Le perceur de coffres

This low budget 'B' is the third of five films directed by and starring Ray Milland. To say that these five represent a mixed bag would be an understatement but this one is by far the most interesting.

The story itself is involving and the title character provides a perfect vehicle for Mr. Milland's rakish persona.

The pacing and momentum are pretty good compared to this director's other films but that quite frankly would not be difficult. He has the plus factors here of editor Ernest Walter, cinematographer Gerry Gibbs and a first rate score by Richard Rodney Bennett not to mention a supporting cast of familiar and thoroughly dependable British thesps notably Barry Jones and Victor Maddern. Nice performance too from Prague-born Jeanette Sterke who did not alas make as many films as her looks and talent deserved.

Mr. Milland returned to England ten years later to direct and reprise his stage role of Simon Crawford QC in the pedestrian 'Hostile Witness' of which the less said the better.

It's 1938 London. Locksmith Colley Dawson (Ray Milland) demonstrates his safecracking skills to get a job designing a foolproof safe. He gets recruited by a crooked antiques dealer to break into a safe. Eventually, he gets caught and imprisoned. After the start of the war, he gets recruited by the military to steal a German spy list from a safe in occupied Belgium.

This is fine. I wouldn't spend that much time introducing Colley's descend into the criminal world. The movie could easily start with training at the military base. That's the meat of the story anyways. The training has some fun bits and dropping behind the lines has some good action. It has some good sneaking around but the scheme always has an unavoidable issue. The Nazis would always find out no matter how careful they are. The Nazis would assume that something was stolen and the list seems to be a high priority. I like a lot of this but much of the first half can be cut.

Ray Milland starred in and produced this film from 1958. He plays Colley Dawson, an expert safecracker who can open a safe by listening to the tumblers. While in prison, he is recruited by the British to break into a safe in Germany and photograph a list of their spies working in Britain.

What's odd about the film is that it starts out as one thing - a safecracker who is stealing things for a partner and getting a percentage - and then turns into more of a spy film.

Milland is way past it to be playing this part. Also, at least in the print I saw, the night scenes and dark house scenes were so dark it was hard to make out anything.

Just okay.

During every war, there are many stories of how people who would normally be passed by, are often chosen to become heroes, despite their infamy. Here is one such story called " The Safecracker. " It concern one Colley Dawson, (Ray Milland) an honest enough man, but one who is keenly aware that his desire for the good things in life, will never be acquired through hard work and determination. Like so many others, he discovers his talent for opening safes can bring him more money by theft. With a Mr. Bennett Carfield (Barry Jones) as fence, the two commit a series of jewel robberies which lead to instant riches. However, one robbery goes wrong and Dawson ends up doing ten years in prison. WII then provides the unusual but hazardous circumstances, during which he is promised a pardon if he will go to occupied Europe and break into a Top Secret German safe. Dawson joins a special team and finds himself in danger of his life once again. Milland does better as director for this film but is a little out of sync as the hero. Still, the movie is a good effort and he is seen as always in good form as an actor. ***

I am considerably more enthusiastic about this film than the majority of my fellow IMDBers below. Indeed, had the action scenes, especially the night time parachute drop and the climactic burglary, been better handled I would have assigned it a nine or a ten. I was especially taken with Milland's crisp, fast paced directorial style, unusual for an actor who decides to move behind the camera, where the scenes tend to favor the dramatic players rather than the drama. I also liked that this cheerfully cynical tale stayed true to itself and did not "redeem" Milland's title character in the name of English patriotism. Give it a B plus.