13 East Street

13 East Street is a serviceable B thriller. A quickie quota with an American guest star.

It starts off with a man robbing a jewellery store and being chased by the police. He is caught, sentenced and escapes when he is being transported to prison with another convict called Joey.

Joey introduces the man to his boss Larry and is accepted as a gang member. They gang are involved in various robberies. The man is Inspector Blake an undercover policeman whose job is to infiltrate this gang and pass information about their activities to another undercover policeman who is always hanging around nearby.

However one person in the gang has suspicions about Blake as he thinks he has seen him before. The story is rather clumsy in its execution. There is a scene where Blake's wife and their neighbour nearly bump into him.

Out of all the actors it is Dora Bryan that stands out the most.

13 EAST STREET is a low budget British crime film made by the popular team of Monty Berman and Robert Baker, and directed by Baker himself in this instance. The script was written by the prolific John Gilling, who rarely seems to have taken the time to sit down during his busy career in film. The fast-paced story has many twists and turns throughout, a fair few of which are quite obvious, but there are so many ingredients in the plot that it's never slow or boring. The imposing Patrick Holt plays a failed burglar who concocts a daring prison break with a fellow convict. The two manage to escape and soon join up with a criminal gang who are planning their next big break-in. However, some characters have mysterious motivations, and as always, women seem to get in the way.

This is a short and serviceable thriller that sees a solid cast going through the motions. Holt is always fine as hero or villain and does well here. The thoroughly likable Michael Balfour is great value as the fellow con and the scene of them escaping from the prison wagon is one of the best in the movie. Sandra Dorne is an appealing femme fatale in the genteel British tradition while Dora Bryan is fun as the nosy neighbour. Robert Ayres's chief bad guy could do with being a bit more nasty, but Michael Brennan is fine as a real thuggish fellow. 13 EAST STREET is hardly electrifying viewing but I enjoyed it enough nonetheless.

Patrick Holt robs a jewelry store. He is quickly caught and sentenced to prison. He escapes with his cellmate and they make their way to London's docklands, where they join Robert Ayre's gang. Henchman Michael Brennan suspects him, but Ayre's girlfriend, Sandra Dorne, decides she likes Holt. It turns out Mack is right; Holt is an undercover copper, out to infiltrate and break up the gang.

It's a taut little second feature as Holt tries to do his job while Brennan slowly finds grounds for his suspicions, with some nice interludes with Sonia Holm (Holt's real wife at the time) and Dora Bryan as a gossipy neighbor. It's got some beautiful photography, shot by producer-cinematographer Monty Berman. He and co-producer Robert Baker would later strike gold with the TV series THE SAINT.

From 1952: Police inspector Gerald Blake (Patrick Holt) goes undercover by participating in a jewel robbery and getting caught. In prison he befriends a robber (Michael Balfour) who is part of the big gang the department is after.

While on a train being transferred, they both escape and Blake meets the gang. None of them, though, are the inside man they want.

The boss is Larry (Robert Ayres) and he and Blake become competitive. Larry's girlfriend Judy (Sandra Dorne) doesn't hide her interest in Blake, who needs to be an important part of a huge fur theft.

This film was okay with one ridiculous part. One of the thieves shows up at Judy's place to find Larry because he's learned Blake is a cop. In fact, Blake is there, hiding. To help him leave, she puts aspirin into a drink; the gang member passes out. Okay - maybe. But when he wakes up he's forgotten what he was going to tell Larry.

Berman and Baker were a good producing team- in fact they are responsible for TV's The Saint. This has a decent cast.

Sonia Holm, in real life married to Holt, plays his wife here. However, in 1955 he married the other female costar, Dorne. She died in 1992, and Holt is said to have never really recovered from her death.

An early Berman & Baker production before they went into TV enhanced as usual by Baker's excellent photography and by vivid use throughout of London locations.

(SEMI-SPOILER COMING: Most of the reviews of this film - and even the IMDb's own synopsis & cast list - reveal the central plot development, which is itself revealed in the film itself after only twenty minutes and recently used in 'White Heat'.)