Crook's Tour

Crook's Tour is a 1940 British comedy spy film directed by John Baxter featuring Charters and Caldicott.^[1] It is adapted from a BBC radio serial of the same name.^[2]

Plot

Charters and Caldicott are touring the Middle East (Saudi Arabia) with fellow Britons. After their vehicle breaks down they meet a caravan and a local sheikh invites them to dinner. After a glass of wine the sheikh offers to lend them two camels and tells of his fears that someone is spying on his oilfield.

They return to Baghdad where they go to a night club. Here two spies are expected and a Mata Hari type figure (the glamorous La Palermo) delivers a note (hidden on a record) to them in error, because they order exactly what the true spies are meant to order (as a code). When the real spies arrive (two Americans) and make the same order the mistake is realised.

Meanwhile our two heroes are flying to Istanbul. Here they are directed to a false hotel. La Palermo is to sing there to let them know something is up. They plan to kill the pair. They put them in a room with a booby trap bathroom... just a large hole dropping into the Bosporus. Charters slaps someone on the back, believing it to be Caldicott, and he falls in. Fearing reprisal for this accidental death they catch a plane to Budapest. Charters' sister Edith arrives in Budapest and struggles to track their hotel. La Palermo breaks into Caldicott's room to try to find the record. The next evening they track down La Palermo singing in a local night club, singing "Gypsy Lover".

The pair give the record to an English contact but are astounded when he says he does not play cricket.

They take a train eastwards to the edge of Hungary. They climb to a hilltop castle where La Palermo is. They are caught and are shot by firing squad, but La Palermo has organised blanks in the guns and they all escape together. A driver rushes all three to an airport then they take a boat across the Adriatic before going back to London. La Palermo kisses Caldicott as their train approaches London.

Cast

• Basil Radford as Charters
• Naunton Wayne as Caldicott
• Greta Gynt as La Palermo
• Charles Oliver as Sheik
• Gordon McLeod as Rossenger
• Abraham Sofaer as Ali
• Bernard Rebel as Klacken
• Cyril Gardiner as K.7.
• Leo de Pokorny as Hotel Manager
• Morris Harvey as Waiter
• Noel Hood as Edith Charters
• Finlay Currie as Tourist (uncredited)
• Andreas Malandrinos as Nightclub Manager (uncredited)
• Patricia Medina as Hotel Receptionist (uncredited)
• Jack Melford as Tour Guide (uncredited)

Radio serial

The film was based on a 1940 radio serial which starred Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne as Charters and Cauldicott. It was written by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, who had written The Lady Vanishes and Night Train to Munich.^[3]

Episodes

• Part 1 - "All Abroad"
• Part 2 - "Thud and Blunder"
• Part 3 - "Crime Marches On"
• Part 5 - "High Spy"
• Part 6 - "How's that, Empire?"

Production

In May 1940 it was announced John Corfeld of British National had enjoyed the serial and wanted to turn it into a film.^[4][5] Filming took place at Elstree Studios.^[6]

Reception

Variety wrote "a top-heavy script and lax direction see opening reels treated hit-and-miss."^[7]

Availability

The film is available as a supplement on The Lady Vanishes Criterion Collection DVD and Blu-ray.^[8]

References

1. ^ "Crooks Tour (1940) - John Baxter | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related". AllMovie
2. ^ "Return of Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne in 'CROOKS' TOUR'". No. 932. 16 August 1941. p. 30. – via BBC Genome
3. ^ "New radio serial thriller". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 23 February 1940. p. 2.
4. ^ "Cinema gossip". Hinckley Echo. 3 May 1940. p. 6.
5. ^ Vagg, Stephen (14 September 2025). "Forgotten British Film Moguls: Lady Yule". Filmink. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
6. ^ "Studio briefs". Daily Herald. 17 May 1940. p. 7.
7. ^ "Crook's Tour". Variety. 25 September 1940. p. 18.
8. ^ "The Lady Vanishes - Criterion Collection". DVD Talk

External links

• Crook's Tour at IMDb