Norman Conquest

I bought this film because I'm interested in the British b film era of the 1950s and I didn't believe that I'd ever seen it before. The score by Philip Green (not the retail entrepreneur), and in particular a smug and highly irritating theme which recurs throughout the score, made me realise that I had seen it many years before. I wasn't able to recall a solitary frame of it however. Hardly surprising. Most of the clichés of the era are present: a suave, gentleman detective played by Tom Conway (George Sanders' brother, don't you know) in a particularly smug and irritating manner it has to be said (perhaps Philip Green's music wasn't that wide of the mark after all); sinister foreigners, unreal characters seemingly unshocked by violence and murder, toe curling behaviour from all and sundry. Based on the Norman Conquest (not that one) novels which were written by Berkeley Gray, Gray wrote over 800 of the blighters.

Bizarrely, its director, Bernard Knowles, directed Magical Mystery Tour for the Beatles fourteen years later. I am the walrus this ain't.

All in all Park Plaza 605 can be summarised as mediocre and lifeless rubbish from the golden age of the British second feature. Buy it now from Odeon Entertainment!

Released on this side of the pond by Poverty Row studio Lippert Pictures, Norman Conquest has the former Falcon Tom Conway playing another private detective who starts heeding the voice of his male member when it concerns the alluring Eva Bartok and gets framed for murder.

It's a rather clumsy frame that all but thick as a brick police inspector Sid James can figure out. Even he's convinced after a while.

It all has to do with some stolen jewels and a Nazi war criminal thought dead but actually in Great Britain. Eva Bartok is from some unnamed Eastern European country and she's playing her own game with both her Communist satellite government and the baron. It all doesn't work out in the end with a climax taken from Destry Rides Again.

Conway must have felt he was back at RKO playing The Falcon. Norman Conquest has a rather muddled storyline and moves to slow even for a 75 minute running time. If you like Tom Conway and/or Eva Bartok I'd check this one out.

PARK PLAZA 605 is a low budget British film noir in which a stock detective-type character helps the police to track down a gang of Russian thieves and murderers. The American title is NORMAN CONQUEST, although it's not to be confused with the filmed Alan Ayckbourn plays starring Tom Conti.

Instead this is a straightforward police procedural with a good little cast and some tight suspense. Tom Conway (George Sanders's less well-known brother) plays a guy who finds himself caught up in a murder when a body is chucked out of a window; he's the main suspect so must discover the identity of the real crooks in order to clear his name.

Although this is a low rent film throughout, it has a fast pace and fair direction from Bernard Knowles. The supporting cast is also a lively one, with a nice turn from Sid James as a comedic cop which foreshadows his later work in the likes of CARRY ON SERGEANT. Richard Wattis appears in a rare non-comedy part, and there are bit parts for genre regulars like Anton Diffring and Terence Alexander. Overall, PARK PLAZA 605 is a fun little film and one I can recommend to genre fans.

PI Tom Conway gets mixed up with some spy stuff involving Eva Bartok and Richard Wattis.

It's a cheap, dull affair, with an aging Conway irresistible to the ladies, and done as cheaply as possible. Tom slugs a number of men with guns, undercranked car rides go on for a minute at a time, and there's an organ score by Philip Green consisting of two bars of music repeated every now and again. Miss Bartok looks like she's fourteen years old, dressed in her mother's evening gown. His regular girlfriend, Joy Shelton, is named Pixie, but Conway always calls her 'sweetheart', like he's Bogart with an English accent. The editing is atrocious.

Sid James appears as the police detective who's perpetually exasperated by Conway. I know how he feels. By the time everything was cleared up, I didn't care.

Norman Conquest" from 1953, is a suspenseful mystery-thriller that cleverly intertwines elements of noir, intrigue, a bit of comedy sprinkled here and there, and a strong character-driven narrative. Directed by Bernard Knowles, it all involves a secret message about a meeting in room 605 of the Park Plaza Hotel, intercepted by a curious private detective (Tom Conway), who escapes with his life but is framed for a murder. He proceeds to uncover a jewel-smuggling scheme involving a beautiful woman (Eva Bartok) and a fugitive Nazi war criminal. The film is a tightly crafted, atmospheric gem with enough twists and turns to keep viewers hooked despite the complexity of the plot. But this is a film noir-ish effort from the 50's, so that should be expected. Director Knowles worked as cinematographer for several of Alfred Hitchcock's earliest movies, and Eva Bartok alone is easily worth the price of admission. What are you waiting for? This movie is also known by the title "Park Plaza 505."