Thorold Dickinson, who directed the much superior 1940 version of "Gaslight", also directed this mystery, which was one of the first films where football played a very central part to the plot. It was Arsenal's last official league fixture before World War 11 and several of their players and staff were featured in the film. The Trojan players on the pitch were from Brentford football club.

The film begins with a promotional newsreel that introduces players from both Arsenal and the Trojans - both teams are watching but Trojan's star player is missing. John Doyce (Anthony Bushell) is a "swell head", who is romancing Gwen Lee (Greta Gynt - Britain's closest answer to a sex symbol in the 1940s) - but she is engaged to another player, Phillip.

As the game on Saturday progresses it is clear that Doyce wants to be the whole show and is not a team player - he is not popular among the other players. At half time he receives a diamond ring in a box - before the end of the match he is dead.

Enter the eccentric detective, Inspector Slade (Leslie Banks),who has been called away from organizing the annual policeman's panto to solve the murder of the philandering footballer. Meanwhile Gwen has gone to Doyce's flat collecting photos, letters and anything that may incriminate her. The police are anxious to find her and their search is made easy as she is a top model and her face is in every newspaper and magazine. They are hampered by Gwen's mysterious flatmate Inga (Liane Linden,a Swedish actress, who surprisingly made only a handful of films) who tries to throw them off the scent. Has she something to hide????

Everyone has a grudge against Doyce - he was also blackmailing some of his teammates. When Gwen is found dead, with a bottle of digitalis in her hand, Slade instantly suspects murder!!! With an ambiguous newspaper clipping about a body floating in the river Fosse, Slade feels that she was killed because she knew who murdered Doyce.

I thought it was an excellent mystery laced with comedy. I did not guess "who done it" but the person was found out in a very unusual way.

Did anyone notice the strange news poster that proclaimed "We Warn Hitler's British Friends"!!!

Leslie Banks is my favourite British actor. Even though his first film was the classic American horror film "The Most Dangerous Game", he also appeared to advantage in a couple of Alfred Hitchcock films - "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1934) and "Jamaica Inn" (1939).

Highly Recommended.

This well-made quota quickie deals with the death of an athlete during a soccer match, the British version of football. They do actually refer to soccer as football in this, and the first 20 minutes of the film is dedicated to the British obsession with that sport. It is closer to a sports news real than a film though, that is until the soccer hero collapses on the field and the game is postponed. A young woman appears and asks the officials if the player is okay, and she was cold without delay that he is dead. That makes her a person of interest among various players on the team and other officials and people interested in the outcome of the game.

It's up to detective Leslie Banks ("The Man Who Knew Too Much") who spends more time analyzing women's tights and tutus for a musical revue he is directing for a policeman's fundraiser, a very funny verbal gag that shows the veteran actor in drag. The pretty Greta Gynt is the woman of mystery, and she is quite good as she proclaims her interest even though she ends up being followed and questioned again when another death occurs. Pretty lavish looking for a programmer and fast moving.

No I was not born when this film was made but I was a season ticket holder there between 1961 and 2006.I can confirm that this film faithfully reproduces the dressing room areas of the ground.I would like to correct factual errors by other reviewers.Firstly this was not the last game at the stadium before the outbreak of war.This was the game v Sunderland played on September 1939 when Arsenal beat Sunderland 3-1.However the game does not count in the records as the league season was abandoned with the outbreak of war.Secondly it did not take 25 years for Arsenal return to glory.They won the league in 1947 and 1953 and the cup in 1950.This is an a very enjoyable film,which is very nostalgic for Arsenal supporters who fondly remember Highbury.