The Gelignite Gang

The device of a gang using street musicians as a cover is ripped off from 'The Tiger in the Smoke.' At least it doesn't have the wild and irrelevant jazz track foisted on to most of these pot boilers, presumably efforts by the musicians' union to secure full employment.

There seems to be only a very thin thread knitting the whole thing together with the fiction between the American 'b' movie actor and the cynical Brit cop. Even the cockneys speak in Standard English, mainly in received pronunciation. Watchable but not riveting.

There seems to be great deal of Sloane Square rather than St Giles' Circus about it. That is to say even the sleazy locations looks recently scrubbed, Shepherd's Bush vs Soho.

THE GELIGNITE GANG is a fast-paced British B-picture from prolific director Francis Searle, who made tons of these low budget quota quickies for a couple of decades from the 1940s to the 1960s. The fun title hints at the plot of a sometimes intense cops-and-robbers flick in which an American insurance investigator helps police to search for members of a criminal gang who use explosives to commit their robberies.

Unlike a lot of similar fare from Butcher's Films and the like, THE GELIGNITE GANG doesn't hang around and offers plenty of incident to keep viewers engaged. The imported American star, Wayne Morris, blusters his way through a cast of well-drawn characters, including a young thief whose run-ins with the gang lead to his eventual downfall. The film cleverly plays up a murder mystery angle to the story, keeping you guessing as to the identity of the chief villain, while at the same time keeping the action and suspense bubbling along. It's a B-picture throughout, but a good one.

Better than Crooked Sky which also starred the wide shouldered US detective of this film. The ploy employed by the gang to avoid detection was novel and overall this is worth watching.

As so many did from the USA Wayne Morris took work over in the United Kingdom because roles were not forthcoming over here. And British films wanted to have that American name to insure box office abroad.

Morris is with Anglo-American Insurance and the company insured some jewels that the Gelignite Gang took. So named because they work with explosives in blowing up safes. The gang seems to operate in and around Eric Pohlman's nightclub. Pohlman is a mysterious figure and a few years earlier Sidney Greenstreet would have fitted the role perfectly.

This gang seems to pop out of nowhere and go back into the scenery without a trace. Sandra Dorne who Morris is dating and who also works for the insurance company is the one who figures out how they do it. Talk about hiding in plain sight.

Acting honors go to young James Kenney a young punk who gets in way over his head with this crowd.

The Gelignite Gang is a good British noir film and the ensemble cast functions well.

Anglo-American Investigations consists of Wayne Morris, Patrick Holt and secretary Sandra Dorne, whom both of the men are trying to date. An insurance company has hired them to investigate a gang of jewel thieves who like to blow open safes. Some one who calls in a tip for a two-thousand-pound reward gets shot just before he can say anything useful.

This is a pretty good movie -- at least until the final twist -- as we get to watch Morris, Miss Dorne and the police investigate, each on a separate track. We also watch James Kenney and his interactions with a pawn-shop man. All roads lead to the same place, with some nice clues scattered for the observant viewer.

The Brighton setting also helps. Although the movie never rises above Quota Quickie (or American B; it was released simultaneously in both markets) level, the competent acting by all hands makes this watchable throughout.