Crime Over London

A crime movie which doesn't quite know where it is going, switching between genres, and as variable as the American accents of the New York gang of crooks who fetch up in London until the heat is off them. They want to commit a big crime but can't decide what it is to be. They amuse themselves with robbery, treachery, adultery and cold-blooded murder. Meanwhile, a big department store is about to celebrate its 25th anniversary in light comedy scenes in which the actors seem on the edge of bursting into song. One half expects Jessie Matthews to appear, or even the Marx Brothers. Nothing links these two stories, except that the copper investigating the gang happens to be vying with the nephew of the store's owner, for the romantic attention of Joan. Sometimes it appears that we are watching two separate and completely different films, each pleasant but neither gripping, an effect also increased by a title sequence that weirdly suggests a Lugosi horror picture like 'The Dark Eyes of London.' Anyway, eventually the two plots come together, via a very long coincidence, and things speed up a bit. Lots of familiar faces, Paul Cavanagh, Margot Grahame, Basil Sydney, Joseph Cawthorn, Googie Withers, Roland Culver, Ian Fleming, Peter Gawthorne, Dino Galvani and Edward Rigby enlivening their scenes.

This movie has a great, if unlikely criminal plot, fine actors and, quite clearly, a lot of film left on the cutting-room floor. Top-billed Margot Grahame, for example, has four short scenes and a lot of presence, and her motivation is pretty well unclear. Ludwig von Wohl is credited with the novel it's based on and given a screenplay credit, but somewhere along the line, someone cut out a lot to make sure this timed in at a manageable length. There are subplots that are raised, elaborated on, and then dropped in dizzying number.

Despite this, or because of it, the movie moves along at a good clip. There are times when it seems as if things just don't make sense.... and then there is a revelation of what is going on and suddenly they do. Perhaps this is the purpose of the dead-end subplots. They still annoy me a bit, but the movie remains very watchable throughout.

This is a rather strange film as has been pointed out by the previous reviewer.It seems rather incoherent at times.My copy lasts 69minutes,Quinlan says it lasts 80 minutes and this site 84 minutes.So whether the problem is the deleted footage is a good question.As in quite a few British films of the era,an American gang come to London to pull a few jobs.They eventually decide to rob a department store called Sherwoods.As we can see from the exterior it is in fact Selfridges,all dressed up for the Silver Jubilee.The idea is to rob the store of £80000,being the boys for the staff on the stores silver Jubilee day.At the end there is a big gun battle between the gang and armed police.More a reflection of the desire of British producers to copy American gangster films than of reality.