The Shop at Sly Corner

Not really having anything else to blog about today, I decided to pop in one of the DVDs from my cheap Mill Creek box set of crime movies. I put in a DVD from which I'd already seen a couple of the movies, and sat down to watch something called Code of Scotland Yard, as it says on the box and the DVD label. However, the DVD menu only had something called The Shop at Sly Corner, which is also what the opening titles say, so that's what I watched. In fact, they're both the same movie, although Code of Scotland Yard is apparently the US release title and the print Mill Creek used has the original British opening credits.

The shop in question is an antiques shop owned by French immigrant Desius Heiss (Oskar Homolka). He's got an adult daughter Margaret (Muriel Pavlow) who is a violinist of some promise who could become big if she could get some schooling in France, although Mr. Heiss nixes that for reasons that will become clear later in the movie. Heiss' shop has one assistant, slightly dishonest Archie Fellows (Kenneth Griffith), who has a thing for Margaret since he intercepts a telegraph from her real boyfriend, the soon to be demobbed naval officer Robert Graham (Derek Farr).

One night, Heiss gets a visit from a man he used to know, Corder Morris (Manning Whiley). Morris is a burglar who has broken in to one of the wealthy people's houses and stolen a substantial sum of jewelry, which he's hoping Heiss can fence, as Heiss has an illicit crucible in his basement for melting down stuff to their base metals, sort of like The Lavender Hill Mob. Heiss isn't just a fence, however; as a kid in France he stole to feed his ailing mother, which led to bigger crimes and ultimately being exiled to Devils Island, from which he escaped to England. That would also explain why he can't go to France.

Anyhow, Archie overhears the conversation between Morris and Heiss, and decides that he's going to cash in. He starts to blackmail Heiss, asking for all sorts of money and claiming that he recently received a legacy from a deceased aunt. Obviously, Heiss can't do anything about the blackmail since it means his own criminal past will come out, and he can't do that to his beloved daughter.

However, things get worse when Archie, who by now has long since quit working at the antiques shop, comes back looking for Heiss and runs into Robert. Archie says some things about Margaret that incense Robert, so he punches Archie and drives him out of the house. Robert obviously had no idea why Archie showed up, which in fact was a large payoff to leave the country for good. But Archie, now ticked off, decides he's going to go for the ultimately blackmail, which is to have Heiss allow him to marry Margaret. A scuffle ensues in which Heiss strangles Archie to death.

Scotland Yard investigates (hence the American title) after Archie's body is found dumped along the side of the road from Morris' car. You have to believe that, thanks to the production code, Heiss is eventually going to be found out, which means there aren't too many ways to end the movie. In fact, the ending is foreshadowed early on, although I've tried to avoid giving that away.

Oskar Homolka is quite good in a role that made me think a bit of Alfred Hitchcock's Sabotage, although Homolka is really more sympathetic here than in Sabotage. The plot, although nothing particularly groundbreaking, is solid and well in line with the crime programmers Hollywood was producing in the second half of the 1940s. Griffith also does well as the nasty Archie, while the rest of the cast is adequate. Fans of classical music will also enjoy the classical pieces.

The Shop at Sly Corner is a nice little British programmer that is obscure only because it didn't get made by one of the Hollywood studios for TCM to run it regularly. It's as well-made as any of those Hollywood programmers, and I'm glad it was included in the box set.