''Secret Venture'' is a 1955 British

B-movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

thriller film directed by

R. G. Springsteen Robert G. Springsteen (September 8, 1904 – December 9, 1989) was an American director of Hollywood B movies and television shows. He was most often credited on screen as R. G. Springsteen. Biography Born in Tacoma, Washington in 1904, S ...

and starring

Kent Taylor Kent Taylor (born Louis William Weiss; May 11, 1907 – April 11, 1987) was an American actor of film and television. Taylor appeared in more than 110 films, the bulk of them B-movies in the 1930s and 1940s, although he also had roles in more pr ...

, Jane Hylton and

Kathleen Byron Kathleen Elizabeth Fell (11 January 1921 – 18 January 2009), known professionally as Kathleen Byron, was an English actress. Early life Byron was born in Manor Park (then part of Essex) to what she described as "staunch working-class social ...

Plot

Renowned scientist Professor Henrik (Hugo Schuster) returns to England from a working trip overseas and is met by his glamorous secretary Joan (Hylton). American Ted O'Hara (Taylor) has come in on the same flight and in the bustle of the airport he and Henrik mistakenly pick up each other's identical briefcases, and O'Hara innocently departs with a briefcase containing a top-secret formula for a revolutionary new type of jet fuel. Later, Henrik is abducted by a group headed by a sinister man named Zelinsky ( Karel Štěpánek), who are eager to lay their hands on the formula. They are furious to find that Henrik's briefcase contains nothing more than the everyday bits and pieces of a man called O'Hara. They detail one of their number, the sultry Renée (Byron), to track down O'Hara and gain his confidence. This she does, then a henchman appears and forcibly takes the puzzled O'Hara to the headquarters of the Zelinsky operation. They tell him that he has Henrik's briefcase, which he had not previously known, and that they are prepared to pay handsomely if he passes it over. Rather than cash in on this unexpected turn of events, O'Hara goes to Scotland Yard. He says that he heard Zelinsky mention the name Weber, apparently an espionage agent in Paris. The inspector briefs O'Hara to go to Paris and make contact with Weber. O'Hara is followed by Renée and a cohort, who manage to steal the briefcase during the journey. O'Hara finds Weber (

Frederick Valk Frederick Valk (10 June 1895 – 23 July 1956) was a German-born Jewish stage and screen actor of Czech Jewish descent who fled to the United Kingdom in the late 1930s to escape Nazi persecution, and subsequently became a naturalised British ci ...

) in Paris, and learns that he now has the briefcase in his possession but is unable to decipher the contents which appear to be written in a complex code. O'Hara returns to London and explains the situation to Scotland Yard. Not wanting to jeopardise Henrik's safety, the police suggest he should make contact with Joan, who seems the most likely to have the necessary information. O'Hara shadows her waiting for a moment to make unobtrusive contact, but before he can do so he is shocked to see her rendezvous with a member of the Zelinsky gang and hand over some documents to him. The scene is set, as O'Hara and the police try to establish whether the apparently innocent Joan has in fact betrayed Henrik and been a prime mover in the plot all along.

Cast

as Ted O'Hara * Jane Hylton as Joan Butler *

as Renée l'Epinal * Karel Štěpánek as Zelinsky *

as Otto Weber *

Maurice Kaufmann Maurice Harington Kaufmann (29 June 1927 – 21 September 1997) was a British actor of stage, film and television, who specialised in whodunits and horror films, from 1954 to 1981, when he retired. Personal life He was married to Honor Blackm ...

as Dan Fleming *

Martin Boddey Albert Martin Boddey (16 April 1907 – 24 October 1975) was a British film and television actor. He was a founder member of the Lord's Taverners charity. Boddey started acting when he was nearly 40, often portraying irritable authority fig ...

as Squire Marlowe * Arthur Lane as Bob Hendon * Hugo Schuster as Professor Henrik * John Boxer as Inspector Dalton *

Michael Ripper Michael George Ripper (27 January 1913 – 28 June 2000) was an English character actor. He began his film career in quota quickies in the 1930s and until the late 1950s was virtually unknown; he was seldom credited. Along with Michael Gou ...

as Bill Rymer

External links

*
''Secret Venture''
at BFI Film & TV Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Secret Venture 1955 films 1950s thriller films British thriller films British black-and-white films Films directed by R. G. Springsteen Films set in London Republic Pictures films 1950s English-language films 1950s British films