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Another film with an american lead but at least he plays an american. I love the plot idea and it works well at the beginning with decent acting. It slows when the 'committee' gets mentioned and some bits are a bit improbable towards the end. But it was worth the watch!

I had never heard of Director John Gilling - who also has a hand in the screenplay in TIGER BY THE TAIL - but his is a name that I will look out for from now on: he managed a work of real quality in the areas of acting, cinematography, editing, script, and art direction.

The acting, especially by Cyril Chamberlain as the quietly evil Foster, alias Dr Wainwright, and by the stunningly beautiful Constance Smith, deserves plaudits. On a lesser level, Thora Hird (who would subsequently shine on British TV), Donald Stewart as a kind of childish and British Dan Duryea, and the central male lead Larry Parks, who fills the then necessary American quota but actually neither looks nor sounds convincing enough for the part, let alone to catch a scrumptious dish like Constance.

The latter is the epitome of the British secretary's efficiency in the film, and the epitome of British feminine class and beauty, and I could watch her elegantly move about for the rest of my life.

Cinematography by Eric Cross is superb, well judged editing, and the soundtrack by the uncredited Stanley Black reflects quality and purpose even if rather subtle and often silenced off somewhat too soon.

Perhaps the ending could have been clearer but to me it does not damage the rest of the flick. Really enjoyed it!

Although reportedly a travesty of the late John Mair's 1941 novel, this film version still packs plenty into just 85 minutes; particularly when it develops a Hitchcockian sense of humour that anticipates 'North by Northwest' at about the halfway mark, at which point heroine Constance Smith also assumes a more prominent role. (A fourth-billed Cyril Chamberlain too has a much more prominent role than we are accustomed to seeing him in.)

The first of two films made by Larry Parks during his European exile (the second being John Huston's 'Freud' in 1962) after being blacklisted in 1951; the scene where he gets roughed up on behalf of the sinister "committee" by a bunch of mean-looking goons who want to know "Where's the contact list?" must have instilled in him a sense of deja vue.

American reporter Larry Parks starts an affair with mysterious Lisa Daniely. She's shot with her own pistol, and Parks finds a contact list with criminals written in code. Now they're after him. If only he realized how beautiful his smart assistant, Constance Smith is! But she never takes off her glasses.

It's a fair thriller under the direction of John Gilling with a strong noir air, aided by Eric Cross' camerawork. Parks was trying to find work after he had been blacklisted in the United States, and Miss Smith had been dropped from her Fox contract when her movies hadn't found much favor with the public. This one didn't help their careers. Parks made one more movie, and Miss Smith's career dwindled out in the late 1950s. With Cyril Chamberlain, Donald Stewart, and Thora Hird.

Writing in the second edition of his seminal book on the history of crime fiction "Bloody Murder " the esteemed British critic Julian Symons bestowed strong praise on the novel "Newer Look Back " by John Mair saying it was well in advance of its era in terms of psychological insight and morality . This movie is based on the novel and signally fails to do it justice .It's not actively bad -just very pedestrian and predictable .It opens vividly with the figure of US London based journalist John Desmomd staggering through the deserted streets severely wounded ,and being taken into custody by the police .The tale then unfolds in flashback .Desmond has accidentally killed a woman with whom he is embroiled in an affair .She was a member of a counterfeiting gang whose diary ,which is in his possession ,contains a code which is the key to the continuing operation of the gang .His life is in danger from the gang and he goes on the run aided by his secretary .He is captured ,escapes and feigns amnesia before the conclusion of the tale

Poorly acted and perfunctorily directed this is not a movie that ever rises above the mediocre and those wanting a version of the novel should seek out copies of the BBC TV version from the mid 1990's .