An Inspector Calls (1954 film) An Inspector Calls (1954 film) An Inspector Calls is a British 1954 film directed by Guy Hamilton and written for the screen by Desmond Davis. It is based upon the play "An Inspector Calls" by J.B. Priestley. It stars Alastair Sim. Set in 1912, a dinner party held by the upper class Birling family is interrupted by a man calling himself Inspector Poole, investigating the suicide of a lower class girl Eva Smith whose death is linked to each family member. "An Inspector Calls" was filmed at Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, under the auspices of the Watergate Productions Ltd.
An Inspector Calls and audiences have interpreted Goole’s role as an "avenging angel" or a supernatural being because of his unexplained omniscience, his prophetic final speech in which he says that humanity will learn its lesson in "fire and blood and anguish" (referring to the First World War, two years after the setting of the play 1912) and even because of his name, which is a homophone for the word "" (meaning "ghost") and is also the name of a seaside town (which could possibly be a reference to the time period in the play when Eva Smith stays in a seaside town