Hyde Park Corner – 1935 | 85 mins | Comedy, Mystery | B&W

Plot Synopsis

Muddled melodrama with comedy elements charting a family curse down the decades. The finished film is a disorganized mess that spends to long developing the premise and little constructing a worthy murder-mystery. Gordon Harker and Eric Portman bolster the acting line-up but some excessive over-acting illustraties the films stage roots.

Set in 1780 at the Hyde Park Corner home of Edward Chester (Eric Portman), Bow Street Runner Captain Cheatle (Gordon Harker) infiltrates the evening’s merriment to uncover evidence of illegal gambling. The already indebted Chester is cheated out of his new home at a crooked card game, and after discovering a ‘trick box’ challenges Sir Arthur Gannett (Gibb McLaughlin) to a duel. Chester is beaten in the duel, and with his final words curses the house.

Fast forward to 1850 and once again the home is host to gambling between the descendents of Chester and Gannett; with the latter being reported as slain. Forward again to 1935 and the family feud continues; newspaper’s are reporting that a Gannet descendant has been found murdered and a Chester arrested. Constable Cheatle, a descendant of the original Bow Street Runner, meets pickpocket Sophie (Binnie Hale) in court. Sophie claims to know the whereabouts of George Howard, a chief suspect for the defence in the Gannett case, and they proceed to Chester’s Hyde Park Corner home.