Pasaporte al infierno

An even more inept thriller than usual, ACTION STATIONS comes to us courtesy of B-picture producer E. J. Fancey. Fancey left his name off the credits so even he must have been embarrassed by this one. The storyline is about a couple of small-time smugglers who get involved with a kidnapping plot in which the daughter of a forger is taken prisoner by a gang of crooks.

ACTION STATIONS is set in Spain, which looks and feels very cheap. Most of it is set on small enclosed sets like a boat or the interior of the villain's hideout. I was bemused by the look of the characters; there's a random guy with hat and bicycle whose identity remains a mystery until the end, and one of the chief villains has impossibly broad shoulders, huge hair and no neck to speak of.

The hero of the piece is the erstwhile Paul Carpenter, balding and laconic as ever, and he's given powerful support in the form of former wrestler Joe Robinson (FIGHTING MAD), who, true to form, gets to throw a couple of goons around. The whole film gives off the impression it was shot silently with the dialogue dubbed in afterwards in post production. Ronald Leigh Hunt has a minor role. It's rubbish.

The fact that there is no production company credited on this film should give a clue.It wasn't till I looked at IMDb that I realised that this was made by E J Fancey.This has to be the most awful amateurish Fancey ever made and that is saying a lot.As pointed out by the other reviewer the sound appears to have been post synced.Obviously they forgot on occasions so actors are silently mouthing words.Then there is one sequence where the sun is behind the camera and as it tracks along you see the shadows of the whole crew including someone holding a reflector.The fights have clearly been carefully choreographed so you can see a punch missing by a mile.A truly awful film.

It's a measure of how dim this film is that the stalwart US import is the brightest thing in it, delivering an undimmed professional and spirited performance. Produced by E J Fancey (responsible for the rather shambolic "Down among the Z Men") a little of it (it only runs to 50 mins) doesn't do the viewer much good. It appears to be something of a Spain/UK co production, is set in Spain and gives the impression that the entire sound is post-dubbed. At random points, chirpy cinema organ music interjects for no apparent reason and entirely unconnected with the mood at the time. The plot is a crime caper involving the kidnap of an engravers daughter to force him to make printing plates for phoney bucks (cue old joke)and a sea-hijack. It has its dramatic and humorous moments but so distracting is the organ music that its sometimes difficult to know which is which. A curiosity - how did it ever come to be made and how did it ever come to be released?

No redeeming features at all I'm afraid for this hard to follow and hear effort. Low quality image and sound even for 1959 with the only realistic character being the guy on the bike. The acting wasn't up to much either. Only worth a watch for those who enjoy very badly made films and there are such fans out there.

All concerned probably got a nice holiday with pay out of this trivial little thriller set in Spain which apparently wasn't released back in Blighty (and then probably only very briefly) for three years.

A bit of effort went into the outdoor action scenes and those shot on location; but several of the dialogue scenes were obviously dashed off very quickly and perfunctorily indeed.