Man in Hiding

Paul Henreid stars in this Hammer B mystery as a private detective, Hugo Bishop. He is hired to find an escaped prisoner who had been convicted of a motiveless murder. They meet up at night at the scene of the murder with the silhouetted dome of St Paul's Cathedral as a backdrop. The rubble-strewn scenes of post-Blitz London are good. Lois Maxwell plays the escaped prisoner's frightened wife. She has found a new life surrounded by influential people. I reckon her best scene is when she awakens in panic in a beauty parlor. Bishop is determined to find the reason the escapee has returned to the scene of the murder. I think this would have made a good series with Henreid as the private detective. He plays it right. The character reminds me of The Falcon of the 1940s mystery series.

I only rated this 1953 film 5/10 as average.It has rather poor continuity, editing and to be frank is rather dull for what purports to be a thriller.The highlight for me was to see an early Kay Kendall performance however I did not recognise "Miss Moneypenny" (Lois Maxwell from early James Bond films) who played the female lead.The other user review above succinctly outlines the basic plot, such as it was, so I won't repeat it.Casting Paul Henreid in the male lead role as an investigative lawyer was a mistake as the producer should have cast a British actor for more verisimilitude in the role.Normally I like what I call "Cholomdley-Warner" (apologies to Harry Enfield) films but this was not one of them.

British Hammer mystery starring Paul Henreid, Lous Maxwell, Kieron Moore, and Kay Kendall.

A prisoner named Speight (Moore), found guilty of murder, escapes and heads for London. His wife (Maxwell, Miss Moneypenny of the James Bond films), who has changed her name and is involved with another man, fears he is looking for her.

A friend of Speight's asks a lawyer, Bishop (Henreid) to help find him. He does - Speight claims he's innocent and is looking for the real killer. He knows what the man looks like and is determined to clear his name.

Okay movie - several have commented on how cheerful Henreid is in this film. I guess thinking over his past performances, it is a different kind of role. His fiancé is portrayed by the lovely Kay Kendall, who died a few years later from leukemia.

I can't say this film held my interest except for the people in it. For instance, this was Barbara Shelley's first film.

The small part of Rex was played by handsome Anthony Forwood. He was married to Glynis Johns with whom he had a son, and later became Dirk Bogarde's life partner and manager. He died an agonizing death, so traumatic for Bogarde that he became an outspoken supporter of assisted suicide.

Murderer Kieron Moore escapes from prison. He's headed to London for.... revenge? His ex-wife, Lois Maxwell, now married to Bill Travers, and hiding under a different name and profession, thinks he is coming for her. In reality, he's looking for the man who committed the murder. The police are closing in on Moore, but Paul Henreid, lawyer, lover and bon vivant, has been asked to look into the matter by a friend, and is doing so.

It sounds like an unlikely role for Henreid, doesn't it? He pulls it off here, and although the solution to this mystery is poorly prefigured, it's a pretty good movie of pretty people in pretty clothes -- except for Moore -- it works as an enormous series of red herrings to drag across the trail. That may be the point of this movie, as a pasquinade of murder mysteries.

With an opening sequence bearing a striking resemblance to Bogart's 'Dark Passage', convicted murderer, Kieron Moore escapes prison aboard a truck in a determined bid to prove his innocence. From this point, similarities between the two movies rapidly blur. There is no plastic surgery and Paul Henreid is a far less glamorous confidante than Lauren Bacall! More crucially, 'Mantrap' is a significantly inferior piece of work.

News that Moore is on the run, seriously ruffles the feathers of ex-wife Lois Maxwell, now a successful writer, whilst senior detective, Lloyd Lamble creates an elaborate board game from shunting police cars around the capital in an attempt to snare the convict. Meanwhile, astute lawyer, turned investigator, Henreid has rooted himself at the derelict, bomb site crime scene, where his prolonged patience is rewarded, when Moore finally returns.

Going forward, 'Mantrap' is essentially a talking picture, rather than a moving picture. Just revealing the filling in the sandwich which Henreid offers to the ravenous Moore would have boosted the interest level. The belated chase sequence looks like it was tacked on as an afterthought. The bad guy almost having to be persuaded to make a break for it, whilst everyone's attention is diverted elsewhere.

A second viewing, reveals a few previously unappreciated subtleties and nuances, at least partially lifting the movie out of the miasma of mediocrity, but it's fine margins. For real punch and potency, delivered with panache and pizzazz, check out the aforementioned 'Dark Passage'.