second feature
A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second half of a double feature, s ...
crime film
Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...
Phyllis Kirk
Phyllis Kirk (born Phyllis Kirkgaard or Kirkegaard; September 18, 1927 October 19, 2006) was an American actress.
Early life
Kirk was born in Syracuse, New York, although some sources state her birthplace as Plainfield, New Jersey. She contra ...
Lippert Pictures
Lippert Pictures was an American film production and distribution company controlled by Robert L. Lippert.
History
Robert L. Lippert (1909–1976) was a successful exhibitor, owning a chain of movie theaters in California and Oregon. He was frust ...
.
Plot
Judy is a radio operator on an American ship duped into smuggling diamonds in the belief that she is delivering cigarettes. Stopped by Customs she is in further trouble when the man who involved her is found dead in the river. Customs Detective Dan Barker has fallen for Judy and faces a moral dilemma: he must find out whether or not she is guilty, while protecting her from the smugglers.
Cast
* John Bentley as Detective Inspector Dan Barker
*
Phyllis Kirk
Phyllis Kirk (born Phyllis Kirkgaard or Kirkegaard; September 18, 1927 October 19, 2006) was an American actress.
Early life
Kirk was born in Syracuse, New York, although some sources state her birthplace as Plainfield, New Jersey. She contra ...
Glyn Houston
Glyndwr Desmond Houston (23 October 1925 – 30 June 2019) was a Welsh actor best known for his television work. He was the younger brother of film actor Donald Houston.
Early life
Houston was born at 10 Thomas Street, Tonypandy, Glamorgan, W ...
as Charlie Williamson
*
Patrick Jordan
Albert Patrick Jordan (10 October 1923 – 10 January 2020) was a British stage, film and television actor.
Biography
He was born and raised in Harrow, Middlesex, the son of Margaret, a cook, and Albert Jordan, a regimental sergeant major. An ...
as Bert Fisher
* Ewan Roberts as Customs Inspector J.S. Blake
*
David Hurst
David Hurst (born Heinrich Theodor Hirsch; 8 May 1926 – 15 September 2019) was a German actor, best known for his role in the film '' Hello, Dolly'' as Rudolph the headwaiter.
Biography
Early life and career
Hurst grew up in a family of ac ...
as Paddy McClure
*
Charles Lloyd-Pack
Charles Lloyd-Pack (10 October 1902 – 22 December 1983) was a British film, television and stage actor.
Life and career
Lloyd Pack was born in Wapping, East London, to working-class parents. He appeared in several horror films produced by ...
as John Hendrick
* Isabel George as Anna
* Margaret Anderson as Nell, Charlie's girl
* Harold Ayer as Joseph Benson, alias Alfred Gordon
* Tony Hilton as Harry, the bartender
*
Jack McNaughton
Jack McNaughton (22 December 190522 February 1990) was a British stage and film actor. As a character actor he mostly played supporting roles, but occasionally featured in major roles such as playing the male lead in the 1951 comedy '' Cheer the ...
as Hickson
* Dermot Palmer as Wayne
* Colin Douglas as Harbor Patrol superintendent
* Bill Nagy as Eddie, deckhand
* Michael Browning as Detective Perry
* Michael Balfour as Adams, sailor
*
Peter Collingwood
Peter Trevor Collingwood (6 May 1920 – 23 September 2016) was an English-born actor who appeared in theatre roles, films, miniseries and serials from 1938 to 2003 in his native England and Australia. Collingwood was known for his portrayal ...
as surgeon
* Warwick Ashton as Constable
* Eric Corrie as Constable
Production
The film was shot at
Walton Studios
Walton Studios, previously named Hepworth Studios and Nettlefold Studios, was a film production studio in Walton-on-Thames in Surrey, England.on location around
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. The film's sets were designed by
art director
Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...
John Stoll.
It was Guy Green's first film as a director. He said Phyllis Kirk was "very helpful".
Reception
On the film's release ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' said "The programmer market, currently short of passable supporting filmfare, will find this London-localed melodrama an acceptable filler ... Miss Kirk provides a casting switch to the Anglo-American film efforts Lippert usually releases. Heretofore it has been an American male in England, and mixed up with Scotland Yard and British crooks. ... The plotting is contrived and everything drops too patly into place as the 70 minutes unfold."
''
The Monthly Film Bulletin
The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...
'' wrote: "A competent little thriller, which maintains a good pace and has a fairly simple plot with one or two interesting twists. It has no pretensions to anything further; there is little attempt at characterisation, or to show much of the work of the River Police. The film, however, owes something to the tradition of the semi-documentary feature in its use of well-photographed locations in and around the Thames and Dockland."
In ''British Sound Films'' David Quinlan rates the film "good", calling it a "well-acted, well-paced, well-set thriller: well above-average."
Chibnall & McFarlane, in ''The British B Film: The Studio Years 1928–1959'' rate the film as "exceptional in its use of docklands locations and pacey action."
TCMDB
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of ...