Blonde Bait

Another Hammer movie watched to go with the "House of Hammer" Podcast and after a few welcome weeks of otherworldly horror, we're back with a noiry crime thriller. I usually write my reviews a few days after watching the film, so as an aide memoire I usually make a couple of little notes. Here I've just written down one word, in big letters, "BORING".

Angie Booth (Beverly Michaels) a lounge room singer of some renown, plans to marry her shady boyfriend Nick (Paul Carpenter) on New Years Eve. With Nick out of the country, Angie is imprisoned for an assault on her murderous club promotor and will miss the arranged date. However, the British and American authorities are aware of the planned nuptials and, using an informant, 'Granny' (Thora Hird), try to organise a Prison break, so Angie can lead them to Nick.

Despite not one, but two, salacious titles, the version of this film I saw on Youtube was catastrophically dull. There appears to be two very different versions of the film, with "Blonde Bait" recasting Nick and adding new actors and scenes, I think I was watching the original though.

The women's prison seems remarkably clean and organised and there's not much antagonism going on between the staff and convicts. Some of the other prisoners have an impact on the story. Marguerite, played by April Olrich, has had a baby that will be taken from her and put up for adoption soon, as the rules of prison dictate and so joins the escape and bigamist Babs (Sheila Burrell) who has married twice and is released before the escape takes place. There are a couple of recognisable actors in this, recognisable to me anyway. One is Thora Hird, who is playing a character called Granny in 1956, it's almost incomprehensible that she'd still be playing elderly characters on TV fifty years later, she's great though. Gordon Jackson is also in the film too.

What should be an interesting thriller, about a state mandated prison escape leading to the capture of a wanted felon gets hopelessly lost in the mundanity of the second act, so much so that I can't even recall the specifics of if they catch Nick at the end. It's not surprising that a new ending was created for "Blonde Bait" as this one is very underwhelming.

This feels like a step backwards for Hammer, after the horror successes of the last couple of films and I'm glad it doesn't appear to last too long.

Fairly straight laced telling of a Jailbreak to nab a felon and turncoat by the State Department.

They use his girlfriend to lure him in and she happens to be blonde...hence the title.

Most of the story is about the contrived breakout and the end wraps up before you can say jailbreak.

Mildly entertaining while it lasts.

Beverly Michaels is a new find for me, and I must say I like her a lot! Here she stars as "Blonde Bait" from 1956, also starring Thora Hird, Jim Davis, Paul Cavanagh, and Richard Travis.

Michaels plays a London performer, Angela Booth. She is sent to prison when she tries to leave her possessive employer for her boyfriend Randall (Jim Davis). She winds up hitting him with a mirror, and his connections lead to her being incarcerated.

The U. S. State Department wants her boyfriend because he was a Nazi collaborator. Angela has secret plans to meet Randall on New Year's Eve at the Oxhead Inn so they can run off get married. In order to catch him, it's arranged that Angela escape with the help of "Gran" (Hird), an old-time prisoner. The plan is to follow Angela to wherever the meeting is to take place.

I thought this was a good film, a real B British noir. Michaels is different in this film from the last one I saw her in, Pickup, where she gave Ann Savage's Detour performance a run for its money. She played an abusive, trashy woman. Here she's a woman sincerely in love, who demonstrates some class and possesses humanity.

Thora Hird is a scream. Jim Davis, frankly, is pretty bad. It's no wonder when he returned from Korea, Bette Davis forgot she ever heard of him. He still needed some seasoning.

All in all, entertaining.

Angela Booth is a singer and performing to crowds in London. However, she is attacked by Julius Lord and to protect herself from this lecherous old goat, she hits him with her mirror. He is well- connected and this American girl is sent to a women's prison...despite being entirely innocent of everything except trying to keep herself from being molested! However, the State Department in the US is interested in her. It's not that she's done anything wrong...but her boyfriend, Randall, is scum...a traitor who collaborated with the Nazis during WWII and they want him! But she won't willingly help, so they arrange for her to be able to escape from prison in order to follow her to a meeting with Randall...or so they hope. This summary is not exactly the same as the one on IMDb, as it is not quite correct.

This is an adequate movie...nothing bad but nothing great about it either. It is the epitome of the term 'time-passer' and the finale is less than well handled--it's over and done with way too quickly.

Yes the late Thora Hird could be a comedienne in roles such as this playing Granny Rafferty, opposite American Beverley Michaels who plays her fellow inmate in a women's prison.Previous reviewers have outlined the plot of a tale of post WWII & the Cold War where both Scotland Yard and the U.S. State Dept mount a joint venture to entrap a traitor/murderer played by Jim Davis (most known in this country for playing JR's father in early episodes of "Dallas").The reference to "Lindberg" in the screenplay I assumed referred to aviator Charles Lindberg when the three escaped women prisoners and baby use an old MG to make their getaway, with Thora joking at the wheel.They make their getaway with the connivance of UK/US authorities before the denouement when Beverley finally realises the rotten relationship she had with the Jim Davis character.Yes I rated it 7/10 and was entertained on this, my first ever viewing.