Leofwine_draca MAN BAIT is an early thriller in the career of Hammer Films director Terence Fisher, the man best known for handling all of the studio's horror classics like THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Although virtually unknown today, I found this film to be a strong contender in the world of 1950s British B-cinema, a tight and compelling story of deceit, mistake, blackmail, and murder. The incredibly slimy Peter Reynolds plays a controlling blackmail who involves a young Diana Dors in a plot to fleece a bookshop owner, played sympathetically by George Brent. Inevitably, things don't go quite to plan. MAN BAIT has enough twists and turns to keep any viewer entertained and the cast all do sterling work to bring their characters to life. It's also a surprisingly dark and nihilistic story, plumbing the depths of mankind, with some really vicious moments. The ending had me on the edge of my seat.

MartinHafer Plot hole #1--The film begins and a customer in a used book store is caught by an employee stealing. What LOGICALLY does she do in this situation? Yep, she lets him go and then meets him later for drinks!Plot hole #2--Soon after they meet, although it's OBVIOUS he's a no-good ex-con, she agrees to a blackmailing scheme with him.Plot hole #3--When the blackmail of her boss is attempted by this female employee, the boss being blackmailed threatens to call the police--but doesn't bother to fire the girl nor does he call the cops.Plot hole #4--When the blackmail is refused, the thief from #1 sends a letter to the boss' wife and she dies as a result. So, does boss fire the lady or call the police now--NOPE! Plot hole #5--When the lady AGAIN comes to the boss to blackmail him (AFTER the wife is dead), he angrily throws a huge wad of cash at the blackmailing lady--even MORE than she had asked for with the blackmailing attempt! Plot hole #6--At no point does the boss tell anyone about the blackmail, so when something happens to the blackmailing employee, the boss is an obvious suspect. If he'd only gone to the police or fired her or talked about this problem all this might have been avoided.Plot hole #7--Although every bit of evidence points to the boss being a murderer, a trusted female employee (not the dead blackmailer) agrees to help him avoid the police and investigate the crime with him. What a cliché! In real life, even if you think the boss is innocent, when an employee knows he's a wanted man they'll call the police.Plot hole #8--The other female employee blunders into the killer's lair in a completely hair-brained way--and with no plan at all, nor did she have backup or tell anyone she was confronting him.With all these major problems with the script, there simply was no way that veteran director Fisher or veteran actors George Brent and Marguerite Chapman could pull this one off! The bottom line is that if anyone had bothered to read the script first, they would have no doubt spotted all these holes and probably many more. I wonder if perhaps a chimp was the writer of this film?! As a result, it's frustrating to see a group of accomplished film makers stuck with second-rate tripe--especially Brent who was a very fine actor and did his best with this mess.

David (Handlinghandel) ...First thing he does is go to a bookstore. He tries to steal a book. That is how logical this movie is throughout. When we see shelves of books at a time, later, the books seem to be attached to each other. They're like room decorations some people buy in bulk.The proprietor of this bookstore is, of all people, George Brent. He had a long career. Though this is a noir of sorts and I therefore can't give it a bad rating, let's just say this is hardly a career highlight for him.Marguerite Chapman is attractive and convincing as his employee. She's stylish and pretty and comes off as nice.This is an early Diana Dors film. She's decent in it. She gets pulled into some very bad behavior. But she's not a truly terrible character. She's chronically late to work and weak willed.This isn't a memorable or distinguished film. But it isn't terrible, either. Nor does it hold to any formula. It's mediocre in a unique way.

dcole-2 I'm a big Terence Fisher fan, so as a completist, I wanted to see this one. But it's only a fair film. Fisher was a few years away from making his classic CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and HORROR OF Dracula, but he was still capable of some fine work in the early 50's (THE FOUR-SIDED TRIANGLE, for example). But this one is pretty much by-the-numbers. Even leading man George Brent looks bored throughout. He runs a bookstore where employee Marguerite Chapman is in love with him. And good-looking Diana Dors is the 'bad' employee -- because she's late a few times. Brent has an invalid wife who needs an operation abroad. He cashes in an insurance policy to pay for the operation. Meanwhile, Dors has caught weaselly Peter Reynolds trying to steal a book but doesn't turn him in. They strike up a relationship. He gets her to try to blackmail Brent after a late night when he kissed her briefly (tho' it looks more like she kissed him). He won't pay, so Reynolds has Dors write a letter to the invalid wife. She dies after reading the letter (in one of a string of incredible plot coincidences). Reynolds makes Dors harass the grieving Brent again for the money. He angrily gives her all the insurance money. Then Reynolds sneaks into the bookstore and kills Dors, taking the dough, but leaving the body so that Brent will be blamed. Brent's soon on the run and Chapman is trying to save him. It all works out in a fiery climax. And it's all competently done, but the script doesn't make a lot of sense. Dors, however, gives a fine, restrained performance and is probably the best thing in it. Worth noting that later Hammer Producer/Director/Exec Michael Carreras is here credited with Casting. And Hammer Writer Extraordinaire Jimmy Sangster is credited as Assistant Director. Really this is just for Hammer and Fisher fans like myself. Or Diana Dors fans, who will be pleased with her work here.