Men Without Honour

Veddy British Quota Quickie which shows that financial back-stabbing in the world of stocks and shares was just as prevalent in pre-WWII Blighty as it is today. It's about as exciting as a wet sock, but it keeps you watching in order to see the two villains get their come-uppance - which, to be fair, they accept with something close to alacrity.

This is a very engaging quota quickie based on the then scam of sharepushers.It seems to be akin to a Ponzi scam where existing investors are paid "profits" out of monies received from new investors.Ian Fleming plays a struck off solicitor who despite having used twenty thousand pounds from his clients account to invest in these schemes has not been sent to prison.He is recruited by the two partners in the fraud to be a front as their legal department.So when he finds out that the scheme is a fraud he cannot get out as he is already in too deep.It all plays out in an engaging if predictable fashion.Now this being a quota quickie many of the hallmarks of this type of film are present.small cheap looking sets,mediocre acting and the grouping of actors together to save editing.Thus a scene set at Scotland Yard shows the detectives all grouped around a small table.If you like this sort of film then you will find it entertaining.If not then don't bother.

I caught this movie on TV channel 'Movies4Men'. A very poor print and as already mentioned, made on the cheap. Small sets crowded with people and single camera used, A few stock library shots of busy London streets spliced in between. The caption at the opening of the film tells the viewer about the serious problem of 'share pushers' operating at the time, so I suppose it must have been rife then to have prompted a movie all about it. Also elements of selling shares in worthless ventures abroad is touched upon. Main characters not bad actors (although all seem very RADA-ish). However, like Steve Ellison I couldn't believe how bad the actor who played Fleming's son performed. Significantly, he doesn't appear in the cast list! I am sure I have seen him in something else from around that era. Could this be the only film in which Fleming headed the cast list? He had a long career, but was destined to play support roles such as family doctors, diplomats, police inspectors, lawyers and so on.

This supposedly true to life story of 'sharepushers' in the 1930s has a hackneyed plot, is slow, laboured, and basically not a lot happens, but somehow the awfulness of it all is its fascination. Its currently(Jan 2011) airing on the UK movies 4 men channel. Its really just a lot of oldish men sitting around in suits and talking. A very unlikely struck off solicitor gets caught up in a share dealing scam, involving his sons girlfriends father, who happens to be a vicar. The son is possibly the worst actor(over actor?) that I've ever seen in nearly 65 years of watching movies, but his girl friend is good looking and the whole thing unravels, or plods to a conclusion in less than an hour.