Black Sheep of Whitehall, The
Date: 1942
Director: Basil Dearden, Will Hay
Production Company: Ealing Studios
Stars: Will Hay, John Mills, Basil Sydney, Henry Hewitt, Felix Aylmer, Owen Reynolds, Frank Cellier, Joss Ambler, Frank Allenby, Thora Hird, Margaret Halstan, Barbara Valerie, Leslie Mitchell, George Woodbridge, George Merritt, Aubrey Mallalieu, Diana Beaumont, John Boxer
Location(s): Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Lancashire, London, Middlesex, Oxfordshire, Surrey
Region(s): London A-B, North, South East A-D
Storyline:
Professor Davis, the head of a correspondence school, discovers that a Nazi Agent is trying to prevent a trade treaty being signed between England and South America. The agent is posing as an economics expert seconded to the trade delegation. The professor must find the real economist who has been kidnapped and hidden and expose the agent.
Additional Information:
Originally uploaded in 2012 when the criteria for screen capture inclusion was more restricted than today the film has been re-addressed by Richard Lovejoy with additional captures and revised text.
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Can you help:
If you have any information regarding this production, the locations or, even better, some comparison shots please contact us. Images submitted must be in Landscape orientation, as would be seen on the cinema screen, not Portrait.
We are aware that there are films on the site that were added when the criteria for the inclusion of locations was very different from today and, as a result, there may be scenes missing from some productions. Please do not forward additional screen captures to us but bring the detail to our attention, for we do, and are, 're-addressing' these older entries as time allows.
- Capture 1
- 'Now' required
"In England there are many seats of learning" An aerial view down St. Aldate's, Oxford, Oxfordshire with the tower of Christ Church top right.
- Capture 2
- 12 May 2024
The view across to King's College Chapel, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire.
Rather a splendid sight. SJ
- Capture 3
- 'Now' required
Eton College, Eton, Berkshire.
- Capture 4
- 10 Apr 2024
Harrow School as seen from High Street, Harrow, Middlesex at the time of filming.
Antony Blair replicates the picture postcard view.
- Capture 5
- 09 Mar 2024
". . . and the 'Harrow Correspondence College', whose owner Professor Will Davis (Will Hay) has to urgently visit his only client to demand monies that he believes that he is owed." The film's 'Ministry of International Commerce' but actually the Foreign & Commonwealth Office on Whitehall, London SW1.
A clearer view today. SJ
- Capture 6
- 'Now' required
Meanwhile Professor Davys (Henry Hewitt) is landing in the country as representative of counties involved in the Anglo South American Trade Pact. But he is kidnapped on arrival. This is the liner The Duchess of Richmond docking at Liverpool. (SR)
- Capture 7
- 'Now' required
Realising that the real Professor Davys has been kidnapped, Bobby Jessop (John Mills), the student who owes the Professor money, engages him to assist in finding him. Professor Davis follows Arthur Costello (Basil Sydney), a reporter who is involved in the plot, to Paddington Station.
- Capture 8
- 'Now' required
Amongst the crowd Costello is about to board a train.
- Capture 9
- 'Now' required
Supposedly following the trains journey. Jonathan Horswell on www.railwaymoviedatabase.com states that this 'stock shot' is of an LMS express rounding a curve in the Lune Gorge, Lancashire, now Cumbria. This clip has also appeared in 'A Honeymoon Adventure' (1931), 'No Limit' (1935), 'Quiet Wedding' (1941), 'Next of Kin' (1942), 'The Echo Murders' (1945), and 'The Hangman Waits' (1947).
- Capture 10
- 'Now' required
Prof. Davis acts as a ticket collector as the train is about to enter a tunnel. Jonathan Horswell in his www.railwaymoviedatabase.com advises that the train is about to plunge into a tunnel somewhere on the old Great Central Railway.
- Capture 11
- 10 Feb 2026
The train pulls into the films 'Barchester' station. Actually High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
Phil Richards was kindly given access to the platform by station staff, which we appreciate, thank you. Apparently, that piece of canopy valance only fell off last week, it is scheduled to be replaced.
- Capture 12
- 'Now' required
Costello takes the only taxi to the Claremont Nursing Home where Professor Davys is being held. Heatherden Hall at Pinewood Studios, also seen in 'The Square Peg', 'A Stitch in Time' and many many more films.
- Capture 13
- 'Now' required
Later that day Bobby Jessop is admitted as "Mr Roberts", a patient with amnesia. Heatherden Hall at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire.
- Capture 14
- 'Now' required
Professor Davis and Bobby Jessop find Professor Davys and escape from the Home. Unidentified location.
- Capture 15
- 'Now' required
Tied into a wheelchair that is tied to the back of a BSA Scout the trio make their escape and onwards to Whitehall.
- Capture 16
- 'Now' required
The chase is on. Unidentified junction.
- Capture 17
- 'Now' required
Jessop says they have to "go back" to get to London and the two cars pass each other.
- Capture 18
- 12 May 2024
Time is of the essence to reach London before the broadcast covering the Pact. A tram on Westminster Bridge looking back to what has since been named the 'Elizabeth Tower'.
The tram lines, which ran in both directions on the north side of the bridge, were removed in 1952. SJ
- Capture 19
- 09 Mar 2024
Professor Davis has called upon his friends to create a delaying tactic to the official signing. Parliament Street looking towards Whitehall, SW1 and the Cenotaph.
From about here looking north. SJ
- Capture 20
- 22 Jul 2024
Level crossing gates are about to close in their path. Baynards station on the Horsham-Guildford line that closed in 1965. The building is one of the gate houses to the Baynards Park Estate in Sussex. Per Jonathan Horswell on www.railwaymoviedatabase.com, currently on the market as Thurlow Lodge, Baynards, Rudgwick RH12 3AD in 2022.
Mark Alford provides an excellent comparative shot of the same location following the demise of the railway all those years ago.
- Capture 21
- 'Now' required
With Professor Davys caught the wrong side of the gates a train approaches. A Southern Railway N Class 2-6-0. A reversed image.
- Capture 22
- 'Now' required
As they reach a divide in the road, the rope breaks and they take their different ways. The junction of Wycombe Road and Old Dashwood Hill, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire found by Steven James.
- Capture 23
- 'Now' required
Left to his own devises the Professor has to negotiate a group of cyclists. Unidentified location.
- Capture 24
- 'Now' required
And then two on coming vehicles. Unidentified location.
- Capture 25
- 09 Mar 2024
By chance their paths cross once again. Simon Cains advises that this is in fact where the Old Dashwood Hill meets the A40 again at the bottom of the hill.
Simon provides the comparative shot revealing substantial tree growth.
- Capture 26
- 'Now' required
Having grabbed the rope they have to negotiate another sharp bend. Unidentified turn.
- Capture 27
- 'Now' required
The another near miss. This appears to be looking back to the turning that they have just made.
- Capture 28
- 'Now' required
Now a hump back bridge! Could this have been near the following capture?
- Capture 29
- 'Now' required
The wheels have fallen off the carriage. Hithermoor Road, Stanwell Moor, Staines, Middlesex. Now developed beyond recognition.
- Capture 30
- 'Now' required
Yet another bend to negotiate. Shortly after the previous capture. Hithermoor Road, Stanwell Moor, Staines, Middlesex.
- Capture 31
- 'Now' required
And now a farm drive. But it appears to have given their pursuers the slip. This looks very much like the entrance to Hithermoor Farm, Farm Way off Hithermoor Road, Stanwell Moor, Staines with that building remaining.
- Capture 32
- 06 Apr 2024
Having forced Costello and Harman (Owen Reynolds), the Home?s principal, off the road the trio continue to London. The Broadway, Ealing just before they do a sharp left hand turn into Eccleston Road W13.
82 years later Antony Blair faced east at the same location.
- Capture 33
- 'Now' required
Only to find one street blocked by a policeman for an "Unexploded Bomb". David Ashwood advised that this is the junction of Ranelagh Road and Liverpool Road, Ealing W5 looking west.
- Capture 34
- 'Now' required
They approach at speed. David Ashwood recognised the junction of Ranelagh Road and Liverpool Road in Ealing looking east.
- Capture 35
- 'Now' required
Clear view of the road for historic and record purposes. Junction of Ranelagh Road and Liverpool Road, Ealing looking west identified by David Ashwood.
- Capture 36
- 'Now' required
But they pass the policeman none the less. Ranelagh Road from the junction with Liverpool Road looking west.
- Capture 37
- 'Now' required
Having run out of petrol they are forced to pull up before arriving in Whitehall in time to save the day. 'Morgan House', and 'St. Aidan', Ealing Green, London W5.