23 Paces to Baker Street

Plot synopsis

Philip Hannon (Van Johnson) is a blind man who lives in London flat with a spectacular view over the Thames river between Waterloo Bridge and Charing Cross Station, with his trusted butler Bob Matthews (Cecil Parker); he works as a playwright. One day, he overhears part of a conversation in his local pub that involves a child that had been kidnapped. He tries to contact inspector Grovening (Maurice Denham), but offers no help, so he teams up with his butler and his ex-fiancée Jean (Vera Miles) who is over from America, to bring the kidnappers to justice. Their sleuthing soon leads them to a nanny agency with dire repercussions.

Critical response

In his review in The New York Times, Bosley Crowther observed, "a large part of this picture is curiously casual and slow, as Van Johnson, as the blind man, bores the mischief out of everybody with his hazy suspicions . . . . for that matter, he bores the audience, too. Lots of unimpressed fellows were ho-humming in the balcony at Loew's State yesterday . . . matters do start popping about half or two-thirds of the way along, when it is finally discovered, through various coincidences, that something has been cooking all the time. But you have to depend on Mr. Johnson — and Nigel Balchin, the screenwriter — to give you the details after they've been discovered. This is not a good way to get people interested in a mystery show . . . it would be a more exciting picture if it got going with a little more snap, established a more compelling mystery and built up some genuine suspense."