... Just transpose the James Cagney of "The Public Enemy" into immediately post-war Britain and make him a loner, but a bit of an enigma at first. But as the film rolls on you will not like what you learn about Hartnell's character, Leo.
Leo is recruited by a couple of gangsters - Loman and Hatchet - who use a dance hall as a front, to do a smash and grab job at a jewelry store. Things go terribly wrong when a protective awning in the display window falls on Leo's wrists and he is then apprehended by the police and does time. The gang does not stand behind him as they had promised after Leo gets caught but, seriously, what could they have done but get caught themselves? But Leo is the type to hold a grudge. When he gets out of jail he goes straight to Loman and says to pay the debt they owe him - the imprisonment and permanent damage to his wrists - they should give him a job. He is rebuffed and thrown out. And from there Leo becomes the original Darkman minus the burns and decides to frame the framers, so to speak.
The film is - I think - being intentionally vague about what Leo did before he was caught and imprisoned. The beginning might even have you believing he might have been a musician, as I could not see what his obsession was with the permanent damage to his wrists. That is probably so that he initially has the sympathy of the audience. And they don't really change that characterization much until a true sympathetic character - a dance hall girl, worn down by life at a young age, who is impressed by Leo's kindness and attention in the face of his excon "just one mistake" underdog status - appears.
This film has something you would not see in American films at the time since Britain never had an all encompassing production code like the US. In this film the something that you would not see in American movies is an almost openly gay couple who have pretty prominent roles, with one member of the couple being particularly flamboyant for the time.
One thing that this film does that you would see in 1946 American films? This British noir, one year after the war is over, when Britain is still largely in ruins, has completely erased the war. Apparently the crime syndicate in the film, the police careers involved, and the dance hall girls along with that noir lifestyle have histories that seem to go back five years without mention of warfare.
I'd recommend this one. It doesn't have any stars that most Americans will have heard of with maybe the exception of the always interesting Herbert Lom, but everybody does a commendable job in a film with a plot that will keep your interest and plenty of atmosphere.
