Crime Unlimited

Though "Crime Unlimited" has quite a different "feel" from what a Warners U.S. production on the same plot premise would have — the American version would have moved a lot faster and would have had wall-to-wall background music (this one doesn't have an underscore at all!) — it's quite a good movie and makes one wish more of the Teddington productions existed. (About 100 were made while Warners owned the studio but only about one-third of them survive — and among the lost is the one most everyone would most want to see: "Murder at Monte Carlo," Errol Flynn's first starring role and the film that convinced Jack Warner that Flynn belonged in Hollywood.) Its debt to the Holmes-Moriarty story and especially to Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse films is pretty evident — the villain is a man who, to preserve his incognito, meets his confederates in a secret room and communicates with them only by intercom — but it's well plotted, the denouement makes sense and Esmond Knight is a personable hero, handsome but also quite a good actor who effectively projects the character's combination of courage and naïveté. But the film belongs to Lilli Palmer, whose performance would jump out at you even if you didn't know she would become a star later on; playing the most conflicted character in the story, she makes her rich and complex and brings her dilemmas home. Ralph Ince's direction could have used more of a sense of atmosphere (though it was clear from some of the setups in the villain's headquarters that he'd screened Lang's Mabuse films), and there are a few points where the pace slackened and the film seemed dull, but overall "Crime Unlimited" is quite a good piece of work and the British audiences who saw it in 1935 were probably entertained even while waiting for the big Warners Hollywood production they'd actually paid to see.

Lovely Lilli Palmer made her film debut in this routine British quota film, Crime Unlimited, from 1935.

She stars with Esmond Knight in this drama about an undercover police office infiltrating a gang of jewel thieves and attempting to meet the unseen leader, Maddick. Along the way, he meets Natacha (Palmer), part of the crime team, but who wants out.

This is a pretty good film, nothing special, but it was certainly fun to see the nearly unrecognizable Palmer. Esmond Knight, in his twenties here, lived to be 80 and worked until the very end, despite being blind for two years after the war and losing an eye.

I am currently reading the autobiography of Edmond Knight.He was contracted by Irving Asher to make quota quickies.He considered this to be one of the better ones.He had done screen tests with four potential leading ladies when he was asked to do a fifth.The actress was Lilli Palmer. The film used one of Edgar Wallace's favourite pot devices.The gang controlled by a mysterious unknown leader. Ralph Ince,brother of Thomas,directs at speed

This proves that with a good scripted, intelligent story, a film doesn't need a big budget to enjoyable. For a change, cheap tacky production and unimaginative direction actually results in a fairly riveting little picture.

Former American bit-part player, now English quota quickie director Ralph Ince injects gallons of life into this. It's all go - there's never a dull moment - it's all action. Ince doesn't do anything particularly interesting, clearly he was no Hitchcock but the story is so fast, you don't get a chance to notice. The acting is also pretty decent too: Edmond Knight is surprisingly charismatic as the undercover cop. Twenty year old blonde Lilli Palmer doesn't look anything like the lovely Lilli Palmer we're used to seeing but nevertheless gives a believable performance.

A lot of Britain's early thirties cheap quota quickies were atrocious but they shouldn't all be tarred with the same brush. This is....well not a classic but in a different league to its contemporaries. If you like a good old exciting police story, you might enjoy this.

Crisply paced British crime story about a gang of jewel thieves preying on high society is reminiscent of the David Niven/Olivia de Havilland caper RAFFLES. This one is about a man who appears to be a dapper thief eluding Scotland Yard. It turns out he is posing as a thief, but is really a lawman infiltrating a jewelry gang and working for Scotland Yard.

LILLI PALMER, looking almost unrecognizable in her first screen role with the usual plucked eyebrows of the '30s style, deftly handles the role of a girl who participates in the gang robberies. All of the Scotland Yard scenes are well handled by a cast of British actors.

ESMOND KNIGHT gives an appealing performance as the lawman impersonating a dapper jewel thief in true David Niven style, always fashionably attired. Palmer plays a girl who lives by her wits but wants out of the crime game and wants Knight to quit too. Both of them have never met Maddick, the head of the gang, but fear him. The surprise is in the revelation of Maddick.

Summing up: Routine story, very British style, offers nothing new in the way of crime capers.