The Fake

Dennis O'Keefe stars as a self proclaimed adventurer who is interested in the $50,000 reward for the recovery of stolen da Vinci paintings. His investigation leads him to London's Tate Museum where he arrives just in time to prevent another theft. The thieves method of operation is to break into the museum, steal the masterpiece, and replace it with an excellent forgery.

The film is set up in such a way that it is obvious that someone connected to the Tate is the thief O'Keefe seeks. Is it the pretty Tate employee (played by Colleen Gray), whose father just happens to be an excellent painter? Or the Tate's own investigator, played by that excellent actor, Guy Middleton? This film is no masterpiece by any means, but still an enjoyable mystery. The film is shot in England with some scenes located right in the Tate Museum. O'Keefe and Gray have a nice chemistry together and the British actors in the character roles are excellent as one would expect.

It is well written with qualified actors, but it's not just a thriller about forgeries and thefts and the madness of a great art collector and lover gone wrong. The most interesting story here is the tragedy of the artist, John Laurie, who is a perfectly honest and meticulous artist who knows his profession and tries hard to stick to his good decent work, but he never reaches recognition and is ruthlessly used by art parasites which dilemma leads to his ruin. Fortunately though he achieves some posthumous triumph by in his last painting giving away his profiteers by presenting it with a clue and a lead, which saves more lives than one. The film is mainly shot within the Tate Gallery, which provides many fascinating scenes and shots, and for music the film makes use of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" aptly enough and no other music. You might object against two Americans given the leads, Dennis O'Keefe and Colleen Gray, in this very British museum drama, while all the English actors are rather played down, even Hugh Williams. Nevertheless, as an art thriller it is interesting indeed and better than most art thrillers.

"The Fake" is a British film made in 1953 and features two American leads, film noir stalwarts Dennis O'Keefe (T-Men, Raw Deal) and Coleen Gray (The Killing).

O'Keefe plays an American detective who is in charge of guarding a masterpiece painting by Leonardo da Vinci during an exhibition at London's famous Tate Gallery. Gray plays the American daughter of a somewhat destitute British painter who never received the artistic recognition he deserved and who arouses O'Keefe's suspicion.

O'Keefe is investigating the theft of two other da Vinci masterpieces that had occurred earlier in Florence and New York. In both cases, the paintings were stolen and replaced with near-perfect forgeries as cover-ups. O'Keefe suspects something similar is bound to happen at the Tate Gallery, which would give him a chance to catch the thief and cash in on a $ 50,000 reward. Problem is, while he suspects Gray's father to be involved in the art forgery scheme, he also falls in love with her.

While certainly no film noir, the movie does use some typical and nice to look at noirish lighting techniques. The film's pace and storytelling is more American than British and O'Keefe and Gray do a credible job, although neither gets much of a chance in terms of character development, not to mention the other actors.

The Tate Gallery footage seems to have been shot on location, which lends the picture an air of authenticity. A splendid touch is the use of variations on Mussorgsky's famous composition "Pictures At An Exhibition" for the musical score.

While "The Fake" is certainly no masterpiece, it does keep the viewer interested while it lasts. Being both an O'Keefe and a Gray fan, I give the movie 7 out of 10 points.

This British clunker may have had some noble ambitions by its makers, but it emerges as just another mediocre, misguided attempt at providing a modicum of entertainment. Buried in the UA catalogue it's a nothing burger.

As emblazoned in an opening thank you credit, it was shot at London's Tate Gallery -sounds like a big deal. But the low-budget quickie is in black and white, making all the paintings on view nothing to look at. And it's a crime drama, so the dim and moody lighting further detracts. What's the point? Would "Lust for Life" be watchable if given the b&w quota quickie treatment?

Dennis O'Keefe is insufferable playing an uppity investigator from the States in London to solve the mystery of who is stealing priceless Da Vinci paintings. The culprit is obvious from the outset and it's a boring slog until O'Keefe catches him. Femme lead Coleen Gray has little to do.

Simply a bore.

Forget the criticism about this motion picture "The Fake." This is a gem of a movie...with good characters,acceptable plot line and lots of British and American flavor. The male lead is a somewhat obnoxious--but charming--American private investigator who is attempting to solve the case of the disappearance of several Da Vinci paintings. Low budget, but still worthwhile (Hell, some low budget films have earned Oscars!)...and there are a few real chuckles...and some very neat scenes, such as the chemist's lab (took me back to my high school and college chemistry classes...and the Hollywood horror films of the fifties and sixties, with people like Vincent Price and Peter Cushing.. and the museum boiler room.

The romantic development is worthwhile too. Oh...black and white, so it has a film noir air about it. I liked the picture enough to burn to disc...and grinned through much of the action.