Leofwine_draca A cheapo crime thriller from the prolific Butcher's Film Service. These films were a dime a dozen in the early '60s and THE GENTLE TRAP has a poor title and a plot that could be interchangeable with at least a dozen others. The film has an arresting opening in which a couple of thieves are betrayed by a rival gang but soon descends into tedium with a long-winded, who-can-you-trust style storyline.One of the few good things this has going for it is a very short running time. It clocks in at just 59 minutes in length but you feel every minute of it. Some of the supporting do quite well in their clichéd roles, like the alluring femme fatale and the tough criminal bosses, but even so this is cheap stuff indeed and of interest only to fans of the era.British director Charles Saunders churned out B-movie after B-movie for a period of some twenty years between the early 1940s and early 1960s. He made the occasional nudie film (NUDIST PARADISE) and horror flick (WOMAN EATER) but for the most part delivered second-rate thrillers like this and DANGER BY MY SIDE. I don't know much about leading man Spencer Teakle except he also appeared in COVER GIRL KILLER and FIRST MAN INTO SPACE and had a great name to boot.

jamesraeburn2003 A London locksmith called Johnny Ryan (Spencer Teakle) pulls off his once in a lifetime job, a raid on a jewelery store, in which the heist is £60,000 worth of uncut diamonds that he intends to use to fund a new life with his girlfriend, a nightclub singer called Sylvia (Dawn Brooks). However, Sylvia has betrayed him to her boss, Ricky Barnes (Martin Benson), a Soho gangster, whose thugs set up on Johnny and his elderly accomplice, Sam (Arthur Hewlett), after they have done the job. Johnny is beaten up but Sam is run over by the gang's car and later dies from his injuries. But Barnes' thugs make off with the case containing Johnny's safe-breaking gear thinking that it contains the loot but in actual fact, Johnny had stuffed it into his coat pocket. Johnny is now in a situation of grave peril as not only is he wanted by the police for Sam's murder but also by the gang seeking to get their hands on the diamonds. Johnny finds help from two sisters, Jean (Dorinda Stevens), who runs a clip joint and her sister Mary (Felicity Young). Mary is hard and deceitful and joins forces with Barnes to recover the diamonds in the hope of getting a share herself. Meanwhile, Jean is kind hearted and gentle and hatches a plan to help Johnny escape since she is falling in love with him. She smuggles him into the back of a removal van, which her Uncle (John Dunbar) is taking back to his country farm. However, Barnes and the gang are following in pursuit...Another routine crime drama from quota-quickie specialists, Butcher's Film Distributors. Most of the reviews I have read for this film are largely scathing i.e. 'threadbare', 'shoddy' and worse still: 'everybody concerned hashes it up'. I would not go as far as that since although it is pretty run-of-the-mill stuff with little to distinguish it from countless other second features; there are some decent performances here notably from Dorinda Stevens and Felicity Young who work well together as the sisters who are two completely different personalities so the contrast is excellent. On the negative side, suspense is killed off right from the word go since as one would expect from a Butcher's b-pic, the plot development is predictable and if you have seen one you have pretty much seen them all as they always have the obligatory happy ending rather than a dramatic one. Don't expect any surprises here. The screenwriter's credit reads; Screenplay by Brock Williams, additional material by Alan Osborne, from a story by Guido Coen. For such a routine assignment did it really warrant three writers? Director Charles Saunders, a former editor who spent most of his directorial career making pot boilers such as this, carries the proceedings along at a snappy pace and the atmospheric b/w cinematography is by Ken Hodges.All in all, The Gentle Trap has little to set it apart from the countless number of British b-pics of that time but thanks to a few good performances, competent direction and some smart camera work, it can be enjoyed as a pleasant reminder of an era of British filmmaking that has long since been forgotten.

Boba_Fett1138 Are we sure that Ed Wood somehow didn't directed this? The movie's style and storytelling is just as bad as in an Ed Wood movie sadly.The movie was released in 1960 but I've seen movies that were made 30 years earlier that style had a better and more professional looking visual style. Sadly London, in this movie ain't got such an atmosphere as for instance New York or Chicago do in movies from the same genre. This is really one of those movies that makes you wonder; why did I even watched this in the first place? It's a pointless movie with a pointless literal and figural, black and white story. The acting is bad and the fights are over the top and hilarious to watch for the wrong reason.It's hard to say anything about this movie. It's short and the story is way too weak to say any thing thought-full about.Really not worth your time.3/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

parky-3 A couple of small-time jewel thieves carry out a little job on the quiet, but are soon in way over their heads when they're spotted with the swag by a powerful gang. Said bunch of baddies decide to throw the honour-among-thieves rulebook out the window and pursue the hapless duo to get from them what's rightfully theirs (alright, wrongfully theirs, but not as wrongfully as the gang that's thieving from the thieves). The gang are helped along by a couple of crooked dames who use their feminine wiles to relieve the pilfering pair... of their booty. So the morals of this little story? It's alright to steal, but not to steal from stealers. Oh, and don't trust women. Ever.