Outside the Law

It's a very conventional thriller with a lot of technical intricacies about details in investigating counterfeit money, but there is a girl involved who is wholly agreeable, knowing nothing of the racket in which her husband was involved before getting murdered, while his colleague has some past sins to make up for, being on parole, and getting his chance when he is offered the possibility to make a clean slate of his records if he helps sorting out his colleague's being mixed up with advanced gangsters. It so happens that he is offered this opportunity by his father, who is a police, and the most interesting part of the film is their relationship. The father looks constantly worried and concerned about his son, who resents the whole business and wants to pull out because of some previous disagreement with his father, which we never learn anything about. He reminds very much of Dean Martin but without any humour, which this film is entirely without. It is interesting though, there is a grand finale with fisticuffs and shootouts, and Onslow Stevens as the father makes a great performance which couldn't be more convincing.

The underrated actor, Ray Danton, stars as aGI with a checkered past, who is now working for his father in the Treasury Department. The father and son team (along with several t-men) are trying to crack a very sophisticated counterfeiting ring originating in Germany. I can tell you from direct experience as an owner of a small paper collectibles business, that the Germans are the absolute best paper counterfeiters in the world, by a large margin.

They counterfeit paper collectibles very often in addition to doing counterfeit bill reproduction.

There is the usual romantic interest from a B actress, who was never seen again (or rarely), but it really has little chemistry (her acting is pretty bad). Danton, on the other hand, is very good in his role. Catch him if you can.

Ex-con Ray Danton is recruited by his father, Onslow Stevens, to help track down and break a gang of counterfeiters in Germany. Danton is angry with his father, but accepts. Stevens can't keep his love for his son from interfering with the operations.

It's a nice, murky little movie directed by Jack Arnold, with some love interest provided by Leigh Snowden, and a general air of "just doing my job" on the part of the other agents and the counterfeiters, even when they look like they're about to get violent. Utility cinematographer Irving Glassberg shows his usual high level of professionalism in the sort of throwaway programmer that Arnold was able to put something extra into.

Rather good noir with an interesting story of some counterfeiting corruption and a splendid gun fight among the coaches in the bus garage. Leigh Snowden is great in this but only made about ten films although she did make the fantastic, Kiss Me Deadly (1955) and Grant Williams was also good although he made a few more and his most famous one as The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) Of course this gives us a clue as the director made this and the other film by Jack Arnold and if this isn't a wonderful one it is certainly well shot and no messing around and no boring moments. He was 56 when he made this one and before he had Tarantula (1955) and Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) - not bad even if there aren't really any beasts in this one.

Shortly after the story begins, a soldier is shot and killed by his so-called 'friends'. Only moments before, he was talking with another soldier, Johnny Salvo (Ray Danton). Well, soon Johnny is offered a chance to work with government in order to try to not only solve the murder but stop a counterfeiting ring....the same 'friends' that killed the soldier. What incentive are they offering for Johnny's help? Well, he joined the army because he was offered a choice...the army or prison! Apparently, Johnny's an ex-con...and if he helps, he'll have his entire criminal record released. The case is complicated when Johnny falls in love with the widow...and you have no idea if she's part of this gang or not.

Ray Danton is hardly a household name today, but he was a good actor...and a very handsome one at that. This film shows that he COULD do a great job despite being a B or C-list actor...and he is very good here. The story also is interesting and kept my interest. Well worth seeing.