Soho Incident

This was an interesting little British crime film that starred both an American actress and a Canadian actor, which I guess was common at the time.

The story is about Canadian Jim Bankley who while training at a British boxing gym owned by Tom Walker he befriends Tom's two children, Bill and Betty. Bill is a promising boxer at the ring and unbeknownst to Jim is asked by a local mobster to take a dive in the ring which he doesn't do.

Meanwhile Jim who hasn't been successful is looking for work and his fellow Canadian, Buddy. He finds Buddy who gets him a job with his employer the local mobster Rico Francesi...only it's not really Buddy or Rico that gets Jim hired, it's Rico's sister Bella. Bella takes a shine to Jim and wants him moved up the paces.

Bottom-line is Jim is a good guy (I.e. He may be ok with tapping phone lines to fix betting on horses at the track, but he is not ok with murder), so when Bill ends up dead at the hands of one of Rico's goons and Jim finds out about it he wants out. Only then does he discover how blood thirsty Bella really is.

Good action, interesting story...but the best part of this film is really the 1950's sidewalk/street scenes in England...fresh market, neon signs, liquor store, etc. GGreat, great footage and for me the best part of this film. A noir buff might enjoy this film..and those with curiosity like me.

One is to see how bad Faye Domerogue is acting and two to see 26 year old Lee Patterson in all his handsome glory.

The rest is a typical B gangster film with a frigid femme fatale.

In the 1950s-60s, many American actors went to Europe to star in various films. Perhaps the studios saw it as a way to draw in more people to see the films...perhaps it was to satisfy investors that they had a big name for the leads. Regardless, hundreds of films were made with various A and B-list Americans. "Soho Incident" is unusual in that it does star one American (Faith Domergue) but also a Canadian (Lee Patterson). And, while I loved Domergue in the film (she was a great femme fatale), she and her brother in the film were lousy choices for the movie. Why? Because Martin Benson played an Italian guy and Domergue his sister. So why did he sound VERY Italian and she sounded just like an American? Despite this dumb casting choice, "Soho Incident" is a dandy crime film...one well worth seeing.

The story finds Jim (Patterson) working as a boxer but going no where. So he decides to go for fast and easy money by going to work for Mr. Francesi, a gambler with a dubious reputation. Much of this is because Francesi's sister (Domergue) is infatuated with him. Soon he makes himself very useful doing various shady things, but he isn't willing to hurt anyone...which is a problem since his boss isn't above murder. And, when Jim sees him kill a fellow crook, he's had enough and wants out. But it isn't Mr. Francesi he has to worry about but his demon-like sister....she'll stop at nothing to destroy Jim and she takes his leaving VERY personally.

You just have to see the awful things the sister does in this one....she is the ultimate femme fatale. I'll say no more....just see it and be amazed. Fine writing that avoids the usual clichés is why I particularly liked this one.

Director Vernon Sewell, about whom I am embarrassingly ignorant, does pull off a good job with this British B noir picture entitled originally SPIN A DARK WEB (SOHO INCIDENT in the US circuit).

Some weaknesses notwithstanding, the script by Ian Black is solid. I had found it difficult to believe that Rona Anderson's highly fit boxeur brother died after getting hit over the head with a small and flexible police baton, just as I could not see the need for Rico Francesi to bump off McLeod, who had been absent from the screen for some 60', when they had more pressing matters to attend to. On the positive end, we get to listen to some sharp dialogue, conveyed mainly by deceitfully evil femme fatale Domergue in contrast with upstanding Lee Patterson.

I feel that stunningly beautiful Rona Anderson was given a far smaller part than she deserved, the same going for Peter Burton in the role of Inspector Collis.

As was the habit in British B pics of the 1950s, foreign nationals get the male and female leads (Domergue a US citizen, Patterson Canadian). Cinematography is good enough for the film's purposes, but I have seen better in other Brit B pics.

Very catchy tune entitled "Love me, love me now" sung by Julie Dawn.

All told, a fun 76 minutes with some gripping action and repartee.

A sort of British version of 711 OCEAN DRIVE has a young naïve tech expert hired to wire up a horse race betting scheme so the villains can get the inside tip straight from the bookie's mouth...

Yet it begins like a boxing noir since the lanky and passive Canadian import Lee Patterson is a wannabe prizefighter set with a girl-next-door girlfriend, daughter of a trainer and his fighter son... the latter killed by a no-good hood played by Bernard Fox before his signature mustache made him an endearing magical character-actor...

His gruff character here breaking SPIN A DARK WEB into two parts: one has our hero sent by plan-plotting criminals Martin Benson and Robert Arden to pay or catch or maybe even kill hideaway Fox while working out the aforementioned con...

And there needed more of the first as the sting is too complicated while the best scenes, traipsing in and out of actual London streets/locales, clash with phony-looking rear-projection driving scenes... thankfully there's less of the latter...

And like all Film Noirs it's a sexy femme fatale who makes our blank-slate boy turn savage-sappy while he neglects the good gal who had him first... but she isn't very attractive, or interesting... and token wildcard Faith Domergue doesn't have enough time to SPIN that DARK titular WEB with all those literal wires getting crossed and uncrossed, again and again.