Le crime ne paie pas

Jean Talbot watches in horror as her father, a jeweller is robbed and attacked by a gang of thugs, she learns the identity of the ring leader, and poses as a criminal in order to bring him down.

It's a very stylish noir b movie, if you're a fan of this genre, there is plenty here to enjoy, the first thing that struck me was the rather excellent cinematography. Some great road sequences, and the theatre scenes looked impressive, this is a super good looking film.

The story, you could perhaps argue that there isn't anything new here, however, it's refreshing to see what is effectively a female lead in a thriller, Jean is very much the hero of the piece, beautifully played by Elizabeth Sellars.

It's well paced, it's gritty, and features a few rather surprising moments, the main question I had, was Jean going to fall in love with Michael?

John Horsley was rather good as The Detective, Kieron Moore and Edward Underdown were excellent as the very different brothers, and I just loved Ethel O'Shea's subtle but strong performance as the troubled mother.

8/10.

John Gilling wrote and directed this film noir in 1953, 10 years before the excellent "Panic". This story is more conventional, a young woman recognizes her father's killer and she seduces him until she has the opportunity to make him fall. The casting is ok but not fantastic. But there are some good action scenes, from the car chase in the beginning (but we're not yet in 1967-68 when Peter Yates directed "Robbery" and "Bullitt") to tough fights (nearly like in Phil Karlson's films noirs). Worth a look.

The gorgeous Elizabeth Sellars stars in this gripping drama, though IMO wrongly cast she plays the part well in her usual faultless style.

Her father is killed in a heist gone wrong and the criminal is seen by Jean (Elizabeth) but cleverly sets up an alibi which is unable to be faulted by the police. Jean then sets about trying to trap the killer (Edward Underdown) by whoring herself to him, much to the chagrin of Underdown's brother who has innocently supplied the alibi and thinks that Jean is the cat's pajamas.

Cleverly working her way into the confidence of the killer and his cohorts, Jean keeps the police updated on the coming plans of the gang while the brother starts to realise he's been dudded into giving false information.

A wonderful 'B' movie that moves along at a great pace with good acting and direction. The only downside seems to be the casting of some of the players - Edward Underdown and Keiron Moore as brothers? - tends to make one think of 'Twins' with Danny de Vito.

Don't miss it if you get the opportunity. --- 8/ 10.

Jean (Elizabeh Sellars) witnesses the murder of her father, Talbot (Ian Fleming) by Nicholas (Kieran Moore) during a jewelry robbery. The man behind it all is Farnborough (Martin Benson) but Nicholas has kept back some jewels for himself to bargain with Farnborough so that they can become equal partners. Farnborough rejects his deal and so begins a rival gang-war. Meanwhile the police are after Talbot's killer and Nicholas gets his brother, Michael (Edward Underdown), to provide an alibi for him. Jean rents a room in the same house that Michael has a doctor's practice so that she can befriend Nicholas with the purpose of revealing him as the killer. Both brothers fall in love with her and this brings extra dramatic tension to the story.

The film follows how Jean gains Nicholas's confidence (with the police in the background), the war-fare between Fanborough and Nicholas's gangs, and the drama between Nicholas and his brother who don't see eye-to-eye. On a personal note, I didn't care much for the scenes with the mother (Ethel O'Shea) and I found it hard to believe that Nicholas and Michael were brothers because of their different accents! However, its a well-acted, tense story that is played out at a good speed.

The interesting thing about this film is the psychology. Dr. Michael Conway is a well situated doctor who attends to his duties and takes care of his mother, but he has a brother who is of the opposite sort. After a robbery that goes wrong he is sorely beaten up and almost killed in a car accident but gets away and to his brother to bandage him up. Later he asks his brother to tell the police that they played chess together all evening, and the brother, being a conscientious doctor sticking to the obligation of silence and all that, grants his brother that alibi, without suspecting that in the failed robbery his brother accidentally killed the robbed jeweller, who was no one less than Ian Fleming. But the jeweller has a daughter, (Elizabeth Sellars), who happened to be there at the time, and accidentally she runs into the murderer of her father and will never forget his face. The major part of the messy intrigue is about her very roundabout efforts to build up evidence against him - she even deigns to let him woo her just to get closer to him to get him nailed. There are many crooks involved in this, and there are many hard blows and shootings, chases by night and rival gangs trying to gun down each other, piling up the mess, while at least Doctor Michael manages to keep out of trouble, realising far too late that he unintentionally contributed to the mess by protecting his brother. Alas, the main victim becomes their mother. It's thick thriller, well written and well played, and the direction (by John Gilling who also wrote it) is qualified enough. Elizabeth Sellars, fresh from "The Broken Horseshoe", was good at suave ambiguous roles with covert intentions, and here even her father's murderer is deceived by her, while it is impossible to grant Kieron Moore any sympathy.