Suspected Person

Clifford Evans has taken part in a robbery in New York and lammed for England with all of the $50,000. He settles down with his sister, Patricia Roc, and is waiting for the money to be converted to pounds sterling. However, two of the men in the robbery have shot the third and pursued Evans to England, with money and murder on their minds. Police Inspector David Farrar catches wind of what's going on and decides to do some undercover work.

It's a well-written mystery, with a nice, low-key comic bit for William Hartnell as Derek's sergeant. It still betrays its essentially second-feature production by the cheaper sets and lots at Associated British' Wellwyn Studios, and a couple of minor gaffes, like the way American accents are portrayed. Nonetheless, the twists and turns kept me interested through the end.

This wartime cinematic diversion is a story about gangsters trying to recover their stolen money and how this disrupts the lives of innocent parties. David Farrar, excellent as usual, plays the Detective Inspector who sets a trap to catch the thief, the gangsters, and the stolen money all at once. While doing so, he falls in love with the charming niece of the thief, played by Patricia Roc. Her uncle falls in love with her flatmate, played by the actress Anne Firth, in her first feature film role. She later died tragically young at the age of only 49. Clifford Evans plays the lead, though he is hardly a congenial leading man. But then most of those were at War at this time. The film is enjoyable enough and capably directed by Lawrence Huntington. It is for those who like to watch old British forties movies, which have their endless fascination as depicting the traditional manners, attitudes, and mores which have so utterly disappeared from Britain today. Huntington later directed NIGHT BOAT TO DUBLIN (1946, see my review).

An occasionally atmospherically lit but stiff, talky and studio-bound British imitation of a Hollywood crime film a long way after 'Point Blank', whose plot about American gangsters at large in London like the rest of the film feels very pre-war.

A couple of 'big shot' racketeers are after $50,000 due them from their latest heist stateside. I won't spoil it for you by revealing if they're successful or not.

Jim Raynor returns to London only to discover gangsters and Scotland Yard are both on the trail of the stolen money (50000 dollars) now in his possession. On the positive side of his return Jim gets re-acquainted with his supportive sister Joan and his old sweetheart(now a local entertainer named) Carol Martin. Can Jim somehow elude both the notorious gangsters and the police or will they both have more in store for him than he bargained for?

This is a rather fanciful take on the crime fantasy story and falls very much in line of what one expects a 1940s film about the subject to be like. While it likely doesn't ring true, it's great fun to watch unfold despite its cliches. The women in the film are particularly strong for a film from the 1940s--especially Patricia Roc as Jim sister's Joan.

This is a thriller that lacks any real conviction,particularly since it seems obsessed with the American gangster milieu. The story twists and turns but not in such a way as to keep you on t enter hooks.The acting is very variable, Farrer is particularly wooden.The 2 "Americans" ate laughably unbelievable.