'Set in the charming and deadly streets of Melbourne, this vivid and brilliantly plotted murder thriller tells the story of a crime committed by an unknown assassin. With its panoramic depiction of a bustling yet uneasy city, Hansom Cab has a central place in Australian literary history and, more importantly, it remains highly readable. ' (Publication summary)
Stage version of Fergus Hume's novel of the same name.
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
( dir. W. J. Lincoln
)
Australia
:
Amalgamated Pictures
,
1911
Z824955
1911
single work
film/TV
detective
crime
Based on Fergus Hume's popular 1886 novel, the story begins with the murder of a playboy, Oliver White, who is on his way home late one night in a hansom cab. The various scenes are then played out in front of well-known Melbourne landmarks, including the Orient Hotel, the Melbourne Club, the St Kilda Esplanade, Melbourne Gaol, and several prominent St Kilda homes.
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
( dir. Harold Weston
)
United Kingdom (UK)
:
British & Colonial Kinematograph Company
,
1915
6612492
1915
single work
film/TV
crime
detective
British adaptation of Fergus Hume's novel.
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
( dir. Arthur Shirley
)
Australia
:
Pyramid Pictures
,
1925
6336151
1925
single work
film/TV
crime
mystery
The second Australian film based on Fergus Hume's best-selling novel; the first had been released in 1911. (A British film had also been made in 1915.)
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
United Kingdom (UK)
:
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
,
1950
Z824957
1950
single work
radio play
BBC radio adaptation of Fergus Hume's novel.
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
United Kingdom (UK)
:
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
,
1958
6613096
1958
series - publisher
radio play
detective
crime
The second of two BBC radio adaptations of Fergus Hume's novel.
For episode titles, broadcast dates, and synopses, see Notes.
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
1961
1961
Z824963
1961
single work
musical theatre
Play with music.
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
( dir. Shawn Seet
)
Australia
:
Burberry Productions
,
2012
Z1872562
2012
single work
film/TV
crime
'The Mystery of a Hansom Cab is a tightly plotted murder thriller, a massive best seller that was a forerunner to Sherlock Holmes. As much a study of sophisticated 19th century Melbourne as it is of its captivating characters, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab is a compelling telemovie with a surprise ending that no-one will guess.'
Source: Burberry Productions website, http://www.burberry.com.au/
Sighted: 09/07/2012
Dedication:
To
James Payne,
Novelist,
This Story
is
Dedicated,
In Grateful Acknowledgement of
His Kind Encouragement to
The Author
'An overnight sensation when it was published in Melbourne in 1886, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab played a key role the development of crime fiction, writes Simon Caterson'
The Mystery of a Wheel-Barrow; or Gaboriau Gaborooed : An Idealistic Story of a Great and Rising Colony
London
:
Walter Scott Publishers
,
1888
Z330185
1888
single work
drama
satire
crime
'Fergus Hume’s The Mystery of a Hansom Cab has long been celebrated for its portrayal of the spaces and places of late-nineteenth century Melbourne. In this article, we seek to interrogate the relationship between the spatiality of Hume’s Melbourne and social class. In particular, we employ a theoretical framework that combines structural Marxist literary analysis with the work of radical geographers, unified in the concept of a text’s spatial unconscious. We argue that the spatial unconscious of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab registers the impact of middle-class liberal ideology on the representation of the spaces and places of the working-class and bourgeoisie. Putting this ideology to work, Hume attempts to create a literary world in which these spaces and places are radically differentiated and strictly balkanised. However, a close reading reveals flows, or porosities, of people and capital between these locations, porosities that indicate the limits of middle-class liberal ideology and the capacity of capital to produce abstract space.' (Introduction)
'Fergus Hume’s The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886) was first published in Melbourne, the city it describes in precise detail. Yet, several scholars of Hume’s bestselling novel approach the work as though it were written for an English audience. Although the novel was successful in the British market upon its reprinting in London, its initial scope was always a local audience of Melbourne readers. Hume himself wrote that the novel was designed “only to attract local attention” in the “narrow circle” of Melbourne (“Preface” 3). The novel thus contains many details particular to Melbourne, from dialects and social rituals to the mention of nearly four hundred specific place-names. Hansom Cab presents an opportunity to investigate how a nineteenth-century Melbourne resident perceived and depicted the colonial identity of the city and how that identity was intertwined with an understanding of urban space.' (Publication introduction)
(Publication abstract)
