The End of the Line

Alan Baxter never amounted to much of an actor, and by 1957 he was increasingly involved in B and TV productions. In THE END OF THE LINE, he is plainly too old, dumpy and unfit to credibly interest female beauties of the caliber of Barbara Shelley and Jennifer Jayne, and that is apparent from the outset. Plus he is too wooden to convey any real emotional dilemma over the killing of a man he just planned to rob.

BIG minus there.

Charles Saunders does a passable job of directing, making competent use of a predictable screenplay whose best feature is a voiceover that comes in fits and starts and appears to be Selby (played by Baxter) ruminating over his downright avoidable decisions that inevitably lead him to crime.

Barbara Shelley has the plum role as the scheming femme fatale with strings pulled by subtle villain Ferdy Mayne, and the screen comes alive when those two are on it.

Photography is strictly standard.

Not a bad watch if you have 62' to spare.