{{short description|1937 film}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Use British English|date=June 2016}} {{Infobox film | name = Passenger to London | image = Passenger_to_London_film_Opening_titles_(1937).jpg | caption = | director = Lawrence Huntington | producer = Lawrence Huntington | writer = David Evans | narrator = | starring = John Warwick <br/> Jenny Laird <br/> Nigel Barrie | music = Charles Cowlrick | cinematography = Stanley Grant | editing = Peter Tanner | studio = Fox British Pictures | distributor = Twentieth Century Fox | released = {{Film date|1937|06}} | runtime = 57 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = | gross = }}
'''''Passenger to London''''' (also known as '''''The Black Trunk''''') is a 1937 British espionage thriller film directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring John Warwick, Jenny Laird and Nigel Barrie.<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Passenger to London |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150040987 |access-date=4 November 2025 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> It was written by David Evans.
==Plot== On board a continental express, British secret service agent Carlton hides valuable documents in a trunk belonging to fellow passenger Barbara Lane. When Carlton is murdered in London, Government agent Frank Drayton sets out to retrieve the papers and rescue Barbara, who has been drawn into the intrigue.
==Cast== * John Warwick as Frank Drayton * Jenny Laird as Barbara Lane * Paul Neville as Vautel * Ivan Wilmot as Veinberg * Aubrey Pollock as Sir James Garfield * Victor Hagen as Carlton * Nigel Barrie as Sir Donald Frame * Sybil Brooke as Miss Park * Dorothy Dewhurst as Manageress
==Production== It was shot at Wembley Studios in London as a quota quickie by the British subsidiary of Twentieth Century Fox.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chibnall |first=Steve. |title=Quota Quickies: The Birth of the British 'B' Film |publisher=British Film Institute |year=2007 |isbn=978-1844571550 |pages=296}}</ref>
==Reception== ''Kine Weekly'' wrote: "Opening sequences on the Continental train are well done, but too slow for full dramatic effect; the cheap hotel is quite well suggested, but the stock characters, uninspired dialogue, obtrusive and background music rob it of any chance to be convincing. There are some good! directorial touches, especially in the continuity."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 July 1937 |title=Passenger to London |volume=245 |issue=1576 |pages=33 |id={{ProQuest|2338213002}} |magazine=Kine Weekly}}</ref>
''The Daily Film Renter'' wrote: "Action packs fair quota of thrills, even though development is far-fetched and plot machinations appear somewhat confected, while effective settings include continental express. Useful supporting feature for definitely popular patronage."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=30 June 1937 |title=Passenger to London |volume=245 |issue=3198 |pages=4 |id={{ProQuest|3127088964}} |magazine=The Daily Film Renter}}</ref>
''Picturegoer'' considered the storyline as "too obvious" and the film being "too slow to be fully effective".<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004673/19371211/149/0031 |title=Passenger to London |magazine=Pictuegoer |date=11 December 1937 |page=31 |issue=342 |volume=7 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>
In ''British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959'' David Quinlan rated the film as "poor", writing: "Good settings, but otherwise feeble thriller."<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=128}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb title|0134884}}
{{Lawrence Huntington}}
Category:1937 films Category:1937 thriller films Category:British black-and-white films Category:Films directed by Lawrence Huntington Category:British thriller films Category:1937 English-language films Category:1937 British films Category:Films shot at Wembley Studios Category:Quota quickies Category:20th Century Fox films Category:English-language thriller films