Suspected Person

An occasionally atmospherically lit but stiff, talky and studio-bound British imitation of a Hollywood crime film a long way after 'Point Blank', whose plot about American gangsters at large in London like the rest of the film feels very pre-war.

A couple of 'big shot' racketeers are after $50,000 due them from their latest heist stateside. I won't spoil it for you by revealing if they're successful or not.

American bank robbers Robert Beatty (Franklin) and Eric Clavering (Dolan) travel to London to track down Clifford Evans (Jim) who has escaped with the money. He is living with his sister Patricia Roc (Joan) who unknowingly rents out a room to detective David Farrar (Inspector Thomson) who is tailing the gang and who is also after the money to crack the case and arrest all 3 guilty men. Singer Anne Firth (Carol) also has lodgings in the same house and becomes the girlfriend of Evans. Can Farrar crack the case?

It's a zippy story that keeps you watching and so it scores points on that front. It also has a couple of surprises in store, especially for Farrar as he thinks he has things solved. Not quite. I also liked the 2 bad-guy robbers and Anne Firth sings a good song in the nightclub. However, I have to give the film an overall verdict of "ok" as opposed to "good" as people speak their lines too quickly so it's not always clear what they are saying. This is especially true of the character of Eddie at the film's start and Farrar is also an offender in this respect. He speaks too quickly and swallows his vowels in a Noel Coward kind of way. Also, Clifford Evans is a poor lead character – he's not very appealing or convincing as a tough guy. And how about those fake punches!

This is a thriller that lacks any real conviction,particularly since it seems obsessed with the American gangster milieu. The story twists and turns but not in such a way as to keep you on t enter hooks.The acting is very variable, Farrer is particularly wooden.The 2 "Americans" ate laughably unbelievable.

Clifford Evans has taken part in a robbery in New York and lammed for England with all of the $50,000. He settles down with his sister, Patricia Roc, and is waiting for the money to be converted to pounds sterling. However, two of the men in the robbery have shot the third and pursued Evans to England, with money and murder on their minds. Police Inspector David Farrar catches wind of what's going on and decides to do some undercover work.

It's a well-written mystery, with a nice, low-key comic bit for William Hartnell as Derek's sergeant. It still betrays its essentially second-feature production by the cheaper sets and lots at Associated British' Wellwyn Studios, and a couple of minor gaffes, like the way American accents are portrayed. Nonetheless, the twists and turns kept me interested through the end.

This wartime cinematic diversion is a story about gangsters trying to recover their stolen money and how this disrupts the lives of innocent parties. David Farrar, excellent as usual, plays the Detective Inspector who sets a trap to catch the thief, the gangsters, and the stolen money all at once. While doing so, he falls in love with the charming niece of the thief, played by Patricia Roc. Her uncle falls in love with her flatmate, played by the actress Anne Firth, in her first feature film role. She later died tragically young at the age of only 49. Clifford Evans plays the lead, though he is hardly a congenial leading man. But then most of those were at War at this time. The film is enjoyable enough and capably directed by Lawrence Huntington. It is for those who like to watch old British forties movies, which have their endless fascination as depicting the traditional manners, attitudes, and mores which have so utterly disappeared from Britain today. Huntington later directed NIGHT BOAT TO DUBLIN (1946, see my review).