Vingt-deux long rifle

Writing in the second edition of his seminal book on the history of crime fiction "Bloody Murder " the esteemed British critic Julian Symons bestowed strong praise on the novel "Newer Look Back " by John Mair saying it was well in advance of its era in terms of psychological insight and morality . This movie is based on the novel and signally fails to do it justice .It's not actively bad -just very pedestrian and predictable .It opens vividly with the figure of US London based journalist John Desmomd staggering through the deserted streets severely wounded ,and being taken into custody by the police .The tale then unfolds in flashback .Desmond has accidentally killed a woman with whom he is embroiled in an affair .She was a member of a counterfeiting gang whose diary ,which is in his possession ,contains a code which is the key to the continuing operation of the gang .His life is in danger from the gang and he goes on the run aided by his secretary .He is captured ,escapes and feigns amnesia before the conclusion of the tale

Poorly acted and perfunctorily directed this is not a movie that ever rises above the mediocre and those wanting a version of the novel should seek out copies of the BBC TV version from the mid 1990's .

Although reportedly a travesty of the late John Mair's 1941 novel, this film version still packs plenty into just 85 minutes; particularly when it develops a Hitchcockian sense of humour that anticipates 'North by Northwest' at about the halfway mark, at which point heroine Constance Smith also assumes a more prominent role. (A fourth-billed Cyril Chamberlain too has a much more prominent role than we are accustomed to seeing him in.)

The first of two films made by Larry Parks during his European exile (the second being John Huston's 'Freud' in 1962) after being blacklisted in 1951; the scene where he gets roughed up on behalf of the sinister "committee" by a bunch of mean-looking goons who want to know "Where's the contact list?" must have instilled in him a sense of deja vue.

Despite having a pretty lacklustre cast, John Gilling adapts his own story quite well here to create a slightly more intriguing mystery. This time the visiting American box-office star is Larry Parks and he dons the role of journalist "Desmond". He has barely stepped off the plane when he finds himself embroiled with "Anna" (Lisa Daniely). Her part in the film is somewhat short-lived and soon our intrepid reporter is discovering that not only is he a person of interest to the police, but he is also being sought by her erstwhile employers who know that he has her valuable - and incriminating - contacts list! What adds a little to the interest here is the style of story-telling. Whilst it does deprive the plot of much jeopardy, it also sets an effective template for what is the retrospective nature of the unfolding of events. The supporting cast - notably Constance Smith as his assistant "Jane" are adequate and although it could comfortably have lost fifteen minutes off the rather meandering central section of the film, it's still a decent little thriller.

American reporter Larry Parks starts an affair with mysterious Lisa Daniely. She's shot with her own pistol, and Parks finds a contact list with criminals written in code. Now they're after him. If only he realized how beautiful his smart assistant, Constance Smith is! But she never takes off her glasses.

It's a fair thriller under the direction of John Gilling with a strong noir air, aided by Eric Cross' camerawork. Parks was trying to find work after he had been blacklisted in the United States, and Miss Smith had been dropped from her Fox contract when her movies hadn't found much favor with the public. This one didn't help their careers. Parks made one more movie, and Miss Smith's career dwindled out in the late 1950s. With Cyril Chamberlain, Donald Stewart, and Thora Hird.

The action is fast, the drama tends to constantly accelerate, the villains are unpleasant enough, one of them appropriately sadistic and stupid at that, the murders tend to multiply, the car chases tend to constantly involve more cars, both the ladies are attractive and lovable enough, although one gets killed and the other gets out of any trouble without a scratch, the plot is thick enough and constantly gets thicker, while we never learn anything about the "committee" which all the villains seem frightened to death of, so the main intrigue is actually missing, suggesting some monkey business in counterfeit money and laundry. Lisa Daniely as the first lady in the parade actually cautions Larry Sparks not to ask any questions, while he commits the mistake of insisting on getting something out of her, which triggers all the problems and plunges him into a gruesome mess of unpleasantness. Larry Parks as the journalist is actually very much reminding of Jack Lemmon, they are the same type, and there is a lot of humour refreshing this film. Larry Parks was actually one of those many exiles from the US during the McCarthy witch-hunts, and like so many others he did better in British films than at home.