Le crime ne paie pas

Recoil is one of those British B's I love so much. This one stars Kieron Moore and Elizabeth Sellars.

A woman (Sellars) poses as a crook in order to get evidence against the jewel thief who killed her father.

Pretty good - something about Sellars reminded me of Jackie O, around the eyes.

Good acting, interesting story.

The 'other' Ian Fleming plays the lovely Elisabeth Sellars' father and Edward Underdown and Keiron Moore are rather unlikely siblings in this talky but well-acted and languidly ruthless little crime drama with the usual atmospheric photography by co-producer Monty Berman and some surprisingly violent action.

I watched and loved this crime film from UK because of the Kieron Moore's presence and performance. And an early John Gilling's movie is always worth the risk of wasting eighthy five minutes. The typical noir crime film from the fifties UK, which John Gilling was then the specialist, before offfering us later adventure and horror films...Here, the story proposes nothing really exceptional but the result is gritty, rough, with a good ending, which is very important. Not a masterpiece but still rare and worth watching. Kieron Moore was one of my favorite British actor from the fifties seventies era.

Jean Talbot watches in horror as her father, a jeweller is robbed and attacked by a gang of thugs, she learns the identity of the ring leader, and poses as a criminal in order to bring him down.

It's a very stylish noir b movie, if you're a fan of this genre, there is plenty here to enjoy, the first thing that struck me was the rather excellent cinematography. Some great road sequences, and the theatre scenes looked impressive, this is a super good looking film.

The story, you could perhaps argue that there isn't anything new here, however, it's refreshing to see what is effectively a female lead in a thriller, Jean is very much the hero of the piece, beautifully played by Elizabeth Sellars.

It's well paced, it's gritty, and features a few rather surprising moments, the main question I had, was Jean going to fall in love with Michael?

John Horsley was rather good as The Detective, Kieron Moore and Edward Underdown were excellent as the very different brothers, and I just loved Ethel O'Shea's subtle but strong performance as the troubled mother.

8/10.

Jean (Elizabeh Sellars) witnesses the murder of her father, Talbot (Ian Fleming) by Nicholas (Kieran Moore) during a jewelry robbery. The man behind it all is Farnborough (Martin Benson) but Nicholas has kept back some jewels for himself to bargain with Farnborough so that they can become equal partners. Farnborough rejects his deal and so begins a rival gang-war. Meanwhile the police are after Talbot's killer and Nicholas gets his brother, Michael (Edward Underdown), to provide an alibi for him. Jean rents a room in the same house that Michael has a doctor's practice so that she can befriend Nicholas with the purpose of revealing him as the killer. Both brothers fall in love with her and this brings extra dramatic tension to the story.

The film follows how Jean gains Nicholas's confidence (with the police in the background), the war-fare between Fanborough and Nicholas's gangs, and the drama between Nicholas and his brother who don't see eye-to-eye. On a personal note, I didn't care much for the scenes with the mother (Ethel O'Shea) and I found it hard to believe that Nicholas and Michael were brothers because of their different accents! However, its a well-acted, tense story that is played out at a good speed.