The Last Hour (play)
| The Last Hour | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Charles Bennett |
| Date premiered | 20 December 1928 |
| Place premiered | Comedy Theatre, London |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Thriller |
The Last Hour is a 1928 comedy thriller play by the British writer Charles Bennett. At an inn on the coast of Devon, a secret agent battles a foreign prince trying to smuggle a stolen death ray out of the country.
Bennett was in his mid 20s and a working actor in Ben Greet Repertory, Paris, at the time he wrote The Last Hour, which was one of his earliest plays; it followed the unsuccessful The Return, and Blackmail (which starred Tallulah Bankhead in a 1928 production).[1] The Last Hour was a success, running for 111 performances at the Comedy Theatre in the West End between 20 December 1928 and 23 March 1929.[2] The cast included Cyril Raymond, Lydia Sherwood, Edward O'Neill and Franklin Dyall.
Film adaptation
In 1930 it was made into a British film The Last Hour directed by Walter Forde and starring Stewart Rome and Kathleen Vaughan, the first "talkie" for Nettleford Studios.[3]
References
- ^ "Charles Bennett". History Project. 2 March 1992.
- ^ Wearing p.638
- ^ Goble p.35
Bibliography
- Goble, Alan. The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.
- Kabatchnik, Amnon. Blood on the Stage, 1925-1950: Milestone Plays of Crime, Mystery and Detection. Scarecrow Press, 2010.
- Wearing, J. P. The London Stage 1920-1929: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.