When Arsenal v Brentford made cinematic history

Prior to the Bees’ promotion to the Premier League in 2021, Arsenal and Brentford hadn’t locked horns in the top flight for 74 years. Yet following Brentford’s ascendancy to Division One in 1934, clashes between the two clubs were often hard-fought affairs, with the new boys often getting the better of George Allison’s expensively assembled team.

These were exciting times for the men from Griffin Park. In 1937/38, as Arsenal won the league, Brentford finished in 6th place, completing a league double over Arsenal in the process. Under manager Harry Curtis, the Bees extended the terracing at Griffin Park to raise the capacity to 40,000. 

Between October 1937 and March 1938, Brentford sat on top of the table. Scottish forward David McCulloch, who’d cost Brentford a hefty £6,000, scored goals aplenty, and inside forward Billy Scott was capped by England.

By the start of the 1938/39 campaign, battle fatigue had set in for both teams. Injuries and loss of form meant that Gunners stalwarts George Male, Ted Drake and Cliff Bastin’s effectiveness was drastically reduced, and only Drake, with 14 league goals, reached double figures for Arsenal in the 38/39 season.

Their 55-goal haul was 22 down on the previous season. Arsenal were never realistically in the hunt for honours. English football’s record signing, Bryn Jones, laboured under the pressure of the £14,000 price tag. 

Brentford’s form slumped alarmingly in the 38/39 season, with several players, including the popular David McCulloch, sold in order to balance the books. Brentford finished in 18th place and Arsenal in fifth.

In the final game of the 38/39 season, with speculation about the pending conflict in Europe growing, Arsenal faced Brentford at Highbury and won 2-0, in a match which became part of cinematic history.

In 1938, George Allison was approached by G&S films to see if he was willing to allow the Production Company to come to Highbury to film “The Arsenal Stadium Mystery,” based on a novel by Leonard Gribble. Inspector Slade – who finally cracks the case – was played by Allison’s old friend, Leslie Banks. Seven Arsenal players, including Ted Drake, volunteered to take part, and were paid £250 for five weeks of filming; a tidy sum in an era of the £8 per week maximum wage for footballers.

The story was based around a mythical friendly match between Arsenal and The Trojans. One of the Trojans players is poisoned at half-time, and collapses and dies on the pitch. The culprit, as it turns out, is the Trojans’ manager.

Interspersed between the unfolding drama is bona fide football action; Brentford sportingly wore an unfamiliar black and white strip in order to simulate the Trojans. Alf Kirchen’s and Ted Drake’s goals, which gave Arsenal a 2-0 win, are therefore preserved on the film – a rare thing indeed for the 30s.

Several scenes are shot within the marble halls and Highbury’s dressing rooms, and the rest at Elstree Studios. George Allison also makes several cameo appearances.

The Arsenal Stadium Mystery was only a moderate box office success in London, but, over 80 years later, it remains popular with Arsenal fans, who enjoy hearing some of the heroes from the '30s speak.

Arsenal began the 1939/40 season brightly, securing five points from a possible six. But with the outbreak of World War 2 in September, the games were expunged from the records. Arsenal’s 2-0 win over London rivals Brentford, now part of celluloid legend, was the team’s last first-class game for six years.

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