The Traitors

I love black and white films particularly crime dramas which essentially this is. The main draw for me is the realistic use of location and that the locations shown were linked ( bus routes were accurate for example) and not just arbitrary shots of places that are often miles apart.

The drama itself whilst not particularly suspenseful, did show what I suspect most surveillance of spy's and criminals is like, fairly humdrum and probably tedious much of the time. I thought the film had good pace in general and it's always fun spotting well known character actors and those just starting to become known. I was surprised to learn that James Maxwell was American as I thought his accent wasn't that good! I've always thought him to be British! Harold Goodwin injected some warmth and humour into the film whilst Zena Walker's character was, I think, unnecessary.

Overall I think it's a good film an worth a watch. Those who recognise the locations will enjoy spotting land marks they know, for others it's a snapshot of what working class London of the early 1960's was like. Most of the locations have now been gentrified and the houses within these gritty streets contain homes now worth up to a million or more!

Clearly this film was inspired by the revelations of various communist spies in the establishment and actual spy rings.This is a very neat and fast paced thriller with an exciting climax.It is also interesting for those of us living in London at the time what it was like.I have to say it looks rather down at heels with the grime of years of coal staining the buildings.No supermarkets yet,so a United Daries grocers shop next to the surgery with its windows full of tins.The cinema used is the Coronet Notting Hill.I am pleased to say that it is still operating and still looks pretty much the same inside.Anyway a thoroughly entertaining film.

The second of two British b-crimes pairing lantern-jawed Patrick Allen, honing one of the greatest voices in cinema history, with ingenue Jacqueline Ellis, THE TRAITORS... written by Jim O'Connelly who'd direct Ellis in THE HI-JACKERS the next year... follows the usual spy template popular in the 1960's...

Herein the titular gang of microfilm-carrying turncoats are shadowed by stalwart British agent Allen paired with an American with a British accent in future OTLEY actor James Maxwell...

Allen is married while Maxwell, single, takes Jacqueline Ellis's Mary, as a female agent, on a date, which, sadly, is about the only real screen-time she has, buried by Allen's troubled wife Zena Walker while the action and espionage, with an extremely meager budget, isn't very suspenseful...

The poster has a petrified dame with her mouth covered as Allen's getting pistol-whipped, and neither occurs in this average post-noir that's still an entertaining time-filler, economically filling its sixty-minute programmer's length.

The look, sound, and feel of The Traitors are all strong and well done. All of the performances are solid as well, in particular all the leads fulfill their parts well. The film provides an authentic grit to the proceedings and in that respect it is engaging and good. The weak part for me was the story. Yes, in the broad sense it's a solid story but as for the details and specifics that might create some suspense and draw the viewer in, those elements are just never fully realized. It's a shame because I really liked all of the characters and enjoyed spending time with them but any suspense and sense of urgency were just too short on supply.

There are secrets being leaked and Patrick Allen is told to find out who and how, with American James Maxwell seconded for US interests.

It's a slow and deliberate movie, far from the slam-bang and sexcapades of the James Bond franchise. Allen is still in love with ex-wife Zena Walker, and she with him, but their marriage could not take the strain. Maxwell is interested in Jacqueline Ellis, but though she makes a lovely dinner companion, the work they do is too dirty for her to ever think of marriage. In between these reliefs, such as they are, from the main story, they track the route of the stolen secrets to a doctor's office, and set up in a betting shop across the street to surveil.... and run into problems when a successful bettor puts the shop in the red.

It's unglamorous and even occasionally dull to watch their progress, up until the slam-bang ending. The result is a film that is too realistic to be very entertaining, but stands as a useful correction to the usual image of spywork.