The Lyons Mail

The Lyons Mail
The Lyons Mail
	Trade Show advertisement
Directed by	Arthur Maude
Written by	H. Fowler Mear
Based on	The Lyons Mail by Charles Reade
Produced by	Julius Hagen
Starring	John Martin Harvey; Norah Baring; Ben Webster; Moore Marriott
Cinematography	Sydney Blythe
Production; company	Twickenham Studios
Distributed by	Woolf & Freedman Film Service
Release date	12 October 1931;
Running time	76 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Lyons Mail (also known as Coufrier de Lyon ) is a 1931 British historical mystery adventure film directed by Arthur Maude and starring John Martin-Harvey, Norah Baring, and Ben Webster. It was written by H. Fowler Mear based on the 1877 play The Lyons Mail by Charles Reade, which in turn was based on his 1854 play The Courier of Lyons.

The play had previously been made into a 1916 silent film The Lyons Mail.Filmed in 1930 at the Twickenham Studios in London, it was to be John Martin-Harvey's only sound film.^{[citation needed]}

The story is based on the Courrier de Lyon case.

Plot

Cast

John Martin-Harvey as Joseph Lesurques
Norah Baring as Julie
Ben Webster as Jerome Lesurques
Moore Marriott as Choppard
George Thirlwell as Jean Didier
Michael Hogan as Courrioll
Sheila Wray as Madame Choppard
Eric Howard as Fouinard
Charles Paton as George Didier
Earl Grey as Daubenton
John Garside as Adjutant
Gabrielle Casartelli as maid

Reception

Film Weekly wrote: "This mellow favourite of touring companies and amateur theatrical productions loses none of its fruitiness in its guise of talkie. It belongs to a period of dramatic entertainment with which we have so lost sympathy that we find its melodramatic product amusing and its comedies dull. As it is played here – quite straight and without concessions to present-day tastes – The Lyons Mail is more amusing than it is moving, although the actual robbery is grippingly presented."

Picture Show wrote: "Hearty melodrama, well recorded."

References

1 2 "The Lyons Mail". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 18 February 2026.
↑ "BFI | Film & TV Database | The Lyons Mail (1931)". BFI. Archived from the original on 13 January 2009. Retrieved 18 February 2026.
↑ Haste, Steve (1997). Criminal Sentences: True Crime in Fiction and Drama. Cygnus Arts. ISBN 978-1-900541-25-1.
↑ Cottis, David (26 December 2024). How Stage Playwrights Saved the British Cinema, 1930-1956: The Well-Made Screenplay. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 979-8-7651-0106-3.
↑ "The Lyons Mail". Film Weekly. 5 (135): 24. 16 May 1931. ProQuest 1705121263.
↑ "The Lyons Mail". Picture Show. 25 (650): 9. 17 October 1931. ProQuest 1879651205.

External links

The Lyons Mail at IMDb

[BFIsearch-1] 1 2 "The Lyons Mail". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 18 February 2026.

[2] "BFI | Film & TV Database | The Lyons Mail (1931)". BFI. Archived from the original on 13 January 2009. Retrieved 18 February 2026.

[3] Haste, Steve (1997). Criminal Sentences: True Crime in Fiction and Drama. Cygnus Arts. ISBN 978-1-900541-25-1.

[4] Cottis, David (26 December 2024). How Stage Playwrights Saved the British Cinema, 1930-1956: The Well-Made Screenplay. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 979-8-7651-0106-3.

[5] "The Lyons Mail". Film Weekly. 5 (135): 24. 16 May 1931. ProQuest 1705121263.

[6] "The Lyons Mail". Picture Show. 25 (650): 9. 17 October 1931. ProQuest 1879651205.