When London Sleeps – 1932 | 78 mins | Drama | B&W

Plot Synopsis

Early British quota-quickie crime thriller from Julius Hagen’s Twickenham Studios starring based on the play by Charles Darrell. The fanciful plot revolves around the owner of a gambling den who kidnaps his cousin to usurp his title.

Upper-class gambler Tommy Blythe (Harold French) has ran up big gambling debts at the high-class gambling den of villainous Rodney Haines (Francis L. Sullivan). When Haines calls in the £2,000 debt, Blythe heads to the races and puts shirt on a hot tip – but the horse strolls in dead last. Penniless, he stops off at Lamberti’s Fair on his return home and enters a boxing booth. Afterwards he meets owner Lamberti (Ben Field) and his adopted daughter Mary Graham (René Ray), they tell him that the fair is nearly bankrupt and would require £500 to stay operating. Blythe is enamoured with Mary and promises to do his best to raise the money with twenty-four hours.

Blythe returns to Haines casino and asks for a £500 advance and wins £3,000 at the tables. He quickly returns to the fair to pass on news of his good luck when he spies Haines walking around, and discovers the crooked casino owner has kidnapped Mary and taken her to his Hampstead home. It transpires that unbeknown to Mary she’s a wealthy heiress and a cousin preventing Haines inheriting a fortune.