Convict 99

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title: "Convict 99" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1938-films", "1938-comedy-films", "1938-british-films", "1930s-english-language-films", "british-black-and-white-films", "british-prison-comedy-films", "english-language-comedy-films", "films-directed-by-marcel-varnel", "films-set-in-devon", "films-set-in-london", "films-with-screenplays-by-marriott-edgar", "gainsborough-pictures-films"] description: "1938 British film by Marcel Varnel" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convict_99" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 1938 British film by Marcel Varnel ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox film"]

Field	Value
name	Convict 99
image	Convict 99.jpg
director	Marcel Varnel
producer	Edward Black
writer
starring
cinematography	Arthur Crabtree
editing	R. E. Dearing
distributor	Gainsborough Pictures
released
runtime	91 minutes
country	United Kingdom
language	English
::

| name = Convict 99 | image = Convict 99.jpg | caption = | director = Marcel Varnel | producer = Edward Black | writer = | narrator = | starring = | music = | cinematography = Arthur Crabtree | editing = R. E. Dearing | distributor = Gainsborough Pictures | released = | runtime = 91 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = | gross = Convict 99 is a 1938 British comedy film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Will Hay, Moore Marriott, Graham Moffatt and Googie Withers.

It was one of several comedies Hay made for producer Ted Black.

Plot

Incompetent Dr Benjamin Twist is dismissed from his job as headmaster at St. Michael's School (the school returns in a later film The Ghost of St. Michael's), and applies for a job in another school.

Going for interview, he is called into another office where they are expecting John Benjamin, a strict prison governor recently arrived from Australia who is applying for the vacancy at Blackdown Prison in Devon. On the way to what Twist believes is the school, he becomes drunk, and on arrival is mistaken for Max Slessor, a prisoner who had escaped during a jailbreak.

Designated Convict 99 and in for seven years for forgery, Twist is soon discovered to be the new Prison Governor, and once put in his (dubiously) rightful place embarks on a programme to make the prison a more friendly place for the prisoners, funding it from the proceeds of a football pools win and stock market investments.

Things take a turn for the worse, when the recaptured Slessor escapes again with a signed cheque. Altering the figures, he draws the entire prison funds from the bank. Twist and some of the convicts head in a prison van to Limehouse, in east London, to catch Slessor, recover the lost funds and then successfully break into the bank in the middle of the night to return the money.

Cast

• Will Hay as Dr. Benjamin Twist
• Moore Marriott as Jerry "The Mole"
• Graham Moffatt as Albert
• Googie Withers as Lottie "The Baroness"
• Peter Gawthorne as Sir Cyril
• Basil Radford as Deputy Governor
• Dennis Wyndham as Head Warder
• Wilfred Walter as Max Slessor
• Alf Goddard as Sykes
• Basil McGrail as Bates
• Kathleen Harrison as Mable
• Roddy McDowall as Jimmy
• Teddy Brown as Charlie "Slim Charlie"
• Bertha Belmore as Tiara Lady
• George Merritt as Patrolman
• Roy Emerton as John Benjamin
• Leonard Sharp as Convict
• Garry Marsh as Johnson

Reception

Kinematograph Weekly reported the film did well at the British box office in September 1938.

References

References

1. Vagg, Stephen. (1 December 2024). "Forgotten British Film Moguls: Ted Black".
2. Billings, R.H.. (12 January 1939). "Films which won the box office stakes last year".

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