{{Short description|1949 British film by Godfrey Grayson}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2014}} {{Use British English|date=November 2014}} {{Infobox film | name = Doctor Morelle | image = Doctor_Morelle_(1949_film).jpg | caption = | director = Godfrey Grayson | producer = Anthony Hinds | writer = Wilfred Burr (stage play) <br /> Ernest Dudley (radio show) <br>Ambrose Grayson <br /> Roy Plomley | narrator = | starring = Valentine Dyall <br />Peter Drury <br />Hugh Griffith <br /> Julia Lang | music = Rupert Grayson <br /> Frank Spencer | cinematography = Cedric Williams | editing = Ray Pitt | studio = Hammer Film Productions | distributor = Exclusive Films (UK) | released = {{Film date|1949|06|27|UK|df=y}} | runtime = 73 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = $56,000<ref name="film">Tom Johnson and Deborah Del Vecchio, ''Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography'', McFarland, 1996 p36</ref> | gross = }} '''''Doctor Morelle''''' (also known as '''''Dr. Morelle: The Case of the Missing Heiress'''''<ref>{{cite web |title=Dr. Morelle - the Case of the Missing Heiress (1949) - Godfrey Grayson - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie |url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/dr-morelle-the-case-of-the-missing-heiress-v89933 |publisher=}}</ref>) is a 1949 British second feature ('B')<ref name="Chibnall">{{Cite book |last1=Chibnall |first1=Steve |title=''The British 'B' Film'' |last2=McFarlane |first2=Brian |publisher=BFI/Bloomsbury |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-8445-7319-6 |location=London |pages=75}}</ref> mystery film directed by Godfrey Grayson and starring Valentine Dyall, Julia Lang, Peter Drury and Hugh Griffith.<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Doctor Morelle |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150018296 |access-date=12 September 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/31521|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080530074230/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/31521|url-status=dead|archive-date=2008-05-30|title=Doctor Morelle The Case of the Missing Heiress (1949)|publisher=}}</ref> Made by Hammer Films, it was written by Ambrose Grayson and Roy Plomley, based on Wilfred Burr's stage play<ref>Johnson, Tom (1996). Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography. North Carolina: McFarland. p. 36. ISBN 0-7864-0034-X.</ref> and Ernest Dudley's long-running BBC radio series, which had originally starred Dennis Arundell and then Heron Carvic.<ref name=sky>{{cite web|url=http://www.sky.com/tv/movie/dr-morelle-and-the-case-of-the-missing-heiress-1949|title=Dr Morelle and the Case of the Missing Heiress|publisher=|access-date=27 January 2017|archive-date=2 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202040904/http://www.sky.com/tv/movie/dr-morelle-and-the-case-of-the-missing-heiress-1949|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ernest-dudley-465491.html|title=Ernest Dudley|website=Independent.co.uk |date=4 February 2006|publisher=}}</ref>

It was considered a lost film,<ref>Johnson, Tom (1996). Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography. North Carolina: McFarland. p. 37. ISBN 0-7864-0034-X.</ref> but it subsequently resurfaced on internet video sites circa 2014, courtesy of "The Video Ghost", a video uploader who re-uploads vintage radio shows and films.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://vimeo.com/86856759|title=Dr. Morelle at the Movies: The Case of the Missing Heiress|website=Vimeo|access-date=25 September 2025}}</ref>

==Plot== Private detective Doctor Morelle, who is intrigued by a case of a wealthy young woman named Cynthia Mason who has mysteriously vanished, visits her gloomy mansion to investigate. His secretary Miss Frayle poses as a maid and gets Bensall the butler to help her investigate two possible suspects, the missing girl's stepfather Samuel Kimber and her paramour Peter Lorrimer. Bensall is murdered along the way, and Miss Frayle is rescued from being buried alive by Dr. Morelle, who manages to reveal who killed Cynthia Mason.

==Cast== * Valentine Dyall as Doctor Morelle * Peter Drury as Peter Lorrimer * Hugh Griffith as Bensall, the butler * Julia Lang as Miss Frayle * Jean Lodge as Cynthia Mason * Philip Leaver as Samuel Kimber * Sidney Vivian as Inspector * James Raglan * Bruce Walker

==Production== This was the first film Hammer produced at their Cookham Dean studio, and in 1958, when Hammer celebrated their tenth anniversary, they showed a print of ''Doctor Morelle'', citing it as the first real Hammer Film. In addition to writing the radio series, Ernest Dudley also wrote many novels and short stories featuring the character of Morelle.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bernstein |first=Marcelle |date=7 May 2006 |title=W Ernest Dudley |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/may/08/radio.obituaries |newspaper=The Guardian |publisher=}}</ref> In 1949, Hammer had intended to produce a series of Dr. Morelle films, but Dudley would not allow it, since in 1949 he was planning on producing the films himself.

==Reception== ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' wrote: "Although the surprise ending provides a gleam of interest, the film as a whole is built on such a mass of absurdities as to be beyond all plausibility. Valentine Dyall brings his imposing presence and intense manner to bear upon the part of Dr. Morelle with good effect, whilst Julia Lang is sufficiently witless as Miss Frayle. The eerie effect produced by lighting and photography is the film's best feature."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1949 |title=Doctor Morelle |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305818151 |journal=The Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=16 |issue=181 |pages=96 |id={{ProQuest|1305818151}} |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

''Kine Weekly'' wrote: "Crisp, compact, stylishly cut thriller&nbsp;... An exciting surprise climax appropriately crowns a" miniature super." Capital British programmer."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=5 May 1949 |title=Doctor Morelle |volume=387 |issue=2192 |pages=22 |id={{ProQuest|2859058107}} |magazine=Kine Weekly}}</ref>

''Picturegoer'' wrote: "I doubt if a page from the doctor's casebook is as effective at length as it was when curtailed, but I don't think the radio series fans will be disappointed.&nbsp;...Valentine Dyall is the doctor, and Julia Lang is good as Miss Frayle. Support is sound, and you are kept guessing effectively as to whom the murderer was."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=5 August 1949 |title=Doctor Morelle |volume=18 |issue= |pages=16 |id={{ProQuest|1771158897}} |magazine=Picturegoer}}</ref>

The ''Radio Times'' noted "The first (and last) of an intended series based on a popular radio detective, this undistinguished B-feature murder mystery is typical of the early postwar output of Hammer before it discovered horror&nbsp;... Dyall has considerable presence but it's not enough to surmount the implausible plot."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/film/cn9jr/dr-morelle---the-case-of-the-missing-heiress|title=Dr Morelle - the Case of the Missing Heiress - Film from RadioTimes|publisher=}}</ref>

In ''British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959'' David Quinlan rated the film as "mediocre", writing: "Good radio characters wasted in story built on absurdities."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Quinlan |first=David |title=British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 |publisher=B.T. Batsford Ltd. |year=1984 |isbn=0-7134-1874-5 |location=London |pages=204}}</ref>

''Sky Movies'' wrote, "Each week from 1942 on, millions of radio listeners thrilled to the creepy adventures that presented 'the secret papers of perhaps the strangest personality in the history of criminal investigation. The mysterious Dr Morelle and his always-in-peril Girl Friday, Miss Frayle, were a natural for films but, as with so many other popular radio sleuths, the British Cinema failed to do right by them even though the slightly sinister Valentine Dyall was perfect casting as the detective doctor."<ref name="sky" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb title|0041314}}

{{Godfrey Grayson}}

Category:1949 films Category:British mystery films Category:1949 mystery films Category:Films directed by Godfrey Grayson Category:Hammer Film Productions films Category:British films based on plays Category:Films based on radio series Category:British black-and-white films Category:1949 English-language films Category:1949 British films Category:English-language mystery films Category:Films scored by Frank Spencer