Nowhere to Go

*Minor Spoilers* Slightly above average UK crime drama. George Nader isn't bad as cold, calculating thief Paul Gregory. But as a thief, Paul isn't so good. First he mismanages a scheme to remove valuable coins from a rich lady (Silent Screen veteran Bessie Love, who resembles Lesley Manville at times). Then a co-criminal, played by great Bernard Lee, tries to put one over on Paul and they both lose out In the middle of it all is young and pretty Maggie Smith...her motives are not all that clear, given the risk she takes for edgy and pushy Paul, whom she apparently fancies. The movie is very well directed by Seth Holt who knew how to keep things moving and how to keep your eyes interested in what's on screen. A sequence set in Wales, but probably not filmed there, is quite beautiful.

This is an offering from Michael Balcon at Ealing Studios which was probably not one of the premier British studios. That is one reason I was so surprised at the quality of the story and the production values. It was made during a period where the Brits tended to imitate most things American. The cars, the clothes, the movies, even the music. And then came Carnaby Street and the Beatles.

The story revolves around a American thief in London, played by George Nader, who was probably at the nadir of his career. I checked his credits and about this time he drifted into TV and then on to Germany and the rest of Europe, keeping busy in forgettable movies. His performance in this movie was low key, but really slick. He plays a professional who cons an old lady out of a valuable coin collection and spends the rest of the movie trying to cash it in and split. One by one his shady friends turn on him until he ends up a hunted man ducking for cover at every turn. He is eventually forced to rely on a virtual stranger he meets accidentally. She is played by a young and very interesting Maggie Smith. In fact I didn't even recognize her until the credits rolled.

This story was well written. Tight and tense. The performances were top notch, and the atmosphere had a very noir feel to it, even though a lot of it was shot in daylight. I don't know why George Nader's star waned. You couldn't predict it from his performance here.

I almost skipped this film -- it was a late night offering on TCM -- but I'm so glad I taped it. Like most film noir, the story never seems to go in the direction you expect; its charm lies in this unpredictability. Unlike most film noir, however, Nowhere To Go seems both authentic and believable. In the end, Paul Gregory's self-assured cockiness is undone by surprise, deceit and suspicion.

My initial interest was to watch Maggie Smith's first credited screen role but was completely drawn in by all of the principal characters. Those more accustomed to seeing Smith in her more sophisticated roles from the 1970s onwards, will be pleasantly surprised by her ability to comfortably inhabit the role of a working class girl.

I had never seen George Nader in anything before. Too bad he never achieved the degree of greatness his talent and good looks seemed to promise. Although American born, I think he would have played a convincing James Bond.

Both Bessie Love and Bernard Lee provide strong supporting roles.

If this film had been made in 1950s France by directors named Clouzot or Melville, this Ealing production would be a regular on the revival circuit and in film school classrooms. Sadly, it's a completely unheralded film. Directed expertly by Seth Holt, who co-wrote the film with critic Kenneth Tynan, the film features an on-his-way-to-Europe George Nader as an American con man in London, looking to score by stealing a valuable coin collection (the owner is played by American expatriate and silent film star Bessie Love). His companion in crime is the docile but dangerous Bernard Lee, and there are double crosses and dirty dealings aplenty. The star of the film is Paul Beeson's amazing cinematography, always artistic but never too showy. Beeson also did sterling work for Ealing's The Shiralee (1957), and it's hard to understand how his career ended up on Harry Alan Towers scrap-heap. Dizzy Reece's outstanding jazz score (his only film work) fits the story like a glove and Maggie Smith makes her film debut as Nader's love interest. This is a great film and a true work of art.

I watched TCM's 87-minute broadcast of this film from June 2017. What a find! Script-wise, it continually zigs when the viewer expects it to zag. The cinematography is a mix of elements to love -- noir shadings, in-depth focus, unusual but always pertinent camera angles. And I suppose that in the context of films like Scream of Fear and The Nanny, the sober and somewhat cynical auteur side of Seth Holt comes through. George Nader pretty much carries the acting chores and does fine at it. It's a shame he never seemed to break through to the big time. I remember him, of course, in Robot Monster, also in a TV show called Man and the Challenge. Maggie Smith, in her film debut, is anything but a sexy ingenue. Her part is scripted to carry her character in an entirely opposite direction; her large eyes and muted attractiveness do add to the effectiveness of her performance. An uncut, Region 2 DVD adding 13 minutes to the film is available through Amazon UK. I would imagine that the extra footage serves to amplify the evolution of Nader's character -- this, not the suspense (though it is suspenseful), struck me as the focus of this unjustly neglected film. Give it a try!