summarises the film as: "(London) is presented as the site of all that is wrong with society – a place where a convict is the closest one can get to a hero, where a young girl can be murdered in her own home, and where a pillar of the community is actually a murderer." Time Out reviewer Robert Murphy wrote: "The fusion of quirky British realism and slick Hollywood melodramatics produced a real gem. Woods...takes the workmanlike story of a petty criminal...and invests it with an atmosphere of unrelenting wind, rain and gloom which makes the average American film noir look bright and breezy by comparison." Woods' reputation was further enhanced by the 1939 spy drama Q Planes (co-directed with Tim Whelan) and his final film Busman's Honeymoon, a Dorothy L. Sayers adaptation. World War II Woods, already a skilled pilot, joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in 1939 as a Navigator. He was involved in the Battle of Britain later that year, and in 1942 was awarded the Air Force Cross. On 8 February 1944, Flight Lieutenant Woods was killed in a mid-air collision over the Hampshire coast, aged 39. Woods and his pilot Norwegian Jan Otto Bugge were flying a de Havilland Mosquito night fighter when it collided with a Vickers Wellington and crashed at Emsworth, killing them both. Filmography (director) 1933: Timbuctoo 1933: On Secret Service 1934: Radio Parade of 1935 1934: Give Her a Ring 1935: Once in a Million 1935: Music Hath Charms 1935: Drake of England 1936: Rhythm in the Air 1936: Where's Sally? ♦ 1936: Irish for Luck ♦ 1937: Mayfair Melody ♦ 1937: The Windmill ♦ 1937: The Compulsory Wife ♦ 1937: Don't Get Me Wrong 1937: You Live and Learn ♦ 1938: The Singing Cop ♦ 1938: The Dark Stairway ♦ 1938: Mr. Satan 1938: Thistledown ♦ 1938: Glamour Girl 1938: The Return of Carol Deane 1938: Dangerous Medicine ♦ 1938: They Drive by Night 1939: Q Planes 1939: The Nursemaid Who Disappeared 1939: Confidential Lady ♦ 1940: Busman's Honeymoon ♦ These films are confirmed by the British Film Institute as currently missing and believed lost. References External links 1904 births 1944 deaths English film directors Film people from Liverpool Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom) Royal Air Force officers Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War