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      23 Paces to Baker Street

      1956 1 hr. 43 min. Mystery & Thriller List
      Reviews 67% 100+ Ratings Audience Score While drowning his sorrows at the local bar, blind writer Phillip Hannon (Van Johnson) eavesdrops on a nearby conversation. Convinced that he's just overheard details of a kidnapping plot, Hannon runs to the police. When they dismiss his suspicions as the ravings of a blind man, Hannon takes matters into his own hands. With the help of his ex-fiancée, Jean Lennox (Vera Miles), and his loyal secretary, Bob Matthews (Cecil Parker), Hannon uses his four remaining senses to track down the criminals. Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

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      Audience Member Good, not great. Definitely some mystery here, and the direction is reminiscent of Hitchcock in the 1950s. Good finale. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member I enjoyed the character played by Van Johnson. I initially viewed it to see Natalie Norwich. I was captivated by her in an old TV series Palladin when I saw her in jeans. lol I guess it is mainly reminiscence I was after, but his portrayal of a blind man moved me. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member In IMDB user Schwenkstar's Hollywood Giallo (+ Its Others) list, they state that this film pulls "the same trick Argento uses frequently in his films: a character sees/hears something but misinterprets it, misleading the character as well as the audience." Based on the Philip MacDonald book Warrant for X, this film also takes cues from Rear Window, placing a differently-abled person against criminals that came after them in the dark. This time, the hero is Philip Hannon (Van Johnson), a blind playwright who believes that the partial conversation he's heard is related to a possible kidnapping that hasn't even happened yet. With the police disbelieving him, he is thrust into the role of the giallo hero: a stranger in a strange land and one even stranger because he only knows the steps from building to building and will never see this new skyline, a place that he's escaped to in avoidance of his depression over his loss of sight. Those simmering feelings of a bleak future have led him to leave Jean (Vera Miles, who would soon appear in another essential giallo inspiring film, Psycho) behind in America, but she's come to England which puts him even more off his hermetic path. Director Henry Hathaway is probably best known for True Grit and The Sons of Katie Elder, but he put together a fun mystery here, a film that exists before the krimini and giallo yet has many of the things we'd later see in much more lurid tales. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member It is a slow methodical movie. I have watched 23 Paces to Baker Street 3 or so times. Van Johnson is a good actor and I enjoy his Movies especially if they are not musicals. Because of Hanon's Disability the bad guys put Hannon in awkward situations. Also, how Hannon handles the investigation in spite of his disability is remarkable. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Audience Member Hitchcock-Light. A blind playwright, Phillip Hannon, is sitting in a pub when he overhears a suspicious conversation. The two people in the next booth appear to be plotting a crime. Hannon informs the police but they are convinced his suspicions are merely due to the workings of his dramatical mind. Undeterred, he sets out to work out the mystery himself. However, this puts his own life in danger. Mildly interesting. The main plot has a Hitchcockian feel to it, reinforced by it resembling Rear Window but with a blind man instead of a man unable to walk. (Interestingly, Rear Window was released only two years previously). Unfortunately, that's where any resemblance to an Alfred Hitchcock drama ends. While there is some intrigue, there is little tension, as director Henry Hathaway just lets things go on without upping the pace or creating any real sense of danger. The plot is far from watertight, highlighted by a final twist that, while unforeseen, doesn't entirely make sense. This said, it is intriguing enough to not be a total waste of time. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Audience Member Nothing to do with Sherlock Holmes but definitely in a Hitchcock mood. Van Johnson plays a bitter blind playwright, an American in London, who overhears an ambiguous conversation in a pub that suggests foul play. He tries to get the police interested but when they aren't, he starts investigating on his own with the help of his manservant Bob (Cecil Parker) and his ex-girlfriend (Vera Miles). One clue leads to another and soon the trio really thinks they have uncovered a fiendish plot to do with kidnapping (the MacGuffin of this story, which doesn't necessarily need to make much sense - it just motivates the action). Of course, Johnson is quickly in over his head and the bad guys seek to silence him, creating suspense (we know that this will end happily, so the suspense is in figuring out how Johnson will defeat those out to get him). 1950s cinemascope in that strange technicolor world that existed in Hitchcock's films (and other films of this era) but perhaps nowhere else. Worth a look, if not on par with the Master. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Critics Reviews

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      Nathanael Hood The Retro Set ...perhaps the closest Hathaway ever came to making a Hitchcock film. Rated: 6/10 Dec 28, 2018 Full Review Michael E. Grost Classic Film and Television Nice mystery tale, with vivid London atmosphere, sympathetic characters. Sep 30, 2014 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis While drowning his sorrows at the local bar, blind writer Phillip Hannon (Van Johnson) eavesdrops on a nearby conversation. Convinced that he's just overheard details of a kidnapping plot, Hannon runs to the police. When they dismiss his suspicions as the ravings of a blind man, Hannon takes matters into his own hands. With the help of his ex-fiancée, Jean Lennox (Vera Miles), and his loyal secretary, Bob Matthews (Cecil Parker), Hannon uses his four remaining senses to track down the criminals.
      Director
      Henry Hathaway
      Screenwriter
      Nigel Balchin
      Genre
      Mystery & Thriller
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Apr 17, 2017