A man called Jim takes part in a robbery as a driver and stashes the loot, then is picked up by the police and sent to prison. When he has served his term he is hard pressed by the gang he worked with and the police to reveal the place he hid the money. His son is kidnapped to make him give the secret away.
This is a really good British film noir. Even though Jim is partly responsible for his own plight he is a sad figure who is jostled about by forces beyond his control. Even when his child is kidnapped he is badgered by the school authorities and also by an unsympathetic copper. In the end Jim doesn't get any of the money from the haul though he does get closure on it all.
The cast is excellent in their roles: Anthony Quayle as the increasingly desperate Jim, Carl Möhner as the greedy gangster Kristy, Peter Reynolds who is surprisingly good as the homicidal Buddy, Edward Judd as the bullish policeman, Barbara Mullen as Ma Parker. (Ma Parker gets beaten up in a grim way that's almost shocking.) Playing the femme fatale is Jayne Mansfield as Billy and I liked her performance, first seen lying languorously in bed pulling up her stocking. No wonder Jim was smitten.
The cinematography by Gordon Dines is wonderful and there is lots of fine location shooting in London. It's all enhanced by an atmospheric jazzy music score from Bill McGuffie. In the script there is a large plot hole (Why did the gang make Jim the fall guy and give him up to the law before they knew where he had stashed the money?) but in the end the film is not about that. It's about a trapped man which is one of the hallmarks of a film noir.
The director John Gilling made some fine films, dismissed usually as quota pictures, before he was eventually drawn into Hammer films and TV series to lesser effect in my opinion. Anyway, this is a fine film.
This is a really good British film noir. Even though Jim is partly responsible for his own plight he is a sad figure who is jostled about by forces beyond his control. Even when his child is kidnapped he is badgered by the school authorities and also by an unsympathetic copper. In the end Jim doesn't get any of the money from the haul though he does get closure on it all.
The cast is excellent in their roles: Anthony Quayle as the increasingly desperate Jim, Carl Möhner as the greedy gangster Kristy, Peter Reynolds who is surprisingly good as the homicidal Buddy, Edward Judd as the bullish policeman, Barbara Mullen as Ma Parker. (Ma Parker gets beaten up in a grim way that's almost shocking.) Playing the femme fatale is Jayne Mansfield as Billy and I liked her performance, first seen lying languorously in bed pulling up her stocking. No wonder Jim was smitten.
The cinematography by Gordon Dines is wonderful and there is lots of fine location shooting in London. It's all enhanced by an atmospheric jazzy music score from Bill McGuffie. In the script there is a large plot hole (Why did the gang make Jim the fall guy and give him up to the law before they knew where he had stashed the money?) but in the end the film is not about that. It's about a trapped man which is one of the hallmarks of a film noir.
The director John Gilling made some fine films, dismissed usually as quota pictures, before he was eventually drawn into Hammer films and TV series to lesser effect in my opinion. Anyway, this is a fine film.