morrison-dylan-fan With the Christmas/New Year holiday coming up I started looking for movies that I could watch with my dad,and I was pleased to find that a DVD seller had recently tracked down a British Film Noir,which led to me getting set to jump in the back.The plot:Looking to make some easy money,young thugs Tony & Frank decide to rob a bookie.Seeing him walk out,Tony and Frank grab the bookie and knock him out.Finding the bookie with a suitcase,Tony and Frank try to run off with the suitcase,but find that the man has chained it to his wrist.Desperate to get the cash,Tony and Mark decide to throw the man in his own car and drive round to find a way to open the case.View on the film:For the trim 54 minute running time,director Vernon Sewell & cinematographer Reginald H. Wyer give the rebellious Film Noir teens a Kitchen Sink backdrop,as Frank's girlfriend Jean begins asking questions.Filmed largely outdoors,Sewell soaks up the early '60s London mist,as blunt side shots take Frank and Tony down every murky Film Noir street corner rotting in the outskirts of the city.Given a limited amount of time,the screenplay by Malcolm Hulke & Eric Paice does well at drawing the friction between street-smart Tony and self-aware Frank,whilst delivering a surprisingly icy supernatural final note,as Tony and Frank take a look at the backseats.

malcolmgsw This is a British film noir which is truly a classic.It contains all the classic elements of the genre.Once poor old Harry Locke it is battered unconscious there is no going back.Matters just spiral out of control with no way out.Nesbitt plays a convincing liar till he gets what he wants.By then poor old Locke is dead and the noose awaits,these were the days when hanging was still the punishment for murder.The fact that this film only runs 54 minutes makes it all the more worthwhile that such a tight narrative is fitted into such a short period of time.Furthermore there are some nice sub Hitchcockian touches when it comes to dealing with both the living and dead Harry Locke.By the way Derren Nesbitt is still going strong and is one of the funniest speakers on the celebrity circuit.

calvinnme ... and believe me I'm not trying to trivialize what the two main characters did. This short little British noir is powered by very good acting by a trio of British players with whom I am not familiar combined with great atmosphere. Two young guys who want a short cut to the good life and aren't getting anywhere by betting on the dogs at the track decide to rob a bookie. They reason he'll be an easy target since what he does is illegal anyways and he won't report the crime to the police. From the time we meet the two robbers you know exactly where they are coming from. Frank is the weak-willed guy who goes along with whatever his more dominant and nefarious friend Tony wants, because "we're mates". Frank has a conscience and probably would have never gone down this road if not for Tony. Tony is bad news, is really nobody's mate, but knows how to manipulate Frank to help him get what he wants.The basic plot is the robbery goes bad from the start with the bookie handcuffed to his briefcase full of money, with the key to the handcuff forgotten on the bookie's desk as he leaves his office at the track. The pair of thieves are thus forced to take the unconscious bookie along with them as they have to steal the bookie's car too while they figure out how to extricate the bag from the bookie, and with them having to hit the bookie a second time when he comes to in the car. The bookie is seriously injured by this second blow, and now these two rather incompetent thugs have to balance not getting caught (Tony's top priority) with getting the bookie the medical attention he needs (Frank's main concern). The one concern they share is that of being given the death sentence should the bookie die. Everything that can go wrong does, and adding to the drama, Frank has a wife who has had it with him catting around at night with Tony whom she has pegged as bad news from the start.I'd highly recommend this little film that I just happened to run across on youtube. It's very short at an hour in length, but the tension just never lets up.

howardmorley I did recently find this film on DVD in a rare video shop in Camden Lock, North London - no good waiting for it to appear on classic movie channels since TV executives are rather youth obsessed and this release is dated 1961, (the year Rod Laver won Wimbledon for the first time).Derren Nesbitt was the actor who kept your attention and played the thug in the manner I have seen him in most of his film appearances in the late 50s and early 60s.Most notably Derren had a trade mark bit part in "A Night To Remember"(1958) playing a fireman on the bow of upturned B lifeboat after "Titanic" had sunk.In the latter film I have an abiding memory of him staving off drowning passengers, with an oar, who are trying to get on and save themselves, shouting, "Get off! Get off! There's no room!It's every man for himself!!".It was films like this which endured in casting directors' minds when a thug had to be cast.So it was appropriate Derren did the coshing of the "bookie" in the subject film.Derren also appeared more menacing when he spoke, almost politely, in that soft spoken voice of his.The plot has been adequately commented on by other reviewers.It is a pity British cinemas no longer have a "B" movie on the programme.I know I am showing my age but in the 50s and early 60s we had "Pathe News" a cartoon, a "B" film then the main feature.Of course the moral code was in force then and criminals could never be seen to get away with the proceeds from violent robbery.