Dancing with Crime

Worth it for the post-war background. The 50s "New Look" hadn't happened yet and all the girls have big hair and big shoulders - much more flattering than the 50s fashions that made everyone look middle-aged.

Richard Attenborough and Sheila Sim are likeable. They get involved in investigating the murder of their friend, a young, dashing Bill Owen.

It's a shame Diana Dors wasn't credited. She was good in her early roles - she turns up in another dance hall with Petula Clark and Bonar Colleano. I think she was dubbed in both films, though.

To the gentleman who thought it terribly rude that some other bloke could just grab your partner - it was called an "excuse me" dance. There was also a "ladies excuse me". This is not a regular Palais de Dance, however - the girls are all professional hostesses.

John Paddy Carstairs is not exactly the type of director I would normally associate with film noir, though some might argue that SLEEPING CAR TO TRIESTE (1948) fits that bill as much as DANCING WITH CRIME, and both are films of considerable quality. Carstairs I tend to connect more with the Norman Wisdom slapstick comedies of the 1950s and DANCING WITH CRIME is not without its comic moments.

Lamentably, baby-faced Richard Attenborough strikes me as too young and puny for his part. His fisticuffs with a couple of other fellows did not convince me, with quite a few clearly fake punches thrown in. That said, he comes across as quite likable, the main minuses being that he did not look like a soldier recently out of WWII action, too young to pair off with pretty Sheila Sim, and he disappears from the action for about 10' at a crucial point about three quarters into the flick.

Barry Barnes as the scheming and evil Baker warrants close attention but it is Barry Jones who steals the show as the slippery and clever top villain, who even gets to successfully impersonate a police inspector and so con Attenborough into disclosing some privileged information. Garry Marsh also plays with considerable verve and humor the role of Detective Sergeant Murray.

Typically competent cinematography, solid script, sharp dialogue.

Definitely worth watching.

Brisk, efficient British post-War crime melodrama set in London - part of the 'Spiv' movie cycle(films with roots in 30s American Gangster movies, featuring characters profiting from wartime rationing in a similar fashion to 30s bootleggers, but not so clearly glamorised as their Stateside equivalents - see also the superior NOOSE). Richard Attenborough stars as former soldier, Ted Peters, now making a living as a London cab-driver who becomes involved with a criminal gang headed by dance hall owner and criminal mastermind Mr Gregory (the seriously undervalued Barry Jones), whose henchman and M.C. Paul Baker (Barry K. Barnes) has offed Ted's childhood friend and former army buddy Dave Robinson (Bill Rowbotham, better known to U.K. audiences as Bill Owen, star of long-running U.K. T.V comedy series LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE). At Ted's behest, his girlfriend Joy (Sheila Sim) gets a job as a dancehall hostess in Gregory's dance hall as part of Ted's attempts to expose the criminal gang and the true nature of the crime lord's enterprise is gradually exposed. Punchily directed by John Paddy Carstairs, and redolent with post-War atmosphere, this is another example of the type of popular genre fare which entertained U.K. audiences in the 40s at the same time as the now revered 'noir' movies similarly engaged their U.S. contemporaries. Deserving wider acclaim, the movies from this post-War U.K. genre are valid, and diverting, social documents which often gave early exposure to burgeoning talents (in this instance, an uncredited brunette Diana Dors and a 'blink and you'll miss him' Dirk Bogarde) and should, by rights, be as revered in their country of origin as the more celebrated and documented U.S. post-War crime movies. Worth checking out, if you get the chance.

Ted Peters (Richard Attenborough) plays a London cab driver who finds a friend of his dead in the back of his cab in "Dancing with Crime" from 1947.

Dirk Bogarde and Diana Dors were in this film, but I didn't see them. They were both uncredited.

Ted's friend was involved in some shady dealings. Much of the activity is traced to a dance hall, run by Paul Baker (Barry K. Barnes), and Ted's girlfriend (Sheila Sim) takes a job there in order to spy. Of course, Ted is supposed to stay out of it and let the police do their job, but then, we wouldn't have a movie.

The problem is, the criminals think Ted knows too much and are after him. Is Joy's cover safe?

The best part was seeing Attenborough in the fight scenes - he was a small man, and the script had him throwing people over his head, kicking his feet into them from the ground, all sorts of things. He was like Superman.

Run of the mill melodrama, but I still enjoyed it.

Not really the best title for this ordinary British crime-noir, but Richard Attenborough ("Ted") and Shiela Sim ("Joy") put in a decent effort. He is a London taxi driver who finds himself embroiled in some criminal activities when his wartime friend is found murdered. The trail leads both him and the police to a nightclub run by "Gregory" (Barry Jones) and his MC "Baker" (Barry K. Barnes). The pair decide that "Joy" may be able to help their investigation by taking a job as an hostess at the club, but is she putting herself and him in even more danger as the gang soon realise that they are onto them? This packs quite a bit into eighty minutes and both at the top of the bill do their jobs efficiently - as does the under-stated Jones. The ending is a bit weakly predictable and it rather dialogue heavy, but it's still quite a watchable afternoon feature with a bit of menace, a little humour and a fine collection of hats!