Murder in Soho

I watched this movie recently, after reading all the mostly bad reviews on here, & enjoyed it. Its nice to see ruggedly handsome Jack La Rue play the gangster nightclub owner. He is very charming and suave, but when he cracks, its like lightening. There are a lot of great characters in this relatively short film, & amusing moments. Australian born Googie Withers stands out in a rather light headed Billie Burke type role, as part of a comedy duo, waiting for their big break. There are a couple of running gags, the guys who look after the boss playing darts all day, & the couple playing the slot machine. I also liked a part of the dance floor opening up in a circular platform, that goes down then up.

Not for one moment was I bored, the clothes and sets are great, & Jack La Rue holds his own, in this curiosity set in Soho.

A Soho Night club run by American gangster Steve Marco, is a thriving hotspot for the young and fabulous, but it's also the scene of a murder, a man threatens to expose the owner's dodgy past, and gets killed for his troubles.

It's actually a pretty solid film, the story isn't bad at all, it's interesting enough, even if it is one you've seen several times before.

It's nicely shot, and pretty well paced, it is quite dialogue heavy in parts, but it still moves about pretty well.

Watch it because you love the era, the opulent decadence of it, expect glitzy sets and incredible fashions, an era where people clearly knew what style and sophistication was.

The casting was good, it's a very competent, glamorous cast, Jack La Rue is good as the villain of the piece, rugged and roguish, he definitely had presence.

Sandra Storme and the wonderful Google Withers both played their parts very well.

6/10.

Jack la rue is steve marco, owner of the cotton club in london. Just as someone gets murdered in his club, the coppers show up. Although the questioning goes like a sketch from the three stooges. Lots of drinking, partying. The picture quality on the version I saw is just terrible. Various scenes are all faded, blurred, and washed out white. The sound is passable, but not great. It's a lot of work to get through this one, with the so-so story, something about gangsters, vaudeville acts, missing pearls. The shady acting, and the snap, crackle, and pops. The only notable thing here is bernard lee, who will play "m" in the bond films twenty years later. Directed by brit norman lee, for associated british pictures. Not likely to be restored, so skip this one.

Given that the other reviews on this film come from the US i thought that i would give a British viewpoint.There are 3 actors in this film at the beginnings of their respective careers.Firstly there is Bernard Lee in his 7th film playing a journalist investigating a nightclub shooting.This being a quota quickie we do not get to see his newspaper office for reasons of economy.Googie Withers is here playing in her 16th film since her film career started in 1935.Finally James Hayter long before he became associated with Mr Kiplings Cakes or ended up behind the counter in Grace Brothers. As the producers obviously wanted to sell the film to the States they have cast Jack La Rue as the night club owner and his 2 henchman have dreadful American accents.La Rue rather resembles Eduardo Cianelli but with half the menace. Unfortunately it isn't a very good film and some of the acting is so awful it has to be seen to be believed.So not one of the shining moments of British cinema.

I like a lot of the films from British cinema around this time and this film is no different..... there is one small question I have about the cast of this film..... I don't think I have seen a British film of this time with so many American actors .... after the war it was usually a method to attract audiences in U. K. and hopefully the USA ..... but this film is pre war and has about half a dozen American actors of whom none were the usual yanks you might see..... I did read that the main protagonist here was part of a stage production that went over to the West End or London theatres..... around this time.... and I think that production involved Orson Welles company so I wondered if the American actors in this film were all in the U. K. together for this West End production and that this cast or members of it were offered the film together because they were over in the U. K. and someone saw an opportunity to make a British crime film full of American actors, which would have been very unusual at this time mainly because budgets would not allow it, ie, to bring American actors over to Britain and put them up for the duration of the filming..... so I would like to know how this American cast got into a budget British film and just around the time that the USA was telling all its citizens to return from Europe and the U. K. because of the situation with Germany and Russia who were both gearing up to invade Poland in September of '39..... if you enjoy these old British crime films then you will enjoy this even if it's just for the unusually large American cast...