The Return of the Frog (1938) User Reviews

Scotland Yard knee deep in trouble again.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 25 July 2022]

Somewhat slow moving in spots but exciting once it gets going, this D grade British crime drama with bits of comedy comes with the same type of low budget that producer George King was utilizing for all those Tod Slaughter melodramas. That makes it a bit creaky to get into, but some good performances aides this (along with some booby trapped props) a possible into becoming an interesting quota quickie.

The witch like laugh of surprising criminal Una O'Connor resembles the screech of the parrot who likes to harass Scotland Yard detective Gordon Harker. There's an exploding phone booth (that unleashes a jackpot), a solid room that emits poisonous gas and a speeding boat due to blow up at any moment. There's also a detective from Chicago (Hartley Power) and a hot tempered heroine (Rene Ray) who is really a countess. And of course, I can't forget about the porcelain frog that croaks orders from its unseen mastermind. Low budget but Bond like in a few bits, although I doubt most Bond fans would be interested in this.

Elk Vs. Frog

[boblipton · 6/10 · 6 February 2021]

There's a criminal mastermind running a desperate gang in London. He communicates with his henchmen via a porcelain frog with blinking eyes, and he punishes the disloyal and those who threaten him by blowing them up. Inspector Gordon Harker is on his trail.

It's a sequel to The Frog, and may strike you as similar to the trio of "Inspector Hornleigh" movies that Harker also starred in, albeit without Alastair Sim for comic relief. There's a simple reason for that relationship: they're all based on works by Edgar Wallace. If you're familiar with the Edgar Wallace series from the 1960s, you'll find this one a bit cozier, with fewer of the gothic elements from the German film makers later on. Director Maurice Elvey reuses sequences from his Sherlock Holmes movies from the 1920s, most obviously in a long sequence set on the Thames.

The copy I saw has a slightly compromised soundtrack that made a lot of the chitchat difficult to follow.

Elk To The Rescue

[malcolmgsw · 6/10 · 22 November 2019]

Edgar Wallace,one of the co founders of British Lion,was a prolific crime writer.Many of them had a mysterious boss at the head of a gang of criminals.In this instance The Frog is resuscitated from the first him,as is Elk.Gordon Harker mages a very engaging detective assisted by Cyril Smith.So successful was his character that it was renamed Hornleigh for a radio series and 3 films with Alistair Sim. It is not hard to guess the identity of The Frog but this does not spoil the entertainment.

Hectic Edgar Wallace thriller catches its period nicely

[Mozjoukine · 21 December 2003]

Edgar Walace used to be the same kind of franchise that Alistair McLean or Steven King would become.

Here we get the same succession of murderous ambushes, disguises, suspects and heedless detecting that his books offers (the fifties German films had little connection.) This team had the formula all down with the dockland atmosphere and so British players making it ring true.

Director Elvey was a sure craftsman at this stage and the pace is rapid enough to cover the illogical moments. Even the dreadful Gordon Harker is in his element.

Inspector Elk versus The Frog

[greenbudgie · 7/10 · 20 February 2021]

Gordon Harker reprises his role of policeman Elk from 'The Frog' (1937) but here he has been promoted to Inspector. He leads the investigation against a criminal who radios in his instructions to his gang via a massive curio figure of a frog with beaming eyes. The gang are all known by numbers and they carry out raids and shootings and explosions in London. Chicago Dale claims to be an American policeman visiting Scotland Yard to learn about their detection methods. Elk tries to check with Chicago Police but their Chief has just been murdered so there is no corroboration of Dale's story.

Mum Oak's riverside bar is a great setting with it's stable door type entrance a few feet away from the lapping water of the River Thames. Inside is a cupboard safe and a back door that leads to a yard and a cellar convenient to carry out secret activities. Mum Oaks (Una O'Connor) is a fence who is well known to Inspector Elk and she is in with other dubious characters like Captain Dutchy and Dandy Lane. She treats her brother Golly in a harsh manner and all of the people at Mum Oaks' place come across as 1930s contemporary updates of Dickensian characters.

Inspector Elk is usually attired in a grubby raincoat and carries a brolly which he uses to rap on doors. He never knows whether he can trust Chicago Dale or not. He is under constant threat from such things as an exploding phone box and poison gas vapors disguised as London fog and a booby-trapped river police boat. Fortunately he carries a gas mask when he is trapped in Mum Oaks' cellar that is filling with poison gas. This is a good entertaining mystery filled with incidents.

An uneasy mixture of comedy and crime!

[JohnHowardReid · 5/10 · 11 November 2006]

There are so many things wrong with this uneasy mixture of comedy and crime, it's difficult to make a start. I don't like to single out Gordon Harker but he must cop a fair share of the blame. As a comic character actor, Harker is fine. As a whimsical police inspector parrying smart dialogue with crooks and receivers, he's totally unconvincing. Mind you, Cyril Smith seems equally out of place, but his role at least is smaller, whereas Harker dominates almost every scene. (Elk does not figure in Wallace's novel at all. The central character is Inspector John Wade, but Herbert Wilcox wanted to capitalize on the success of The Frog which he produced two years earlier).

The second big problem emanates from the "mysterious" Frog himself who boasts (via closed circuit television to his confederates) that no-one could possibly tumble to his true identity. Well, I've got news for you, Mr Frog. I didn't just suspect your identity when you first entered the scene, I knew instantly who you were. Your "disguise" didn't fool me for a second. Why? Three reasons: (1) You were markedly obvious to anyone who has read a few detective stories or seen three or four thrillers; (2) You overplayed the humble pie act; (2) the dopey director thrust you center stage as if to say, "Take special notice of this guy. He may seem a lackluster boob, but he's actually very important."

Which brings me to my third problem: the bumpy direction. Elvey's pacing is all over the place. Minor scenes with unimportant characters standing around chewing the fat are drawn out way beyond their welcome, whereas essential plot points are often hurried over at such a speed, the simple story becomes difficult to follow. (The way Harker mumbles his dialogue doesn't help either). On the other hand, Elvey does present us with a couple of thrilling action episodes, but these too often suffer from poor timing. In Elvey's hands, comedy, farce and drama just don't seem to mix.

That leads us to the fourth and final dilemma: a climax that's a real let-down (in both senses of the word). I expected something that would top the splendid action of the river bomb sequence. But this didn't happen. Instead the Frog was unmasked (or rather he revealed himself, despite the fact that 99% of the audience knew who he was all along), and was then summarily disposed of not by the eccentric inspector, but by his comic sidekick. The whole sequence was deliberately played mostly for laughs! Finally, the pleasant-faced Hartley Power character turned out to be… Well, I won't spoil the "surprise" but that info was given to us almost in the very first scene.

Production values appear worthy enough, but all in all, the end result equates as somewhat disappointing—especially for Edgar Wallace fans!

Perfect Fun

[dbborroughs · 10/10 · 22 April 2004]

Although the Frog Gang was thought to be out of business a sudden rash of crimes shows the mark, literally, of their return. Before long Inspector Elk is once again on the trail of the gang, only this time he's aided by Dale Sandford from Chicago, who may very well be the one that calls himself the Frog.

I maybe over selling this movie by giving it a ten out of ten, but few of the mysteries of the time make me laugh, smile and sit on the edge of my seat the way this one does. This one has everything in abundance, chases, fights, smart ass lines, romance, and best of all genuine mystery, something most mysteries of the period are lacking. There is only one false note in the entire film and that is the performance of the Frog when he's revealed in the final moments.

No, its not the best movie ever made, there are "problems" with it that would keep it from being a "perfect" film, but I'm not looking for a perfect film. I, like most people I know, tend to watch the old mysteries for a feel that they engender, its not the mystery or acting but a place that they take you to and this one has it in spades. It feels like an old friend even when you're only just seeing it. Its a movie from a simpler time when the heroes were good, and the villains were bad and even though you know in the back of your head it will come out okay, you still sense that anything can and will happen. Its the old mystery you might have made had you had the chance to do so way back when.

Put this on my list of all time favorites, its destined to become a well worn DVD.

An Amusing Master of Disguise criminal melodrama

[zardoz-13 · 8/10 · 26 March 2020]

An amusing mastermind criminal melodrama, "Nobody Home," aka "The Return of the Frog" pits the master-0f-disguise underworld czar 'The Frog' against Scotland Yard Inspector Elk (Gordon Harker) with a little help from Chicago flatfoot Dale Sandford (Hartley Power) who has ventured abroad to observe Scotland Yard's methods. You don't often see cops from other towns, cities, and countries collaborating with law enforcement agencies. In the 1960s, there was "Coogan's Bluff" (1968) and "Brannigan" (1975) then later NBC-TV's "McCloud" (1970-1977), with Dennis Weaver. Scotland Yard Inspector Elk is lecturing at a nearby college about his triumph over the "Frog," when somebody hurls a bomb through a porthole into a ship and blows up the ship's captain and a Thames River policeman. Not long afterward, Dale Sandford shows up and awaits Inspector Elk in the latter's office when a lone bullet shatters a framed photograph. Elk isn't entirely sure that Sandford is legitimate. The Frog is a mastermind of disguise and organization. At the beginning of the movie, he briefed his loyal army of henchman about a forthcoming robbery. Later, we learn that he is using both television and radio to address his minions from a remote location. Of course, Scotland Yard saves the day. There are a couple of uncharacteristically violent scenes. A man behind the wheel of an automobile is shot to death at point blank range. Later, a man raps on a door and a pistol appears in the mail slot of the door and blasts away at the unfortunate gentleman. One of the highlights is Una O'Connor's Mum Oaks. There is a big shoot out at a dock where a villain is in the bucket firing down on the police. The relationship between Elk and Sandford starts out with both tolerating the other until about three-fourths of the way through when Mum Oaks is poisoned in her prison cell. She had made an arrangement with Elks for safekeeping in prison. As you can well imagine, nobody can thwart the Frog's criminal organization. Since it was shot in England, the cast is distinctive. The prison matron who puts up with Mum Oaks is unforgettable. Gordon Harker is very good as Inspector Elks. The scene where he enters a phone booth that blows up in his face is worth a chuckle. Ostensibly, "The Return of the Frog" is an adaptation of Edgar Wallace's "The India-Rubber Men." The comic relief is clever, too. At 67 minutes in length, this is an entertaining epic.

Great Mystery With Some Ham-Fisted Comedy

[GManfred · 25 June 2010]

Thoroughly enjoyed 'Return of the Frog' and I felt it was a pleasant surprise. I also thoroughly enjoyed Gordon Harker as Insp. Elk, an actor with whom I was not familiar. I have to admit he did not get off to a promising start. When the picture began here he was, a homely, rumpled, potato-faced fellow who does not fit anyone's image of a Scotland Yard Inspector, but within 5 minutes he took over the role and became - he was - Insp. Elk of the Yard. In fact, he was the glue that held the picture together.

It was too bad that they decided to inject humor into the movie. I dislike the 30's and 40's habit of mixing mystery and comedy on both sides of the Atlantic, but Hollywood does it better. Harker's mumbled asides were extremely funny (listen for them), but the film's sight gags were too obvious and poorly timed.

The story involves a mysterious figure known as The Frog who has a gang of criminals to pull off his villainy, and whose identity is unknown until 15 minutes to go in the film. By the way, disregard the plot synopsis at the top of the IMDb credits, as it isn't even close to the real story. It begins as an American detective from Chicago arrives at the Yard to learn about new police work techniques, and becomes an assistant to Elk. You take it from there. There were no noteworthy actors to my knowledge, save for Una O'Connor but without her trademark shrieking scene.

Return of the Frog was a very worthwhile 75 minutes. Allow for its age and feeble attempts at humor and you have a rating of 7 - and you might not guess the identity of the Frog.