Scarlet Thread

This film has just been shown as part of the "British films forever" season on BBC2.The film was made by Butchers Films(1910-1980)which made films for the bottom half of double bills.The film stars Sydney Tafler,the brother in law of that very versatile director Lewis Gilbert.Also starring is a very young Laurence Harvey ,before he adopted the "arent i beautiful"mannerisms of his later career,There are some very interesting location shots of the West End of London,including a number of cinema exteriors and also of Cambridge.The plot is a typical thriller of its times and has more holes in its plot than you would find in a piece of Swiss cheese.There is however one very daring scene for its time.Kathleen Byron plays the frustrated girlfriend of a don.She is immediately attracted to Harvey.They have a dance then a very sensual kiss and there is a clear indication that he can have his wicked way with her when mum has gone to sleep.To ensure an early night for mum she is given a sleeping pill but fate intervenes.Anyway to buffs of British cinema it is worth a watch.

SCARLET THREAD is an interesting little British crime film that works thanks to a good cast and some different locations to the usual. The plot sees B-movie veterans Laurence Harvey and Sydney Tafler playing an unlikely couple of robbers who decide to team up and rob a jewellers with the help of getaway driver Harry Fowler. Unfortunately things don't go to plan and they are forced to hide out in one of the local colleges, where Harvey falls for the charms of a young woman bored with her genteel life.

The first thing to note about this film is the location: instead of the grim back streets of London, this is set in the wide open Cambridge and in particular in the grounds of one of the colleges there. It makes for a refreshing change of scenery and the director makes good use of his locations throughout. SCARLET THREAD feels unpredictable from beginning to end and has sudden bursts of tense action mixed with growing suspense so that you never quite know what's going to transpire next.

The second thing of note is that the cast is very good for a film of this budget. Harvey excels as the hot-headed young criminal and makes the viewer feel nervous whenever he's on screen. Kathleen Byron is an effective object of lust and exudes charisma and believability in her part. Best of all is Tafler in a surprisingly large and sympathetic part for the actor; his crippled character is both desperate and pitiful and really holds the film together, an A-list performance in a B-list picture. The likes of Fowler, Dora Bryan, and Cyril Chamberlain add quality in minor parts. SCARLET THREAD is a decent addition to the genre that more than holds its own against rival American fare.

Well you could have knocked me down with a feather when I saw that this one was without 5 votes at the time of comment. I caught it on UK TV (BBC2) last night as part of a season that they are doing of great British films.

Basically the film is about an upper class jewel thief Marcon and the oikish pickpocket Freddie who becomes his protégé. Early on in the movie Freddie saves Marcon's life. After this and clearly against his better judgement Marcon feels a sort of responsibility for Freddie and decides to do a job with him. Freddie is mercurial, and unlike the blue-blood Marcon does not know when the boat should not be rocked. He's got a caveman type thang for the ladies and is not averse to the odd tantrum.

They commit a bungled jewel heist in Cambridge and have to make off on foot. They run into one of the colleges and hide in the garden of the Master's lodge. They talk their way into staying the night with Josephine, the Master's daughter who is not aware that anything is afoot. Josephine is the most interesting character, a lady whom the audience of the time would certainly have identified with. She has grown weary of the softly-dripping peace of Cambridge and her bespectacled don suitor. She's looking for a more racy life, she's bought a ticket on the ride and wants her money's worth so to speak. Cue Freddy who moves through the gears in no time impressing her with his cinema-learnt American accent and lingo.

Josephine as played by Kathleen Byron is what we in Britain would call a fox. Her skin is like alabaster and her bosom full and on permanent display. There is not even the mark of a scowl on her face, she's a classy lady. It is after her that the movie is titled, quoting from the Song of Solomon 4:3 "Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, And thy mouth is comely." She comes by the end of the movie to realise that flings with Freddies are not quite all they're cracked up to be. But I won't spoil that for you.

There is in this film some of the raciest innuendo that I've ever seen even in modern movies, and it's all quite carefully disguised. That for me was the added value. There is also a quite noirish sentiment, education is shown off as the luxuriant pursuit of the fop. If this had been an American-made film it would certainly be called noir. It's a very enjoyable little film, not quite as coherent or stylised as the great movies, but a high-calibre matinée that one can't quite fail to enjoy. 8/10

Kathleen Byron was one of the most fascinating actresses of the noir period, while she only came to her rights under the direction of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. She did make a number of other thrillers besides the Archers productions, and this was one of her best. She is confronted here by Laurence Harvey as a very young man in one of his earliest roles, acting a nervous young amateur gangster with a gun, which of course he uses only for blunders, but his performance as this green hoodlum totally unsure of himself except for his interest and relations with dames is just perfect. This was Lewis Gilbert's first film, and it is startlingly Hitchcockian. The pastoral idylls of Cambridge with its ancient colleges and almost equally ancient professors are made the background of a shockingly grim drama of a burglary going wrong involving the accidental murder of an old man, who proves to be the last man the murderer would have liked to have killed. Sydney Tafler is the other villain, who has forced Harvey into his service for a professional job, in no way alerted by the fact that Harvey is such an unreliable amateur. Of course, it can only go from bad to worse, but there are many great moments of sustained suspense, and the fireworks in the end for the celebration of a centenary of a college is the perfect background for the final escape by the Ghost's Gallery, where for a striking effect the ghost actually appears of a man believed dead.

This early fifties British film starts off really well, and features some excellent London and Cambridge locations. The chase scene, concerning the students pursuing the crooks through the streets of Cambridge, is novel and very well staged. Unfortunately, from thereon in the film tails off, and becomes bogged down in a talky and drawn out scenario. Kathleen Byrom and Sydney Tafler acquit themselves well, although it has to be said that Laurence Harvey, in an early role, gives a patchy performance, at best. The interlude between Byrom and Harvey, referred to by other reviewers, is certainly a surprise especially given the age of the film. The censor must have nipped out for a coffee at that point, but obviously returned for the end of the film which simply terminates far too abruptly (can anyone shed any light on this?) In conclusion, it's a pity the film wasn't condensed a bit more before its finale, which could have done with being more conclusive.