A trois pas de la potence

Hats off to the director, John Gilling, who delivers a fast moving, action packed movie, which has a film 'noir' dimension about it. The storyline revolves around a American naval officer, Gregor Stevens, played by Scott Brady, who is on shore leave, where he hopes to meet up with his brother, but to his horror, his brother is in prison, convicted of murder, and has three days left before he will be hanged. The muscular and athletic Brady now begins to take matters into his own hands to see if he can find out as to the actual circumstances, which has led to his brother languishing in a cell, waiting to be executed. Our hero, turned sleuth, gives an energetic and powerful performance as a 'man on a mission,' where he confronts not only several shady nightclub operators and thugs, but also the blond, sultry and deliciously beautiful Yvonne, played by Mary Castle, the resident nightclub singer. Brady has plenty of opportunity to show his physical and athletic prowess in a number of scenes where he has to chase, as well as evade several underworld henchmen, who wish to 'terminate' his interest in his hunt to find out the truth. Brady's frantic investigations, where he's diving in and out of taxis and cars, also sees him confronting some very unsavoury characters, such as 'Sartago,' the smooth and suave nightclub manager, wonderfully played by Ferdy Mayne, as well as from John Blythe, who gives a convincing performance playing the cheerful and breezy cockney boxer, Dave Leary. There are many dramatic twists and turns in this fast moving storyline, which ends with a thrilling 'Hitchcockian'' climax around Olympia in London. Although the finale is a bit far fetched, the director and the cameraman should be congratulated for creating an entertaining and riveting film, where many of the action scenes have a sense of gritty realism, set against the backdrop of London in the early 1950's. Normally, these type of quick quota B films, which were made in the 50's, with an American lead actor, were mediocre 'time fillers,' shown before the main feature, but the pacy storyline and the strong acting performances by the two main protagonists, Brady and Castle, puts this on a much higher level.

Gregor Stevens (Scott Brady) has 4 days shore leave. He goes to visit his brother but cannot find him. A meeting with Yvonne (Mary Castle), a boxing fan (Michael Balfour) and a visit to the "Gay Mask" nightclub give him an avenue to pursue in the circumstances that are unfolding before him. Gregor must solve the mystery before he goes back to his ship.........and, more importantly, before a hanging takes place.....

It's a fast-paced film that gets going from the beginning. It's well acted by all and has many twists to the plot. It is just on the right side of complicated.

Its a good film to keep onto and watch again.

I saw this under the title of "3 Steps to the Gallows". A better title would have been "3 Days to the Gallows," since when American seaman Scott Brady arrives in London and goes in search of his brother he finds the latter is due to be executed in three days' time for murder: he's innocent, of course. The film's scriptwriter plays the brother, and he's definitely a better writer than actor, seeming remarkably calm for someone facing imminent death for something he didn't do. John Gilling made several low-budget crime films in the 50s, and seeing this one made me want to see the others.The plot has some good twists, and there's a lot of interesting location filming. It was common practice to import minor American stars for such films, and Brady made a spirited hero, while Mary Castle, who I'd never seen before, bears a considerable resemblance to Rita Hayworth. She even sings in a nightclub, a la Gilda. The weaknesses are the way Brady wins all his fist fights (even against a professional boxer!) and the climax, in which the police turn up like the 7th Cavalry even though they had no way of knowing where the protagonists were. Very odd.

As we all know, starting in the early 1950s American mid-level 'name' actors and actresses started to find films harder to come by here, and any number of them ventured to England to make starring vehicles that might have an international market based on their marquee names. George Raft did it, as did Dane Clark, George Brent, Hillary Brooke, Lloyd Bridges, and many others. Scott Brady did, too. Most of these were released through Lippert and enjoyed reasonable success, and almost all of them are eminently forgettable. Not this one, though.

This is actually a very fast-moving and action-packed thriller, with enough mysteries woven into it for two films. Brady plays a seaman who arrives in England to enjoy some time with his brother, only to learn that his brother is due to be hanged for murder a scant three days hence. Brady's rush investigation to clear him involves many characters (every one of whom is acted, as is the British wont, like it was Academy Awards time), and there are wheels within wheels within wheels. Indeed, by the time the film ends, you realize you've been subjected to more twists than most Agatha Christie novels provide, but you accept them because they are well-presented, well-written and well-acted. Unlike most such British films with an American actor 'hook', this one is slam-bang all the way, and one particular fistfight that Brady has (there are several) with a nightclub owner and three or four henchmen goes from that manager's office, through a hallway, out into the nightclub and then onto the dance floor itself. (It's kind of like a shorter fisticuffs version of the concluding SCARAMOUCHE duel.)What makes it so impressive is that Brady is doing all his own fighting and stunts and looks terrific doing so. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this is the best starring performance I have ever seen out of Lawrence Tierney's younger brother, and he was always a decent (or better) actor, although never a major star. The female interest is provided by another American temporary ex-pat, Mary Castle, as a woman of some mystery and much beauty. (In fact, in every shot she appears in, she looks enough like a blonde Rita Hayworth to be her illegitimate sister.) The film seems to involve just about constant location shooting, in boxing arenas, gyms, restaurants, foggy-but-real streets, back alleys, and finally at some kind of big British exposition or fair, and the photography is grainy, noirish, and just plain terrific most of the time. If it is all wrapped up a little too tidily in the end, well, we never complain when Dame Agatha does the same.

I give it a high 8 rating because of the pure look of the film, the very realistic physicality of it all, the terrific character actors on display throughout, and mainly I guess, because it seems to me the very best of the dozens of such British semi-quota quickies that brought over American mid-level stars for a one-film-stand in London. Given what it was intended to be, and the somewhat brutish elan with which its intentions are accomplished, this is a very considerable achievement.

In the 1950s and 60s, many American actors went to Europe to star in their films. Most of these were second and third-tier actors...and in the case of "3 Steps to the Gallows", third-tier American actor Scott Brady stars in this British mystery/suspense film.

When the story begins, Gregor (Brady) arrives in London to see his brother. Surprisingly, however, he learns that while he was off at sea, his brother was convicted of murder is will be executed within a few days! Not surprisingly, Gregor investigates on his own to see what he can uncover...and he discovers a vast conspiracy. What's next? See the film.

I had to chuckle at this film a bit. After all, do the Brits see Americans as being like Brady?! In the film, is character investigates mostly by beating up people! And, he's apparently very good at it!! So, it's not like this is the most complex or nuanced character! Overall, mildly entertaining if not a bit mindless.