Nightbeat

NIGHTBEAT struck me with its premise. "After the war is over, two army pals take opposite paths in civvy street. One becomes a petty criminal, the other becomes a policeman" Right away I was reminded of ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES where two characters make their own decisions which will test their friendship. This isn't how things unravel

Right from the outset there's a distraction and that is the two protagonists are shown wearing British army uniforms with sergeant strips. No matter the nationality of a sergeant they're all from working class stock but the characters speak with entirely posh accents that not one person in Britain speaks anymore , not even the British royal family, In fact in comparison to the two sergeants the Queen sounds like she comes from a sink council estate. This is painfully distracting to this egalitarian reviewer

As I said the plot doesn't really follow the ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES route and I found myself constantly wondering why the story couldn't have been told much better. It's not a terrible film but I did expect more from a British film noir and it's impossible to have convincing working class rough characters when they're played ex public school sounding people

Nightbeat gets off to a strong start with our two heroes, newly demobbed, taking on local wide boys, then joining the police, setting the scene for a tale of no-nonsense ex-servicemen versus the spivs and crooks who got rich while they were away. This is reinforced with the appearance of Maxwell Reed as an ebullient super-spiv complete with wide-brimmed hat, dress-coat and perpetual grin, who is a rival for the affections of Anne Crawford. Reed was an actor whom it was not always possible to take seriously, but he's in his element in this part. The bad news is that he's gradually given less and less to do as the film deteriorates into a cut-price version of an American Noir involving Christine Norden as a hard-as-nails good-time girl, and a murder in a nightclub. It all becomes increasingly tedious. No surprise that frequent producer and former actor Harold Huth rarely occupied the director's chair again. Sid James has one of his earliest roles as a dissolute-looking pianist and habitual police informer.

I finally caught this film on a DVD copy bought off ebay. I had wanted to see it for years largely based on what i'd read about it in British film books and for Christine Norden, Britain's answer to Rita Hayworth's Gilda in this performance. Norden did not disappoint; she looks stunning, slinked convincingly, sang huskily, vamps superbly. Her scenes with Maxwell Reed were the film's high points; they are both so over the top in their different styles that it works quite well and is certainly a strong contrast to the demure Anne Crawford in her good girl role. Norden's career in British films was short but made an impact, she was Britain's bad girl before Diana Dors inherited the mantle. As for the plot, well not to worry, it is eminently predictable and very 1940's, but moves along at a fair clip.

Another user comment on another Maxwell Reed film told of his eyebrows, gave me my summary title, which had me smiling.He certainly worked them vigorously in this film noir of an early post war racketeer, returning commando servicemen, (Ronald Howard/Hector Ross) and the longstanding girlfriend who has been faithful all during the war (the late tragic Anne Crawford).What made me smile was seeing Sid James playing a nightclub pianist called Nixon.It was films like this which established his acting credentials and which Tony Hancock envied in their early comic TV/radio collaborations.

Nasty Jackie (Christine Norden) who plays the nightclub singer, sticks Ronald Howard's commando knife into Maxwell Reed's chest and kills him out of pique because he didn't love her enough.How will Ronald establish his innocence, perhaps Anne can help?This is an above average 1947 British produced film noir which I awarded 7/10.

Nordelph shines in this with smouldering sensuality as the precursor to Diana Dors.Mind you it wasn't that difficult since she was appearing with three extremely poor leading me.What this film really needed was a Stewart Granger,James Mason or Herbert Lom.This was a fairly average crime thriller of the period.Which meant that it was rather more races than its prewar equivalents