100 years of the British phone box: a design icon on screen
Ring in the centenary celebrations for the iconic telephone box with a round-up of some of its most memorable cinematic supporting roles.
22 May 2021
Local Hero (1983)
Making its first appearance on Britain’s streets 100 years ago, the telephone box is often celebrated as one of our quintessential landmarks. On film, however, it tends to take on a more subversive role. As a space of secrecy for illicit negotiations or a means to conceal conversations, the on-screen phone box is a gateway to crime and desire.
It’s all a far cry from the intentions behind Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s K2 design with its bright vermillion tint, which replaced the original 1921 design in 1924 and was intended to make the booths stand out in case of emergencies.
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Package Includes: Blu-ray
Disc Type: BD50 (dual layer)
Region: A
MSRP: $24.99
The Production: 4/5
On a ship bound for England from the West Indies, Olivia Harwood (Ann Todd) – a missionary’s widow – meets the mysterious Mark Bellis (Ray Milland) while nursing him back to health from malaria. Upon arriving in Liverpool, Olivia is persuaded by Mark to let him live with her in the boarding house she inherited. Over time, it’s revealed that Mark is a con man whose previous escapades as an art thief and forger have come up empty; when Olivia is hired as a live in companion to her former schoolfriend Susan Courtney (Geraldine Fitzgerald), Mark persuades her into stealing the stocks and bonds from the household. However, it’s when a bundle of letters containing Susan’s admissions of romantic interludes outside of her marriage amid other morally questionable behavior is when Olivia is dragged further into a deepening web of blackmail, betrayal, and eventually murder.