An Inspector Calls

Subtlety matters. That’s the lesson here (or at least one lesson), where a story from a more credulous age meets a more modern plot. The presence of personal favorite (and birthday buddy!) Alastair Sim as the titular character, with his inimitable sensibility, really gives this tale a certain verve and dramatic momentum. The story drives towards a seemingly inevitable conclusion, and then there’s a twist that, frankly, I didn’t see coming, but that raises the level of this film from run-of-the-mill whodunnit to something much more clever and thought provoking. The rest of the cast is quite good, too, in presenting the very essence of how hierarchy and status generate the kind of frame of mind that propels certain people to bad actions, if not actual crimes. As a critique of capitalism and wealth and stratified society in general, this film works really well—which is good because as a mystery it is frankly a bit predictable. But when you get to that twist at the end… then you begin to see just how clever the storytelling here actually is.