Le criminel aux abois

George Nader has "Nowhere to Go" in this 1958 British film that also serves as the debut for a virtually unrecognizable Maggie Smith. Nader plays Paul Gregory, a Canadian con man in London who befriends an old woman (silent screen star Bessie Love) and winds up stealing her valuable coin collection. He's blatant about it, knowing that he will serve a term in prison, but he'll get the money on release. He escapes early and finds that getting his hands on the money isn't going to be easy. His partner becomes greedy, there's an accidental death, and Gregory is forced to go on the run.

Kenneth Tynan and director Seth Holt co-wrote this tight script, and Holt keeps the action going and the tension and frustration building as Gregory runs out of options to get a hold of his money. The production is very good-looking as well.

Handsome George Nader was a Hollywood male starlet who wound up playing Ellery Queen on television, as well as starring in two other series and doing guest appearances before concentrating on a career in German film as kind of a James Coburn type. The rumor has persisted for years that Confidential magazine was ready to publish a story on Rock Hudson's homosexuality and traded that story with Universal Studios for one about Nader instead. This rumor emerged again when Hudson died, and left money to Nader in his will. If true, Universal obviously felt Hudson was going to be more important to them. That became a self-fulfilling prophecy, but it was perhaps correct. The sad thing is that a story like that mattered.

"Nowhere to Go" is well worth seeing.

*Minor Spoilers* Slightly above average UK crime drama. George Nader isn't bad as cold, calculating thief Paul Gregory. But as a thief, Paul isn't so good. First he mismanages a scheme to remove valuable coins from a rich lady (Silent Screen veteran Bessie Love, who resembles Lesley Manville at times). Then a co-criminal, played by great Bernard Lee, tries to put one over on Paul and they both lose out In the middle of it all is young and pretty Maggie Smith...her motives are not all that clear, given the risk she takes for edgy and pushy Paul, whom she apparently fancies. The movie is very well directed by Seth Holt who knew how to keep things moving and how to keep your eyes interested in what's on screen. A sequence set in Wales, but probably not filmed there, is quite beautiful.

Well I have to say I very much enjoyed this Ealing made British thriller, although I guess it was all a bit predictable as it has been described in the title.

The story revolves around a Canadian conman played by George Nader who reminds me for football fans as a Luis Figo lookalike. Good performances by Maggie Smith, making her film debut I think and Bernard Lee although I never thought of him as a violent type. A small part from the usual wooden Harry H Corbett too.

It kept my attention all the way through which is a fair achievement although as I mentioned previously it is a little predictable and has a few far fetched moments. Nevertheless a great watch.

One observation I made was how much our road system has improved since this film was made. When our main characters leave for Wales at the end Maggie tells George it will be an 8 hour journey, I can do in just over 2 if I put my foot down.

When the film begins, Paul Gregory (George Nader) escapes from prison. Soon after, you see a flashback to learn what brought him to prison. It seems that he recently came from the US to the UK and expected to get a light sentence when he steals a coin collection. He then expects to be able to escape, retreive the stolen collection and beat it out of the country. He definitely is a cool character....and you wonder if he is quite as clever as he thought he was when his plan starts to unravel!

George Nader was a handsome actor who left the US in the late 1950s to make films in Europe, such as the Jerry Cotton spy films. This is because he was outed in the press in the States and felt he had more options for work in Europe...which he apparently did. Here he is quite good in the lead...one of his few leading roles of this period in his career.

This is an interesting example of British film noir. While it lacks the cool camera angles of the best of the noir, its amoral sensibilities and coldness of the main character are classic noir all the way. Well worth seeing and it's a quiet, brooding sort of film.

George Nader had a penchant for difficult roles, and here he is in a difficult spot indeed, as everything goes wrong for him. He makes a great theft of £55.000 by tricking an old lady, he puts the money in a bank vault and loses the key, he is sentenced to prison for his crime expecting five years and gets ten, he escapes, and all his former accomplices betray him, one after the other. Bernard Lee is interested in helping him only because of the money, and by accident he is killed and George charged with murder, so he is a hunted man with nowhere to go, and only Maggie Smith is decent enough to help him. It is lovely to see her so young and fresh in one of her earliest films - she would later in the 60s make Desdemona against Laurence Olivier. Of course, this bleak and sordid fugitive story could only end in one way, and it does. Maggie Smith gets out of it unharmed, while the film is replenished with losers. It's a dark noir in black and white with no sunshine in it, and George Nader is working hard to get through it. The legendary Ealing studios could come out with more cheerful pictures.