23 Paces to Baker Street is decent, but somewhat underwhelming mystery about Philip Hannon (Van Johnson), a man recently blinded who has moved to London in an attempt to rebuild his life after ditching his fiancee Jean (Vera Miles). His butler Bob (Cecil Parker) is good about attempting to make him feel “normal”, however Phil’s new advanced senses of smell and hearing help him to hide his disability.
Due to Phil’s new abilities (which are somewhat comically showcased to the audience as distracting small sounds turned up like a watch ticking sounding like Big Ben), he overhears a sinister conversation. When the police decide that Phil’s career as a playwright has addled his imagination, Phil, Jean, and Bob attempt to sleuth on their own. They suspect a kidnapping and corruption.
Never you mind about all off the murder and chases and moments of thrilling near-death experiences. Let’s talk about the writer in this film! Phil uses an audio recorder to take down the dialog for his plays and Bob types them out. When first hearing the conversation about a kidnapping, Phil memorizes it and records it on his device. The trouble is, he’s not an actor so each word is missing the inflections of the original owners.
