Emil and the Detectives

Emil and the Detectives is described by the British Film Institute as one of the most famously missing British films of the 1930s.

This film is presented in conjunction with the European Cinema Research Forum, April 27–29, hosted by Ohio State's Film Studies program. The film tells the story of a boy (Emil) who is drugged and robbed of all of his money on a train bound for London. Once there, Emil enlists the aid of a mob of street kids who help him tail the thief throughout the city and bring him to justice. This version is the second of at least five adaptations of the Erich Kastner novel of the same name; the first was cowritten by Billy Wilder in 1931. With John Williams and George Hayes. (75 mins., 16mm)