jamesraeburn2003 A convicted murderer called Max Brandt (Zachary Scott) escapes en route to a French prison with the help of his accomplices murdering his warders in the process. He flees across the channel to England where he looks up a former associate and reformed criminal master forger called Louis Bernard (Mervyn Johns). He threatens to kill Louis' daughter Carole (Peggie Castle) unless he helps him pull off a massive counterfeiting operation of five pound notes and twenty dollar bills. Matters are complicated by Carole's arrival from Italy and her American boyfriend Bob Fenton (Robert Arden), which places their lives in great danger...This British co-feature, produced at Merton Park Studios, supported the Bill Haley and The Comets rock and roll film Don't Knock The Rock on its original release in 1957. It is efficiently and pacily directed by veteran 'B' picture director Montgomery Tully, but he isn't particularly inspiring here and it is far from his best work. There are no real outstanding features anywhere to be found in its routine plot that could be found in numerous British second features. Suspense and tension are lacking and what little action there is, including Scott's getaway from the French police at the start, a climatic shoot out in John's English country stately home and the baddies crashing their car over a cliff are indifferently staged generating very little excitement. The relationship between Peggie Castle's Carole and Robert Arden's Bob is blandly depicted and it is hard to sympathise with their plight as they are menaced by Zachary Scott's villainy.Scott's excellent performance gives the proceedings some weight as he goes through all the tricks of arch villainy with effortless ease. The film's most disturbing moment has to be the murder of Bernard's French housekeeper, Gerta (Chili Bouchier) by Brandt, who spoke no English and therefore could not possibly have done his criminal operations any harm. It was solely because she tried to intervene when he attempted to force himself on the unsuspecting Bernard's daughter. There are one or two interesting faces to look out for amongst the supporting cast including Mervyn Johns (Dead Of Night), Lee Patterson, an imported American leading man in numerous British 'B's' and Eric Pohlmann who is best known for voicing the unseen Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond movies. Philip Grindrod's b/w camerawork is good and enlivens the few location shots around Brighton and Victoria station in London.

writers_reign During the fifties it became common for American actors to cross the pond and play in UK productions. In rare cases - Gregory Peck - they were still on top of their game but in the majority of cases - Richard Basehart, Van Johnson, Dana Andrews - they had either never quite fulfilled early promise or were slipping from leads to supports. This was the case with Zachary Scott who started with a bang in Mask Of Demetrious and went on to tasty fare like Mildred Pierce but was never quite able to grasp the brass ring. Here, cast as usual as a ruthless villain, he appears to be ill but even then he has little problem bullying milquetoast master forger Mervyn Johns out of retirement for a major score - forging around a million pounds' worth of the old white fivers. It is, of course, doomed to end in tears but does weigh in with some interesting technical skinny on the art of the forger. One for VERY wet Sunday afternoons.

XhcnoirX Convicted criminal Zachary Scott escapes from France to the UK with the help of Lee Patterson. They hide out in the mansion of Mervyn Johns, who used to be a forger. Scott blackmails him into picking up his old trade, and with the help of Sydney Tafler they create a money- pressing setup in the mansion's basement as well as gather a network of distributors for the counterfeit money. Things go smoothly until Johns's daughter Peggie Castle returns home unexpectedly to tell her dad she is getting married to Robert Arden, and Scott soon has a leak in his organization.You know you're dealing with a British thriller when the criminals use a snooker game as a front for their negotiations! Scott ('Mildred Pierce') is great as always as the criminal mastermind who is wanted across Europe but has no interest in laying low, and I'm becoming a fan of Tafler ('Assassin For Hire') who's more posh and less slimy here than his usual roles. Castle ('99 River Street') does a nice job but her role is too demure to really show her acting talents.Using American leads in these British B-features wasn't uncommon and neither are the names of the crew. Director Montgomery Tully ('Five Days', '36 Hours') and DoP Phil Grindrod ('Street Of Shadows') worked on many of these features, and their competence is on full display in this movie. It's well-paced while still managing to spend a decent amount of time on the details of the money-forging which makes the movie that much more engaging and interesting. The only drawback plot-wise is that the part of Castle's fiancée Arden seems slightly contrived, as if they wanted his part to be bigger but couldn't decide on it, and he ends up just kinda 'being there'. Visually it's not really noir-esque, but it does look good and well thought out in regards to camera angles/positions and it never looks really flat/TV-like.All in all, the movie is solid and a great way of spending 85 minutes of your time. It doesn't really surprise you, but it does captivate and entertain. And Zachary Scott as a criminal mastermind, what's not to like there?!

Ray Faiola Don't know if this one is out on video (I just picked it up in 16mm) but if it shows up, give it a look. Zachary Scott plays a Dimitrios-like master criminal named Max Brant and, after effecting an escape from the gallows, hides out at old buddy Mervyn Johns' mansion. Johns is a former counterfeit engraver and he reluctantly gets roped into a new venture with Brant. Complications ensue when Johns' daughter (very lovely Peggie Castle) arrives home and Brant's lecherous tendencies are aroused. The picture moves well with every step of a counterfeit operation detailed and yet there is still time for some action and brutal shockers. Sharp ears will hear music later used in PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE in one of the early scenes of the picture.