The Shadow Man (UK, 1953)

The Shadow Man A.K.A. Street of Shadows (UK, 1953). Director: Richard Vernon. Stars: Cesar Romero, Kay Kendall, Victor Maddern, Simone Silva...

First British pinballspotting. This is a so-so crime/drama/noir movie wherein the owner of a pin-table saloon in Soho gets caught up in the murder of an ex-girl friend.

There are plenty of scenes in the pin-table saloon where there are all manner of coin-operated amusement and gambling machines... Konki the animated singing clown, the animated laughing sailor, roulette wheels, a jukebox and 9 identifiable pinball machines. The movie was released in 1953 but all of the tables are from 1938 or 1939.

On the left is a Snappy (Chicago Coin Co., 1938), and the one on the right I believe is Odd Ball (Daval, 1938)...

Jungle (Genco, 1938)...

Jitter-Bug (Genco, 1938)...

Bally Royal (Bally, 1939), and mostly obscured by the cotton candy lady is the Snappy (Chicago Coin Co., 1938) seen earlier...

From left to right: Spinner (Daval, 1938), Bally Royal (Bally, 1939) and Bang (Genco, 1939)...

Miami (Chicago Coin Co., 1938)...

Side Kick (Daval, 1939)...

Flamingo Road (USA, 1949)

Flamingo Road (USA, 1949). Director: Michael Curtiz. Starring: Joan Crawford, Zachary Scott, Sydney Greenstreet...

Apparently, this movie was originally intended as a vehicle for Ann Sheridan, who turned it down. Which is too bad, because I prefer Sheridan to Crawford.

Anyway, in a some scenes in a roadhouse, we can spot a couple of pinball machines, which were both flipperless and from the late 30s.

The cabinet of this one looks exactly like the one I could not identify in They Drive By Night (1940) which I wrote about previously in this post...

This time we can see the backglass, which is from a Rink (Genco Manufacturing Co., 1939). The photos of the cabinet on ipdb.org do not match, but it does match in this vintage photo on photoseeum. On the flipside, whilst searching for this machine, I stumbled upon some info that helped identify a different piece of the puzzle concerning They Drive By Night (which I’ve updated in that post).

In a different scene at the same roadhouse, we can spot a Box Score (Daval, 1939). The cabinet doesn’t look quite right, but it’s too hard to make out, so we’ll just leave it at that...

[Edit 2017.12.05: Changed stills for better quality ones]