The Frightened Man

Dermot Walsh has just been sent down from Oxford. His father, Charles Victor, is disappointed, but puts a good face on it. Walsh can join him in his business! His son doesn't like it. The shop looks like a junk shop to him, with the very occasional valuable antique -- there's a pair of Ming vases he just got, which his assistant, Michael Ward, tells him is on the police list as stolen. There must be some mistake, says Victor.

The shop doesn't even cover all expenses. Victor has a couple of paying guests at his house. Walsh likes one very much: Barbara Murray. In fact, they disappear and he marries her, but he can't get a job, so Victor comes through with a check for fifty pounds and a secretarial job in Hatton Gardens. Actually, Walsh has been working for a local hood, and he comes up with a plan to steal a shipment of diamonds from Hatton Gardens.

It's a very twisty story from writer-director John Gilling, and the actors are up to their jobs. It's the sort of nasty crime story that pleases people: there have been lots of stories about robbing the jewelry district in London over the years, from smash-and-grab up to the one in 2015, when pensioners carted out most of one safety deposit vault over a holiday weekend -- that actually happened. I'm waiting to see a movie about that, but until I do, this dark little tale will do.

This is not as good as a Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes movie,by any stretch of the imagination. That being said,it is still a good, entertaining film. The camera work is well-done. The plot is reasonably plausable and easy to follow. Overall,a suspenseful little gem of a movie. Well worth watching.

I saw this on the television last night. It is a good 1950's B-movie thriller. Whilst the plot is a bit hackneyed in places, it is well acted and well directed. If you like this sort of film it is well worth a viewing. If you are not a fan of this sort of film, but want to kill 69 minutes, it should do the job.

I just feel the need to begin by noting that the promotional poster/art for this film is very misleading and should be disregarded. Now, onto the film itself: I was anticipating something good but my expectations were greatly exceeded. The story itself is very solid and the script fully supports it through to its final conclusion. The entire cast does a fine job with Victor, Walsh, and Murray all delivering exceptional performances. Gilling does well in directing this thoroughly engaging and interesting film from beginning to end. Its is very British in all of the best ways and I can hardly think of a recent film that so thoroughly delivered such entertainment in such a short run time. The Frightened Man is definitely one to check out.

John Gilling directed and provided the script for THE FRIGHTENED MAN - and I readily admit that he did well on both counts. The copy that I watched could never rate good, let alone pristine, with some truncated bits where dialogue was lost. That said, it was clear enough to deserve praise for cinematography by Monty Berman.

Those lost words notwithstanding, dialogue struck me as both convincing and involving, assisted by two very fine actor performances from Dermot Walsh as the worthless, cheating, mendacious Julius, the son of Rosselli (superbly portrayed by Charles Victor as the caring father with a past about to catch up with him). Martin Benson plays very effectively the shifty villain Alec Stone.

I found the film arresting from beginning to end without needing any extraordinary amount of action. The characters came across as believable and well rounded. With a length of 69 minutes, it is short enough that it is a pleasure to view and review. 7/10.