Eu Te Pegarei

"It has some very good London exteriors showing WWII bombed out building, streets, and vintage cars but that's about it," notes another reviewer here, and that sums up "Escape Route". I watched it mainly for the nostalgia of the outdoor scenes in London, especially close to the Thames. The plot isn't too bad, though I wasn't convinced by Rossi's ploy to publicise his arrival in London - would the police have really plastered photographs everywhere of an American who had slipped through Immigration? And what happened to the taxi driver whom Rossi told to wait when he checked out the first address. There was no sign of him when Rossi left the building and walked off.

Raft was 51 when this film was released and looked it, despite wearing the toupee that can be discerned in shots of the back of his head. When a it wasn't a stuntman doing some of the more athletic scenes, Raft still looked clumsy and some of the punches were all too obviously "pulled".

Have been watching quite a few of the films presented by TCM in the latest retrospective of George Raft's films. and am amused by many of the reviews critical of the quality of the films. Yes, they are dated, corny, not well-plotted in some cases and Raft is not a very good actor -- in fact he is quite stiff and only seems to move with any grace when he is dancing. But he is fun to watch and in this film, as in many others in this latest series on TCM, you see what audiences found appealing about Raft -- he is always very cool and virtually expressionless regardless of the circumstances and his backstory including his friendship with mobsters is right out of The Godfather.

Another quota quickie British film of the fifties. This is one of literally hundreds of films that had an American actor in the leading role purely as a way of getting a release in the USA.

George Raft stars as an FBI agent sent over to Britain to find out how, why and where leading scientists are being abducted and taken East.

Raft, obviously at the twilight of his career, looks a little bored with the whole thing. Judging by his square shoulders, he seems to have left his coat hanger in his overcoat and his arms seem to be glued to his sides. His leading lady, quite a bit younger than him, also seems uneasy of smooching an older man!

Using schoolboy spy techniques they uncover the spy ring and Raft gets the girl. An undemanding film that passes the short running time.

This is being advertised as part of a film noir collection. Its is definitely not noir. It is a cheap B&W second run British post-war espionage mystery. It has some very good London exteriors showing WWII bombed out building, streets, and vintage cars but that's about it. George Raft is his usual upright, erect, suave self and the story is hokey, naturally there is a female romantic interest thrown in as usual formula but it is not objectionable or at all a waste of time, it's a good display of a has-been American actor on the cheap to a a thrifty British production and that's all. It is watchable, you don't want to turn it off, so see it for what it is without any high expectations.

The Soviets have been kidnapping scientists from all over the world. FBI agent Steve Rossi (George Raft) sneaks into England to try to infiltrate the kidnapping ring. He is captured by MI5 agent Joan Miller and she joins his mission.

This is a British espionage thriller. There isn't much thrilling. There is not much action to speak of other than a slow ride down an elevator. The elevator is more interesting than the fight. There is no great spy craft. It's a lot of static talking with intermittent moments of something possibly interesting. It's not enough.