La galerie du mystère

Dennis O'Keefe stars in "The Fake," a 1953 film set in London. There are a lot of these films from the '50s featuring an American or two, such as Cesar Romero, in a British mystery.

O'Keefe plays Paul Mitchell, who is checking on the security of the Tate Gallery (with scenes actually filmed there) as the gallery gets ready to show Da Vinci's Madonna and Child. He is also interested in the $50,000 reward for two other stolen masterpieces where the paintings in their place were found to be fakes. He begins to suspect that the father of an employee (Colleen Gray), who is an accomplished painter, might have painted the fakes. But for whom? This is a pretty good mystery with a nice upbeat performance by the affable O'Keefe, and it's always great to see Colleen Gray in anything. For my money she was underused by Hollywood.

These types of films are usually quite enjoyable and atmospheric, and also on the short side. They make for good watching.

This British clunker may have had some noble ambitions by its makers, but it emerges as just another mediocre, misguided attempt at providing a modicum of entertainment. Buried in the UA catalogue it's a nothing burger.

As emblazoned in an opening thank you credit, it was shot at London's Tate Gallery -sounds like a big deal. But the low-budget quickie is in black and white, making all the paintings on view nothing to look at. And it's a crime drama, so the dim and moody lighting further detracts. What's the point? Would "Lust for Life" be watchable if given the b&w quota quickie treatment?

Dennis O'Keefe is insufferable playing an uppity investigator from the States in London to solve the mystery of who is stealing priceless Da Vinci paintings. The culprit is obvious from the outset and it's a boring slog until O'Keefe catches him. Femme lead Coleen Gray has little to do.

Simply a bore.

Forget the criticism about this motion picture "The Fake." This is a gem of a movie...with good characters,acceptable plot line and lots of British and American flavor. The male lead is a somewhat obnoxious--but charming--American private investigator who is attempting to solve the case of the disappearance of several Da Vinci paintings. Low budget, but still worthwhile (Hell, some low budget films have earned Oscars!)...and there are a few real chuckles...and some very neat scenes, such as the chemist's lab (took me back to my high school and college chemistry classes...and the Hollywood horror films of the fifties and sixties, with people like Vincent Price and Peter Cushing.. and the museum boiler room.

The romantic development is worthwhile too. Oh...black and white, so it has a film noir air about it. I liked the picture enough to burn to disc...and grinned through much of the action.

"The Fake" is a British film made in 1953 and features two American leads, film noir stalwarts Dennis O'Keefe (T-Men, Raw Deal) and Coleen Gray (The Killing).

O'Keefe plays an American detective who is in charge of guarding a masterpiece painting by Leonardo da Vinci during an exhibition at London's famous Tate Gallery. Gray plays the American daughter of a somewhat destitute British painter who never received the artistic recognition he deserved and who arouses O'Keefe's suspicion.

O'Keefe is investigating the theft of two other da Vinci masterpieces that had occurred earlier in Florence and New York. In both cases, the paintings were stolen and replaced with near-perfect forgeries as cover-ups. O'Keefe suspects something similar is bound to happen at the Tate Gallery, which would give him a chance to catch the thief and cash in on a $ 50,000 reward. Problem is, while he suspects Gray's father to be involved in the art forgery scheme, he also falls in love with her.

While certainly no film noir, the movie does use some typical and nice to look at noirish lighting techniques. The film's pace and storytelling is more American than British and O'Keefe and Gray do a credible job, although neither gets much of a chance in terms of character development, not to mention the other actors.

The Tate Gallery footage seems to have been shot on location, which lends the picture an air of authenticity. A splendid touch is the use of variations on Mussorgsky's famous composition "Pictures At An Exhibition" for the musical score.

While "The Fake" is certainly no masterpiece, it does keep the viewer interested while it lasts. Being both an O'Keefe and a Gray fan, I give the movie 7 out of 10 points.

Most valuable today for it's record of early fifties London in general and the Tate Gallery in particular (an unlikely place to show a Da Vinci, by the way), the soundtrack is probably the most imaginative thing about it, from the gallery acoustics to the Mussorgsky score.