Rendez-vous avec le crime

William Hartnell is part of a smash & grab crew led by Raymond Lovell. When Hartnell smashes a jeweler's window, a protective gate drops on his wrists, breaking them, and the crew takes off without him before the police arrives. After serving time in prison, Hartnell wants to get even with Lovell and his crew, by framing him for the murder of his chauffeur, using Lovell's gun. He establishes an alibi for himself through dancer-for-hire Joyce Howard, but police inspector Robert Beatty thinks Howard is a bit too eager to support Hartnell's alibi and digs deeper. Lovell's gun however belongs to Herbert Lom, art dealer by day, Lovell's criminal boss by night. So rather than getting even with Lovell, Hartnell now has to deal with the police, as well as Lom.

Hartnell ('Brighton Rock', the first Doctor Who) plays his character as tightly wound as possible (or incredibly stiff, depending on your point of view), which works well for me. Every time you sorta start to feel sympathy for him, he does something mean again (despite caring for Howard, he still deceives and lies to her to save his own skin). Lom ('Night And The City', 'Hell Drivers') is great as a suave crook. They are the standouts in an otherwise decent but unremarkable cast. I wish Joyce Howard's character wasn't written as naively as it is, it doesn't work too well with the 'street wise' side of her character.

The movie starts out great with a quick set-up and some really nicely done shots, including extreme Dutch angles and shadow-rich scenes. I was hoping for a precursor to the awesome 'Brighton Rock' already, but after a while things start to lose steam. There are still plenty of shadows and decent shots, but the plot becomes unnecessarily muddy and even slow in places. It is however gritty, both in Hartnell's character as in the overall feel. Not a bad effort from director & writer John Harlow (who also directed/wrote a couple of Sexton Blake movies) but it doesn't live up to the great first 10-15 minutes. 6.5/10

Petty thief "Leo" (William Hartnell) is left high and dry by his cohorts when a robbery goes wrong. Determined on vengeance when he is eventually released from jail, he sets out to settle accounts with "Loman" (Raymond Lovell) and his lackey "Hatchett" (Victor Weske). Prison and rage have hardened this man, and "Loman", for one, underestimates the determination of "Leo". That's an error he soon rues as he is soon not only cleverly implicated in a murder but also put onto the radar of the formidable "Lang" (Herbert Lom) who has a very non-nonsense reputation! Robert Beatty could hardly be called a versatile actor, so actually fits the bill of the rather plodding "Insp. Rogers" rather well. Indeed, for the most part even the usually wooden Hartnell makes a decent fist of this tautly directed budget drama. The story is hardly an original one, but John Harlow does keep it moving well enough and it's a perfectly watchable afternoon feature.

Right before the final few moments of 1946's "Appointment with Crime," I realized I saw it many, many years ago - the final scene is very striking.

William Hartnell plays Leo Martin, who went along with a robbery scheme and was badly injured and wound up in prison while the other perps went free. When he is released from prison, he plans his revenge.

One of his ex-partners, Loman (Raymond Lovell) runs a dime a dance joint. Leo wants a job from him and subsequently learns that the job, a jewelry store robbery, was actually planned by someone else - Gregory Lang (Herbert Lom), an art dealer.

Leo comes up with a way of framing Loman for the murder of the other partner, and then blackmailing Lang, whose gun was used. He also gives himself a great alibi for the murder. At the time it occurred, he was at the dance club monopolizing the time of Carol (Joyce Howard).

Lom is appropriately classy and slimy at the same time. Hartnell is scarily effective and manages to talk without moving his mouth very much.

I have been working off of a list of noirs and near-noirs - many of them atrocious - and this is a cut above those I've seen.

The story itself is riveting enough to keep you awake all long the viewing, and the finale excellent, bitter, unforgettable. But the directing is too smooth for this kind of topic, scheme. Maybe the the late forties was not yet the best period for gangsters stories; I am sure that in the early sixties, with someone like Stanley Baker as the lead, it would have been terrific. But it remains a rare feature, very underrated in the British film noir history. The 2020's UK crime flicks are lousy for most of them. The director John Harlow was not a great one, he was not Basil Dearden nor Michael Powell or John Boulting.

If you like your noir unfettered with Hollywood trimmings, then this fare is for you. A jewel robbery goes bad and the man caught takes the fall for the whole gang. William Hartnell is the hood who expects to get some action after he gets out of prison, but he is shunned by his former mates.

Joyce Howard stars as his dance hall girlfriend, who remains loyal to him despite his rather obvious flaws. Herbert Lom plays a crime boss of questionable sexual identity, but his henchman is playing clearly for the other team. The film never explores their relationship.

The production values are minimal, but then again, so is the story line, so it fits nicely. A good piece of noir.