on the young officer.Fortunately they showed the ninety minute colour version not the truncated sixty minute black and white version shown in USA but if one is going to be overly critical the editing is somewhat choppy and I wonder if they wrote the script as they were filming.Neverless the film rattles along and is never boring,there's not a weak link in the cast.If John Ford is not exactly at his peak he's by no means off form.7 out of 10 seems a fair assessment.

whpratt1 John Ford produced this picture and it was very entertaining from beginning to the end with Jack Hawkins playing the role of Inspector George Gideon who is a top crime expert in London, England and always manages to get his criminal. George Gideon is never at home and one morning his wife asks him to bring home some salmon for guests she was having for dinner and he files the fish away in a file cabinet in his office. However, Gideon does catch a serial killer with the help of a rookie policeman and always seems to drink while on duty and comes home for lunch with his fellow Scotland Yard buddies and has a fews beers and then runs off to solve another crime. Anna Lee plays the role as Gideon's wife and never complains about his weird comings and goings. This film had me laughing through out the entire picture and I therefore consider this to be a great comedy film from 1958.