The Gentle Trap

A cheapo crime thriller from the prolific Butcher's Film Service. These films were a dime a dozen in the early '60s and THE GENTLE TRAP has a poor title and a plot that could be interchangeable with at least a dozen others. The film has an arresting opening in which a couple of thieves are betrayed by a rival gang but soon descends into tedium with a long-winded, who-can-you-trust style storyline.

One of the few good things this has going for it is a very short running time. It clocks in at just 59 minutes in length but you feel every minute of it. Some of the supporting do quite well in their clichéd roles, like the alluring femme fatale and the tough criminal bosses, but even so this is cheap stuff indeed and of interest only to fans of the era.

British director Charles Saunders churned out B-movie after B-movie for a period of some twenty years between the early 1940s and early 1960s. He made the occasional nudie film (NUDIST PARADISE) and horror flick (WOMAN EATER) but for the most part delivered second-rate thrillers like this and DANGER BY MY SIDE. I don't know much about leading man Spencer Teakle except he also appeared in COVER GIRL KILLER and FIRST MAN INTO SPACE and had a great name to boot.

I have to say that I have rarely derived such perverse pleasure from a film as from this little 60s Brit pot boiler. Filmed on a shoestring budget with acting that, at times, scarcely merits the term, this is deliciously dreadful.

Lead man Johnny, the nice boy who gets in with the wrong crowd, is played (if that's the appropriate word) by Spencer Teakle-a name with which to conjour. Mr Teakle has mastered the rare art of acting without any movement of facial muscles or variation in vocal tone,a rare talent only equalled in recent years by "greats" of the screen such as Steven Segal.

Johnny is in love with Sylvia (Dawn Brooks), who wears a dress split down the side while singing in a sleazy night club owned by gang boss Ricky(Martin Benson), who is probably the best thing in it, from an acting perspective :a truly unpleasant man, mean, violent, lustful, treacherous, lecherous.

After a botched jewel heist our hero, flees to a clip joint tun by Mary Dorinda Stevens) a lady who could be described as "no better than she should be".

Mary is sensuous, sexy, blonde, beautiful and treacherous. Just my kind of girl_and the main reason I kept watching. Her sister, Jean, played by Felicity Young, is the "nice girl", the sort your mum would like you to bring home-and, therefore, about as sexy as cold rice pudding.

Ricky's two hoods, however, steal the show when it comes to bad acting. Al(Alan Edward's) looks like he stepped out of a period sitcom, while Ted's (Larry Burns) attempt to sound tough during car pursuit, is a thing of rare beauty - sounding like someone trying to speak after a particularly unpleasant visit to the dentist.

A film of first takes (one would hope), with a script written in the pub the night before, plus a director who must been anxious to move on to something more worthwhile - like a soap powder ad-make this an unmissable treat.

Enjoy!

As others have already said, this is a pretty average Butcher's B-movie from the time. A thin plot and average production values here, so don't watch it with any high expectations, because you will almost certainly be disappointed.

Looking at it now, it is a different (and mostly rather drab) world. Arguably the most exotic thing in the movie is the (most) bad guy's car which is (I think) a (Lincoln) Continental MkIII or MkIV from 1958 or 1959. Coming from the era in American car design when 'bigger was always better' this was one of the largest cars ever built. With the (optional) spare wheel holder at the back it would have been over twenty feet long! Probably it belonged to the producer or something and they used it to add glamour to the film; it needed all the help it could get, but it wasn't enough....

Are we sure that Ed Wood somehow didn't directed this? The movie's style and storytelling is just as bad as in an Ed Wood movie sadly.

The movie was released in 1960 but I've seen movies that were made 30 years earlier that style had a better and more professional looking visual style. Sadly London, in this movie ain't got such an atmosphere as for instance New York or Chicago do in movies from the same genre.

This is really one of those movies that makes you wonder; why did I even watched this in the first place? It's a pointless movie with a pointless literal and figural, black and white story. The acting is bad and the fights are over the top and hilarious to watch for the wrong reason.

It's hard to say anything about this movie. It's short and the story is way too weak to say any thing thought-full about.

Really not worth your time.

3/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

The title suggests a romantic comedy, but it generally proves yet another bleak, nihilistic little British crime film set in pre-swinging London in which almost everyone is looking after number one while an extremely unendearing petty crook finds himself out of his depth and as usual learns that Crime Does Not Pay.