Night Birds is a 1930 British crime film directed by Richard Eichberg. Richard is German and started directing in 1915. Most of his work was in Germany but he occasionally worked in other places, I see one film made in Finland and a couple in Denmark. Whirl Of Youth was made in the US in 1927 and the following year he made Pavement Butterfly in the UK. The film was filmed in both English and German. Other than this film I don't think I've seen any of his other work.
It was written by Victor Kendall with some additional dialog by Miles Malleson. I can't say I recognize any of the other 28 writing credits that Victor has. He worked steadily form 1929 to 1939 and then he seems to disappear, his date of death is unknown. I know Miles from several films as an actor and writer, he appears in the film in an uncredited part. He worked from 1921 to 1965 and passed away 4 years later at age 80. He has 138 acting credits and 47 credits on the IMDb. As an actor he turns up in some good number of films I've seen. Horror and mystery genre fans should know him from the 1959 The Hound Of The Baskervilles, the 1935 The 39 Steps, Peeping Tom, The Brides Of Dracula and Horror Of Dracula. Comedy fans should know him from The Man In The White Suit, The Importance Of Being Ernest, Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Captain's Paradise, I'm All Right Jack and Call Me Bwana.
Hoodlums hold up the rich at a dinner at a man's mansion. Jack Raine is Sergeant Harry Cross, that's him in the pictures above, one with Frank Perfitt, he plays a Scotland Yard Inspector who's Cross's boss, and the other with Eva Gray, she plays Cross's wife Mary. We get a bit of family drama mixed in with the crime detection, neither is very serious. The IMDb says it's a crime drama but there's sure a lot of gags. There's a dance number near the beginning and a big stage play with music near the end. There Sgt Cross faces his foe high above the stage, you can see the actors pointing up above. I enjoyed it and I'd watch it again someday.
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