23 Paces to Baker Street

23 Paces to Baker Street
Theatrical release lobby card
Directed by	Henry Hathaway
Produced by	Henry Ephron
Screenplay by	Nigel Balchin
Based on	Novel by Philip MacDonald
Starring	Van Johnson Vera Miles Cecil Parker
Music by	Leigh Harline
Cinematography	Milton R. Krasner
Edited by	James B. Clark
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	May 18, 1956
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1,375,000
Box office	$1 million (US rentals)

23 Paces to Baker Street is a 1956 American mystery thriller film released by 20th Century Fox. It stars Van Johnson and Vera Miles.

Filmed in Cinemascope on location in London, the film focuses on Philip Hannon (Van Johnson), a blind playwright who overhears a partial conversation he believes is related to the planning of a kidnapping. When the authorities fail to take action because they believe his story is the product of a writer's fertile imagination, Hannon searches for the child with the help of his butler and fiancée, using his acute sense of hearing to gather evidence and serve as guidance. The plotline of the film bears some resemblance to Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window of 1954, which also features a disabled protagonist witnessing a crime, which the police refuse to take seriously, therefore placing him in danger and culminating in a final standoff with the killer in the protagonist's darkened apartment.

Nigel Balchin's screenplay, based on a novel by Philip MacDonald, was directed by Henry Hathaway.

Philip Hannon (Van Johnson) is a blind man who lives in London flat with a spectacular view over the Thames river between Waterloo Bridge and Charing Cross Station, with his trusted butler Bob Matthews (Cecil Parker); he works as a playwright. One day, he overhears part of a conversation in his local pub that involves a child that had been kidnapped. He tries to contact inspector Grovening (Maurice Denham), but offers no help, so he teams up with his butler and his ex-fiancée Jean (Vera Miles) who is over from America, to bring the kidnappers to justice. Their sleuthing soon leads them to a nanny agency with dire repercussions.