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External links

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	* {{IMDb title\|0058596\|Smokescreen}}		* {{IMDb title\|0058596\|Smokescreen}}
	* [https://www.reelstreets.com/films/smokescreen/ ''Smokescreen''] at ReelStreets		* [https://www.reelstreets.com/films/smokescreen/ ''Smokescreen''] at ReelStreets

	~~{{Jim O'Connolly}}~~

	[[Category:1964 films]]		[[Category:1964 films]]
	[[Category:1964 crime drama films]]		[[Category:1964 crime drama films]]

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en>Pdebee: /* Production */ Capitalised 'Cuckoo Line' to fix red link. Added {{Cite web}} template for 'Station Name: Hellingly Station' (2017).

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Production: Capitalised 'Cuckoo Line' to fix red link. Added {{Cite web}} template for 'Station Name: Hellingly Station' (2017).

New page

{{Short description|1964 British film by Jim O'Connolly}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Smokescreen
| image = "Smokescreen"_(1964).jpg

| caption = Lobby card autographed by [[Deryck Guyler]]
| director = [[Jim O'Connolly]]
| producer = Ronald Liles<br />John I. Phillips
| writer = Jim O'Connolly
| narrator =
| starring = [[Peter Vaughan]]<br />[[John Carson (actor)|John Carson]]<br />[[Yvonne Romain]]<br />[[Gerald Flood]]
| music = [[Johnny Gregory (bandleader)|Johnny Gregory]]
| cinematography = Jack Mills
| editing = [[Henry Richardson (film editor)|Henry Richardson]]
| studio = [[Butcher's Film Service|Butcher's Film Productions]]
| distributor = Butcher's Film Service
| released = {{Film date|1964}}
| runtime = 70 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
}}
'''''Smokescreen''''' is a 1964 British comedy crime drama film, written and directed by [[Jim O'Connolly]] and starring [[Peter Vaughan]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Smokescreen |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150044754 |access-date=22 October 2023 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref>

==Plot==
Mr Roper, an [[insurance investigator]], travels to [[Brighton]] to assess the apparent death of a businessman after his burning car was seen crashing over a cliff into the sea. The [[insurance company]] is suspicious, as the man had only recently taken out life insurance for a large sum. The car is recovered and no body is found. Roper and the police have to find out whether they are dealing with an accident, an insurance fraud or a murder.

==Cast==
* [[Peter Vaughan]] as "Ropey" Roper
* [[John Carson (actor)|John Carson]] as Trevor Bayliss
* [[Yvonne Romain]] as Janet Dexter
* [[Gerald Flood]] as Graham Turner
* [[Glynn Edwards]] as Inspector Wright
* [[John Glyn-Jones]] as player
* [[Sam Kydd]] as hotel waiter
* [[Deryck Guyler]] as stationmaster (as Derek Guyler)
* [[Penny Morrell]] as Helen, Turner's secretary
* David Gregory as the Smudger
* [[Jill Curzon]] as June
* [[Barbara Hicks]] as Miss Breen
* Bert Palmer as barman
* [[Tom Gill (actor)|Tom Gill]] as Reception clerk
* Edward Ogden as Police Sergeant
* Anthony Dawes as John Dexter
* Romo Gorrara as Taxi Driver
* Maja Hafernik as Mrs Dexter's Maid
* [[Derek Francis]] as Dexter's doctor (uncredited)
* [[Damaris Hayman]] as Mrs Roper's nurse (uncredited)

== Production ==
The opening scenes were shot in London, but much of the rest of the film was shot on location in West Sussex and East Sussex, including the Brighton area. The scene featuring [[Deryck Guyler]] as the station master was shot at [[Hellingly railway station]], which has been a private residence since the [[Cuckoo Line]] ceased operating in 1968.<ref name="DS2017">{{Cite web
|last= Catford
|first= Nick
|title= Station Name: Hellingly Station
|date= 2017
|publisher= Disused Stations
|website= disused-stations.org.uk
|url= http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/h/hellingly/index.shtml
|access-date= 6 August 2024
}}</ref>

==Critical reception==
''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote: "Although familiar in style and idiom, this pleasant little mystery story has a few features that lift it out of the ordinary. The central figure – a bowler-hatted, umbrella-carrying, shrewd and gently humorous insurance man, with a streak of monetary meanness – is unconventional. So is the refreshingly off-hand police inspector played by Glynn Edwards. Above all, the general economy of the script makes this thriller much less improbable than many of its kind; there are no glaring loopholes or unexplained incidents. It is a pity that the Brighton insurance representative had to be in love with the murdered man's wife, for the plot is otherwise free of such convenient and contrived coincidences."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1965 |title=Smokescreen |journal=[[Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=32 |issue=372 |pages=10}}</ref>

The ''Radio Times Guide to Films'' gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "This above-average programme filler is kept moving swiftly and painlessly by director Jim O'Connolly. Adultery, embezzlement and murder are all taken in his stride by Peter Vaughn as the insurance claims inspector who suspects that there is more to a blazing car wreck than meets the eye. While all around him give typically second-division performances, Vaughan plays with a dogged determination that is efficient, engaging and quite at odds with the more sinister characters he would essay later in his career."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Radio Times Guide to Films |publisher=[[Immediate Media Company]] |year=2017 |isbn=9780992936440 |edition=18th |location=London |pages=851}}</ref>

''[[BFI Screenonline]]'' described the film as "an utterly charming B-film comedy-thriller that emphasises character as much as plot and makes full use of extensive location footage. The standard British second feature crime setting – a nightclub run by Cypriot/Maltese/Generally Swarthy types and populated by a dozen underpaid extras – is mercifully absent, as is any hint of a low-budget car chase. ... As a director, Jim O'Connelly may be best described as rudimentary, but his screenplay encompasses fascinating period detail. ... The set may be cheap and the shooting schedule limited, but the entertainment value is far greater than many an over-inflated epic."<ref>{{cite web |title=Smokescreen (1964) |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1361609/ |accessdate=17 October 2014 |work=BFI Screenonline}}</ref>

Film historians Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane selected ''Smokescreen'' as one of the 15 most meritorious British [[B movie|B films]] made between the [[Second World War]] and 1970. They describe it as an "uncommonly neat little insurance racket-cum-murder thriller" and praise the way that its comic relief is "built into the fabric of the film's main narrative action".<ref>Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane, ''The British 'B' Film'', Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, pp. 286–88.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0058596|Smokescreen}}
* [https://www.reelstreets.com/films/smokescreen/ ''Smokescreen''] at ReelStreets

{{Jim O'Connolly}}

[[Category:1964 films]]
[[Category:1964 crime drama films]]
[[Category:1960s mystery films]]
[[Category:British crime drama films]]
[[Category:British crime thriller films]]
[[Category:British black-and-white films]]
[[Category:British mystery films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Jim O'Connolly]]
[[Category:Films set in Brighton]]
[[Category:Films set in London]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:1960s British films]]
[[Category:Butcher's Film Service films]]
[[Category:English-language crime drama films]]

Smokescreen (film) - Revision history

Kurt: /* External links */

Kurt: 1 revision imported

en>Pdebee: /* Production */ Capitalised 'Cuckoo Line' to fix red link. Added {{Cite web}} template for 'Station Name: Hellingly Station' (2017).