Mantrap

Paul Henried is uncharacteristically jaunty in this early Hammer thriller set in a postwar London of bombsites, trenchcoats and impossibly glamorous females. Before she found her niche as Miss Moneypenny Lois Maxwell plays a damsel in distress, the role of sexy secretary instead going to an up and coming young Kay Kendall.

British Hammer mystery starring Paul Henreid, Lous Maxwell, Kieron Moore, and Kay Kendall.

A prisoner named Speight (Moore), found guilty of murder, escapes and heads for London. His wife (Maxwell, Miss Moneypenny of the James Bond films), who has changed her name and is involved with another man, fears he is looking for her.

A friend of Speight's asks a lawyer, Bishop (Henreid) to help find him. He does - Speight claims he's innocent and is looking for the real killer. He knows what the man looks like and is determined to clear his name.

Okay movie - several have commented on how cheerful Henreid is in this film. I guess thinking over his past performances, it is a different kind of role. His fiancé is portrayed by the lovely Kay Kendall, who died a few years later from leukemia.

I can't say this film held my interest except for the people in it. For instance, this was Barbara Shelley's first film.

The small part of Rex was played by handsome Anthony Forwood. He was married to Glynis Johns with whom he had a son, and later became Dirk Bogarde's life partner and manager. He died an agonizing death, so traumatic for Bogarde that he became an outspoken supporter of assisted suicide.

With an opening sequence bearing a striking resemblance to Bogart's 'Dark Passage', convicted murderer, Kieron Moore escapes prison aboard a truck in a determined bid to prove his innocence. From this point, similarities between the two movies rapidly blur. There is no plastic surgery and Paul Henreid is a far less glamorous confidante than Lauren Bacall! More crucially, 'Mantrap' is a significantly inferior piece of work.

News that Moore is on the run, seriously ruffles the feathers of ex-wife Lois Maxwell, now a successful writer, whilst senior detective, Lloyd Lamble creates an elaborate board game from shunting police cars around the capital in an attempt to snare the convict. Meanwhile, astute lawyer, turned investigator, Henreid has rooted himself at the derelict, bomb site crime scene, where his prolonged patience is rewarded, when Moore finally returns.

Going forward, 'Mantrap' is essentially a talking picture, rather than a moving picture. Just revealing the filling in the sandwich which Henreid offers to the ravenous Moore would have boosted the interest level. The belated chase sequence looks like it was tacked on as an afterthought. The bad guy almost having to be persuaded to make a break for it, whilst everyone's attention is diverted elsewhere.

A second viewing, reveals a few previously unappreciated subtleties and nuances, at least partially lifting the movie out of the miasma of mediocrity, but it's fine margins. For real punch and potency, delivered with panache and pizzazz, check out the aforementioned 'Dark Passage'.

AKA..."Woman in Hiding"

A Few Years Before Hammer Studios Changed the Face and Tone of Horror Movies,

the Famous British Studio Dabbled in Film-Noir and Police Procedurals.

Notice the Odd Board Game that the Police Use to Move Squad Cars Around.

A Forced, Borderline Ridiculous Attempt to Elevate Law Enforcement to Omnipresence.

This Type of Over-Kill Attempt to Worship Post-War Law Enforcement Diluted Many a Film-Noir in the 1950's.

Paul Henreid's Over-the-Top Strange, Giddy Performance as a Lawyer Interested in Human Behavior, Almost Sinks this Average Who-Done-It.

Lois Maxwell (James Bond's Miss Moneypenny) is Fantastic to Look-At and Gives a Good Performance as a Worried, Nervous Wife of an Escaped Murderer.

The Other Females Mary Laura Wood and Kay Kendall also Add Some Eye-Candy to the Pedestrian Movie.

Plenty of On-Location Footage Around London Add Gravitas.

But the Male Performers are All Stiff and Uninteresting, and Along with Henreid's Breezy Antics do Nothing to Enhance the Intrigue.

Directed by Legendary Horror Director Terence Fisher.

A Good Effort by the Studio with a Decent Budget with an Outdoor Gritty Look.

But an Average Film Overall.

If it's a Hammer Movie, it's Worth a Watch.

Murderer Kieron Moore escapes from prison. He's headed to London for.... revenge? His ex-wife, Lois Maxwell, now married to Bill Travers, and hiding under a different name and profession, thinks he is coming for her. In reality, he's looking for the man who committed the murder. The police are closing in on Moore, but Paul Henreid, lawyer, lover and bon vivant, has been asked to look into the matter by a friend, and is doing so.

It sounds like an unlikely role for Henreid, doesn't it? He pulls it off here, and although the solution to this mystery is poorly prefigured, it's a pretty good movie of pretty people in pretty clothes -- except for Moore -- it works as an enormous series of red herrings to drag across the trail. That may be the point of this movie, as a pasquinade of murder mysteries.