International police

This has got quite a field of recognisable talent, but the story is a bit thin. "Frank McNally" (Trevor Howard) is a ruthless drug dealer who makes a bit of a mockery of the efforts of Interpol to track him down. It's only when he kills the sister of US agent "Sturgis" (Victor Mature) that he finds a foe worthy of him. This fellow is much more determined, and quickly alights on the mule of the operation "Gina" (Anita Ekberg) trailing her all around Europe before finally honing in on his prey as "McNally" plots an huge job in New York. The format of the storyline takes a bit of a travelogue style and though that does give it some pace, it means we spend way too much time on planes, at airports and touring the sites rather than developing any characters of even a substantial plot. Neither Mature nor Howard really engage, Ekberg has practically no dialogue until the very end and the best effort comes from grifter Bonar Colleano's ("Amalio") who seems way more adept at tracking "McNally" than his policeman buddy. The ending is weak - it's more of a testament to the effectiveness of global policing and communications that it is to a thriller, and I felt the whole thing just lacked oomph.

A film unconsistently complicated, which thing adds nothing to the plot, but rather deprives it of clearness and smoothness.

A film in which all the faces look the same (apart from V. Mature's and A. Ekberg's, the only woman among the characters), so you don't really know, at times, who is doing what.

A film with many guns shootings, in whose - as it happens in so many films of the same genre - rarely any man of some importance happens to be shot. Bulletts completely obey the filmmakers' will.

A film where the final chase brings no thrill whatsoever, as no thrills are to be expected from the whole movie. It's not really a whodunit: you know from the start who the villain is, you only have to be patient enough for him to get caught.

Locations range from New York, Paris, Lisbon, Rome, Athens. Curiously enough, when in Rome you can hear Italian phrases pronounced with a strong American accent, while when in Athens, the backround chatter is mostly in pure Italian, and repeatedly proposed in loops of a few seconds' duration. Sometimes the filmmakers get a little confused, and even signs and labels, when in Greece, are in Italian.

This was an interesting film which starred Victor Mature, (Charles Sturgis) who was a US Narcotics Agent working with Interpol in order to catch a large dope smuggling operation. Gina Broger, (Anita Ekberg) played a young gal who was working with a big shot dope king, Frank McNally, (Trevor Howard) and was only working with him because he kept her against her will and would not let her go. There is plenty of travel into Lisbon, Greece and New York and it seemed at times that Charles Sturgis was running around in circles. Trevor Howard gave a great supporting role along with Anita Ekberg, but this film was definitely a low budget film and because this was a 1957 film, the gals all wore skirts down to their ankles.

Victor Mature stars in Pickup Alley as a drug enforcement officer who has his professional and personal life combined in this film. His sister Dorothy Alison is strangled by Trevor Howard who is a big drug syndicate kingpin that everyone knows about, but who has successfully kept a very low profile. All kinds of police agencies are looking for Howard and now Mature has a personal reason to get him.

Thinking she killed Howard's partner his moll Anita Ekberg is also on the run. She might be the one to lead Mature to Howard so he tails her across several international cities back to New York where the climax takes place.

This idea had already been tried and far more successfully in the Dick Powell noir classic To The Ends Of The Earth where Powell was the drug enforcement agent with no personal axe to grind who follows a drug shipment. We get to see several glimpses of major cities in Europe and of course New York. Nothing that really registers a decent impression.

Pickup Alley was an OK second feature, but will never be a classic. Fans of Mature, Ekberg, and Howard will be satisfied. Best in the film in a small role is Bonar Colleano, exiled American gangster who lives by his wits both as souvenir salesman in Rome and peddler of information to those with a price.

American British co-production, released as Picket Alley on USA and Interpol on UK, Mature plays Charles Sturgis an American policeman from US narcotics department, when his sister who works as informer, was killed before to reveal the identity of the smuggler's Boss in New York, now he got starts again from scratch, the new clue nothing less than the beauty Anita Ekberg as Gina Bolder a delivery girl, they track down his steps, a long journey through Lisbon, Rome, Greece and finally back to New York, this picture goes far beyond the standards known, Charles Sturgis tireless pursuit of his unknown target, the long waiting romance between he and Gina Bolder never Happens, actually she plays a cold women, pressure by his Boss, due she committed a murder of his former old partner, the highlights coming from of nowhere, the Italian character Amalio played by the big mouth Bonar Colleano brings some relief on the plot, also a bit humor neither, Trevor Howard was fabulous as the slippery man, moving each couple days, unknown face, a hard assignment really, interesting picture!!

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First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD-R / Rating: 7