Solo for Sparrow

Solo for Sparrow is a 1962 British second feature ('B')^[2] crime film directed by Gordon Flemyng and starring Glyn Houston, Anthony Newlands and Nadja Regin, with Michael Caine in an early supporting role.^[3][4] It was written by Roger Marshall based on the 1928 Edgar Wallace novel The Gunner, and produced by Jack Greenwood and Abhinandan Nikhanj as part of the Edgar Wallace Mysteries series.^[5]

Solo for Sparrow
Directed by	Gordon Flemyng
Written by	Roger Marshall
Based on	novel The Gunner by Edgar Wallace[1]
Produced by	Jack Greenwood Abhinandan Nikhanj
Starring	Anthony Newlands
Cinematography	Bert Mason
Edited by	Robert Jordan Hill
Music by	Bernard Ebbinghouse
Production company	Merton Park Studios
Distributed by	Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors (U.K.)
Release date	1962 (1962)
Running time	56 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The film was released in America in 1966, when the producers capitalised on Caine's new-found fame and released it with his name above the title.^[6]

Plot

Inspector Sparrow is a provincial detective. When crooks accidentally kill a shop cashier while stealing the keys to the jewellery shop where she works, Sparrow takes his annual leave and works on the case unofficially. He successfully tracks down the criminals and turns them over to Scotland Yard.

Cast

• Glyn Houston as Inspector Sparrow
• Anthony Newlands as Reynolds
• Nadja Regin as Mrs. Reynolds
• Michael Coles as 'Pin' Norman
• Allan Cuthbertson as Chief Superintendent Symington
• Ken Wayne as Baker
• Jerry Stovin as Lewis
• Jack May as Inspector Hudson
• Murray Melvin as Larkin
• Peter Thomas as Bell
• Michael Caine as Mooney
• Neil McCarthy as Dusty
• Susan Maryott as Sue Warren
• William Gaunt as Detective Sergeant Reeve
• Nancy O'Neil as Miss Martin
• Yvonne Buckingham as Jenny
• Bartlett Mullins as Mr. Walters
• Wanda Ventham as waitress
• Eric Dodson as Dr. Wolfson

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Fairly routine case of crime and punishment in the Edgar Wallace series, with the sudden flashes of imagination that often redeem these purely commercial operations. Some of the minor crooks are quite skilfully drawn, and a starkly staged interview between Sparrow and a billiard-playing informer is conceived with a real flair for the sinister effect. The thrills are predictable, and the climactic rescue couldn't have been better timed if John Wayne were leading the U.S. Cavalry. But Glyn Houston gives a sturdy performance as Sparrow, and the whole thing is diverting enough."^[7]