Dir: Guy Hamilton
1954
*****
J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls was written for the stage but Guy Hamilton adapted it to film, perfectly. Everything that exists within the stage version is there still but Hamilton seems to have made a point of adding everything that the theatre simply could not accommodate. The ending is as open to interpretation as intended but there is something about it's captured in this film that makes it so special. I think maybe it is due to Alastair Sim's performance. I can't see anyone else in that role now no matter how hard I try. His knowing smile at every juncture makes the film for me, especially so in his very last scene. It's Dickens meets Hitchcock and every bit as good as that sounds.
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