Mon 30 May 2016
A Movie Review by David Vineyard: HOUSE OF THE ARROW (1953).
Posted by Steve under Mystery movies , Reviews[11] Comments
HOUSE OF THE ARROW Associated British Pictures, UK, 1953, Oskar Holmoka, Yvonne Furneaux, Robert Urquhart, Josephine Green, Harold Kasket, Pierre Le Fevre. Screenplay by Edward Dryhurst, based on the novel by A. E. W. Mason. Directed by Michael Anderson.
Alfred Edward Wooley Mason was a bestselling novelist whose works included such classic tales of adventure and mystery as The Four Feathers, No Other Tiger, Sapphire, Fire Over England, The Drum, and stories such as “The Crystal Trench†(adapted on Alfred Hitchcock Presents with Hitchcock himself directing); a literary icon whose circle of friends and collaborators in theater included Henry James, Joseph Conrad, Ford Maddox Ford, Anthony Hope Hawkins (The Prisoner of Zenda), and Stephen Crane; an agent of British Naval Intelligence whose pre-WWI Spanish network would still be functioning successfully, and much to the benefit of the Allies, in the Second World War and into the post War era; and, perhaps most importantly here, the author of five acclaimed mystery novels and one short story featuring Inspector Hanaud of the Sureté who was the inspiration for Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot and his “little gray cells.â€
House of the Arrow is perhaps the most famous of the Hanaud novels, as evidenced by it having been filmed three times, first in 1930 with Benita Hume and Dennis Nielson-Terry as Hanaud; then in 1940 with Diana Churchill and Kenneth Kent as Hanaud; and, finally, this version in 1953 with Yvonne Furneaux and Oscar Holmoka as Hanaud.
This version, updated to modern post-war France begins in Dijon in the Burgundy region of France where Jeanne Marie Harlowe, an elderly and sickly widow, has just died apparently in the natural order of things. At the reading of her will Madame Harlowe leaves her fortune and estate to her adopted daughter Betty (Yvonne Furneaux) much to the consternation of her brother-in-law, from her first marriage Boris Waberski (Harold Kasket), who believes the fortune should go to him.
Shortly afterward Waberski makes a formal accusation against Betty of having murdered her adopted mother, prompting Betty’s companion, Englishwoman Ann Upcott (Josephine Green), to write Betty’s British solicitor for help.
Responding is Jim Frobisher (Robert Urquhart) who arrives in Paris to talk with the officer of the Sureté assigned the case, Inspector Hanaud (Oskar Holmoka, dapper rather than rumpled for once, even the famous eyebrows tamed), who seems quite surprised his upcoming visit to Dijon is known since he only just decided to go.
Hanaud settles the phony case brought by Waberski in short order, but things aren’t as they seem, he is certain of one thing: “If murder was done I mean to know, and I mean to avenge.†And what with a mysterious seller of illicit chemicals, accusing letters popping up everywhere, mysterious voices, and a missing arrow — it’s waxed point preserving an exotic untraceable poison — it becomes clear Hanaud has every reason to be suspicious.
What, if anything does the empty house next door, once occupied by the Germans, have to do with the mysterious goings on? Who is writing the poison pen letters and why? Why are the two young women so secretive? Whose voice did Ann hear the night of the murder, and why does the clock she saw seem smaller in daylight? Where is the mysterious poisoned arrow Hanaud discovered referenced in a book from the Harlowe library at the drug sellers business?
When a second murder, that of the seller of illicit drugs, occurs Hanaud must act fast before a third murder and injustice can further complicate matters.
Mason’s longish novel is savagely condensed, but thanks to atmospheric direction by Michael Anderson (Around the World in 80 Days), good use of shadow and light and clever but unobtrusive camera angles in limited but well done sets, above all Holmoka’s delightful turn as the vain, brilliant, playful, and very Gallic Hanaud, and a script that manages to keep things mostly clear in the mind of the viewer while still preserving a few surprises, this is a superior mystery film.
Though, as in the novel, and in many mystery novels and films, Hanaud causes quite a bit of the tension himself by revealing so little, but at least in this one with some justification.
I first read of this film ages ago in William K. Everson’s The Detective in Film, and it has taken me forty some years to catch up with it, but it proved well worth it. House of the Arrow is a wry, intelligent, atmospheric, fast paced, mystery with a tour de force performance by Oskar Holmoka as Hanaud. Whatever its minor flaws, they are more than compensated for by the films intelligence, wit, and fidelity to the spirit if not the exact word of Mason’s classic novel.
If you are looking for a fine adaptation of a classic mystery novel ably brought to the screen with skill and wit, you could not do better.

May 30th, 2016 at 11:10 pm
Oskar Homulka is an absolute delight in this movie. His flair for the dramatic, as well as the comic jest at just the right time, is right on, every moment of this film.
May 30th, 2016 at 11:40 pm
In spite of his name being spelled Oscar in the poster, IMDb has his name spelled Oskar in the credits for the film. David spelled it with a “c” in his review, but I changed it. If I messed up, let me know.
May 31st, 2016 at 4:12 am
Any film where Oskar Homulka gets top billing
is worth seeing.
How come they never made a movie where he & Akim Tamiroff played brothers?
May 31st, 2016 at 6:43 am
A French version was made in 1930 starring Annabella (better known to English-speaking audiences as Tyrone Power’s first wife but a major movie star in Europe at the time)
I’ve always wanted to read Mason’s book as I loved At the Villa Rose (hence the name of my blog) and heard many people whom opinion I trust saying good things about it, but I had it spoiled by a reviewer in Mystère Magazine (the long defunct French edition of EQMM) They didn’t know about spoilers in the 50s.
May 31st, 2016 at 10:50 am
In his native Vienna, he would be Oskar.
When he relocated first to England, thence to the United States, he became Oscar.
But wherever he was, he was always Homolka.
The fun and games we Yanks always seem to have with European proper names have always been with us.
It’s why, when a popular German actor named Paul Hubschmid came to Hollywood to make movies, he was persuaded to adopt ‘Paul Christian’ as a screen name.
(And when he didn’t hit big, he went back to Europe and ‘Hubschmid’.)
Similar story about how Alf Kjellin became ‘Christopher Kent’ when he tried for leading man status early on (he went back to being Swedish when he turned director).
Other examples abound, but you get the idea.
Being openly ethnic didn’t get allowed until the ’70s; even then, I remember reading an interview with Tovah Feldshuh, in which she joked about still considering changing to something WASP-ish (at least I think she was joking …).
(Did I remember to again mention Zeljko Ivanek?)
May 31st, 2016 at 1:44 pm
Mike,
If I remember right Paul Henried was a Von Henreid, and of course Hans Gudengast became Eric Braedon.
Re Holmoka, he is a delight here. I think this, and Colonel Stok in THE BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN are easily my favorite of his performances. He plays a similar role to this as a psychiatrist turned detective helping Ingrid Bergman to save George Sanders from the noose when Robert Montgomery frames him for his murder in A RAGE IN HEAVEN.
As Steve says, he steals this one, a delight whenever he is on screen (you can’t help but wonder that he didn’t know a character actor would seldom get this much screen time in a film), at once charming and just a bit sinister, both characteristics of Hanaud as presented in the books. I had never thought of him in the role before, but watching this I wondered what kind of Maigret he would have made.
Xavier,
I think my favorite of the Hanaud’s are PRISONER OF THE OPAL and THEY WOULDN’T BE CHESSMEN, but AT THE VILLA ROSE is a great one too.
This one, like all Mason’s work, holds up well enough as a novel that knowing the ending doesn’t really spoil anything.
Actually it is fairly obvious in the film who the killer is, but there is a nice twist as to who the killer’s accomplice is, and how long Hanaud has suspected them.
June 1st, 2016 at 11:31 am
So apparently this is next to impossible to find. Sigh. Too bad.
June 1st, 2016 at 12:20 pm
It shouldn’t be a problem, Richard. It’s available on DVD from Amazon and other sources, and free if you’re an Amazon Prime member.
June 1st, 2016 at 2:34 pm
I watched this on Amazon last night in fact. As I did I recognized it as something I started and then switched off after about 20 seconds. It was that damn accordion music. What a turn off. This time I soldiered through the wheezy soundtrack because of the fine write-up here and I’m glad I did. Definitely worth seeing; I would never have gotten past the opening credits without your post!
June 2nd, 2016 at 12:32 am
Mr. Vineyard:
Love your comments, but you need to work on your spelling.
Paul von Hernried
Hans Gudegast –
– who became Eric Braeden
– and last but not least …
… Oscar Homolka
(pronounced hoe-MOL-ka)
No harm, no foul.
I knew a guy on another site who had a similar problem with Arlene Golonka (he thought she was Gonkola)…
June 2nd, 2016 at 5:46 pm
I cop to being a notoriously bad self editor as Steve can tell you. In my defense I started out in journalism where I had a copy editor and no one cared if I could spell as long as my copy hit the desk early enough for the copy editor to check it.
Add extremely nearsighted and arthritis to the mix — ex boxer, my hands are one big boxers fracture — and I don’t type to well either.
Too many years of “I don’t care what it looks like as long as it is on my desk before the deadline.”
It seems counter intuitive, but oddly enough spelling is not a highly developed skill among writers and certainly didn’t used to be among journalists. The rule in the latter was “at least spell it wrong consistently.”