Triple Deception

As I was watching this I started to notice that the story arc seemed familiar. This 1956 film has all of the hallmarks of the 1960's James Bond films. The gangs, the double-crosses, the big schemes, the villain bosses, and the women. It's not a bad yarn.

Steve Chancellor is dead. That causes a crimp in a CIA sting operation on a gold-smuggling ring that is branching out into counterfeiting. Fortunately, seaman Michael Craig looks exactly like him, so he is inserted into the operations. As he gets into fist fights with various members of the group,he gradually moves up in the operations, until he is able to lead the law enforcement operations directly to the people. They are holding off until they can grab everyone, so Craig has to continue the impersonation. However, the bad guys have a plant in the Surete.

I's a nice spies-vs-crooks thriller, with an able cast that includes Brenda de Banzies, David Kousof, Gerard Oury, and Eric Pohlmann, running from Paris to Marseilles. Of course it's almost all shot on sets, with a few stock photos to lend that ambience so desired by big movie concerns. Guy Green directs with an eye owards thrills more than character exposition, and the ultimate solution is not what I expected, which is a good thing in the murky world of the CIA.

First to clear up any misunderstandings this was Ranks attempt at an A feature.As usual it lacks originality.The substituted agent must have been used many times prior to this.Michael Craig gives a lacklustre performance with a truly awful mid Atlantic accent.The colour photogrAphy and the views of Paris are the best features of a truly forgettable film

For a french reviewer like me who love film noir, House Of Secrets is an absolute entertaining movie. I first loved all the Parisian locations (around rue du Bac, l'île Saint-Louis, Eiffel tower, rue Lamarck, an unknown restaurant) and Marseille.

The plot with impersonation is interesting with some fine twists. The fights are real fast paced, destroying the furniture more violently than in American serials. The cinematography by Harry Waxman is very colorful and shadowy. The editing by the brilliant Sidney Hayers (soon to direct Circus Of Horrors and Burn Witch Burn) is real fast and raw.

The best surprise again for a french reviewer is the casting of Gérard Oury as a badman, very surprising when you see his future top box office movies with Bourvil and Louis de Funès as a director...

Swell souvenir.

Michael Craig would have been a terrific James Bond. I don't know if he was ever screen tested. He had the look and physical abilities. The story has more twists than a mountain road and a climax right out of a Bond film. Arnall and Bates brought eye candy and acting skills. The fight scenes were brutal and more realistic than the usual phoney slugfest.