{{Short description|1935 British film by Victor Hanbury}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}} {{Use British English|date=June 2016}} {{Infobox film | name = The Crouching Beast | image = The Crouching Beast.jpg | caption = | director = Victor Hanbury | producer = John Stafford | based_on = ''The Crouching Beast'' by Valentine Williams | writer = {{ubl|L. du Garde Peach}} | narrator = | starring = {{ubl|Fritz Kortner|Wynne Gibson|Richard Bird}} | music = Jack Beaver | cinematography = James Wilson | editing = David Lean | studio = John Stafford Productions | distributor = RKO Pictures | released = {{Film date|1935|08|29|London|1936|01|06|UK|df=y}} | runtime = 78 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = | gross = }} '''''The Crouching Beast''''' is a 1935 British war thriller film directed by Victor Hanbury and starring Fritz Kortner, Wynne Gibson and Richard Bird.<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=The Crouching Beast |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150154880 |access-date=12 October 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> It was written by L. du Garde Peach based on the 1928 novel ''The Crouching Beast'' by Valentine Williams. The film was distributed by the Hollywood studio RKO Pictures in order to fulfil its British quota. However it was considerably more expensive than many of the quota quickies produced by American companies during the era.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}

==Plot== In 1915 during the First World War, a British secret agent is killed while stealing secret Turkish plans for the Gallipoli Campaign. Before his death, the British agent manages to pass his information to an American journalist. Travelling to Constantinople, she manages to make contact with the British network, but the ruthless head of Turkish intelligence is close on her trail.

==Cast== * Fritz Kortner as Ahmed Bey * Wynne Gibson as Gail Dunbar * Richard Bird as Nigel Druce * Andrews Engelmann as Prince Dmitri * Isabel Jeans as The Pellegrini * Fred Conyngham as Rudi von Linz * Peter Gawthorne as Kadir Pasha * Ian Fleming as Major Abbott * Marjorie Mars as Ottillie

== Production == The films was shot at Welwyn Studios with sets designed by the art director Duncan Sutherland.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wood |first=Linda |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-british-films-1927-1939.pdf |title=British Films, 1927–1939 |publisher=British Film Institute |year=1986 |pages=85 |archive-date=14 October 2024 |access-date=12 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241014165254/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-british-films-1927-1939.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Reception == ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' wrote: "A film which misses through redundant episodes, poor dialogue, and indifferent acting, the pace and excitement which it might have had.&nbsp;... Nobody minds a familiar story if it is told effectively and with some distinction; here the fine acting and appearance of Fritz Kortner is negatived by the very English Turks, the very English young German officer, and the cardboard settings of cafe´ and street life. Wynne Gibson is not well cast for the snappy journalist, ready for adventure and risk. It is fair entertainment and would have been better without the occasional attempts at humour."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1935 |title=The Crouching Beast |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305803381 |journal=The Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=2 |issue=13 |pages=122 |id={{ProQuest|1305803381}} |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

''Picture Show'' wrote: "The menacing figure of 'Clubfoot' loses much of his menace in this somewhat highly coloured melodrama, which shows him completely outwitted by American girl and an Englishman.&nbsp;... Story suffers from its direction, which does not make most of situations and thrills."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=11 January 1936 |title=The Crouching Beast |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1880315479 |journal=Picture Show |volume=34 |issue=871 |pages=19 |id={{ProQuest|1880315479}} |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==References== <references/>

==External links== * {{IMDb title|0026248}}

{{Victor Hanbury}}

{{Italic title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crouching Beast, The}} Category:1935 films Category:1930s spy drama films Category:British spy drama films Category:1935 English-language films Category:Films directed by Victor Hanbury Category:Films set in 1915 Category:Films set in Istanbul Category:World War I spy films Category:Films based on British novels Category:Films shot at Welwyn Studios Category:Films scored by Jack Beaver Category:Films about the Gallipoli campaign Category:Films set in the Ottoman Empire Category:British black-and-white films Category:British war drama films Category:1930s war drama films Category:1935 drama films Category:1935 British films Category:English-language war drama films Category:English-language spy drama films

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