Passport to Treason

Blimey how boring can a film get. One of the most wooden leading men in anything I can remember. And despite several other reviewers say so, a Canadian not an American I understand. Why was it thought such a good idea to import these awful overseas actors when any number of Brits could have played them so much better.

The story veered all over the place, and what might read well in a book, certainly didn't work as a film. And what exactly was the great threat to this country, the world, or wherever it was meant to be. I'm struggling to find enough required words to get this approved, never mind to offer further comment.

Rod Cameron is a private investigator in London -- not a horse in sight. When a friend of his is killed, he takes it upon himself to investigate, despite the disapproval of Scotland Yard. His hunt sends him to an international peace organization that seems to have peculiar connections.

Based on a novel by Manning O'Brine, the movie seems to be a mashup of other, better remembered movies: MURDER, MY SWEET and FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT are two of the obvious ones. Cameron is pretty good, following pretty Lois Maxwell around, but he can sure bounce back from a beating and drugging pretty fast. There's nothing else to complain about in this competent B picture.... but nothing to get excited over either. It's another decent time-waster.

In the 1950s it was quite popular in this country to import fading American stars to give the film a bit of a boost at the box office here and to give the film a chance of being sold to a distributor in America.It has to be said that there seems to be a line of descent for American actors.Starting out as leading men,then gravitating to Westerns and then making the trip over to the UK to give films a boost for reasons stated above.However films like this really did not have much chance in any territory.the problem is that for a film of fairly modest ambitions it is really over plotted.You just tend to loose interest in the whole thing after about 20 minutes.So not really worth bothering with.

Rod Cameron certainly is no Bogart and rather make an impression like Fred MacMurray all miscast and out of place in the fogs of London, where he gets kidnapped and drugged with some bogus truth serum while he nevertheless only can produce mumbles, that will not satisfy the hoodlum gang he has run into, which proves to be some international fascist league working under cover of some impeccable peace organization - there will be no peace here, only hard knuckles, murders and gunfire. The film is saved by Lois Maxwell who works on both sides, employed as a secretary by the organization and supplying the police with information. The Italians are interesting here, caught in the spiral of organized crime and trying desperately to get away, one after the other getting caught in the slaughter. It's a bleak copy of more organized noir films, there is not even much cinematography here except for the fog, and Rod Cameron will make you yawn when he doesn't use his knuckles. The story is weak routine stuff, you have seen it all before, while only Lois Maxwell is interesting.

O. K. Rod Cameron is no Bogart, but his burly transatlantic presence helps this British B-thriller tick along nicely. Utilising that British staple - fog, P. I. Mike O'Kelly is accosted by three men in quick succession when on his way to see pal Ben Connor. The last man drops a passport and, we're on our way. Connor is found dead by O'Kelly and to save time he follows up on the passport, leaving secretary Jonesy (Marianne Stone) to tell the police. Another British staple of the fifties is introduced; a gang of neo-nazis hiding within a peace organization. Femme fatale ( Diane Boyd (Lois Maxwell) drapes herself pleasingly on the bar in the smoky atmosphere of the Stella Lupari Club. She is obviously involved and leads O'Kelly on a merry, not to mention life-threatening, dance. But what about the mysterious Orlando Syms (Clifford Evans)? The shady Dr Randolph (Douglas Wilmer) and the obviously terrified owner of the passport Amedeo Sacchi (Derek Sydney)? Not forgetting the stereotypical gang of murderously-inclined Italians who can't fight their way out of a paper bag, let alone get past Mike's clubbing right fist! What is the meaning of the list of numbers? Is anyone really what they seem to be? Can anyone be trusted? No! That's what makes the story! From the Berman/Baker stable who made a lot of these entertaining thrillers; they moved on to produce the, very successful, Saint tv series in the sixties. In fact, substitute Roger Moore for Cameron, tweak the script a little, and you have a typical Saint episode. Half of the rest of the cast also appeared regularly in various episodes. A good old-fashioned thriller with no profanity or gratuitous sex, and just complicated enough to keep you on the hook.