Panic

Janine Gray works for a Hatton Gardens jeweler. One evening, her boss asks her to stay late. Two Germans are coming in, and she's bilingual. It turns out they're a couple of crooks associated with her boyfriend. They kill the jeweler, take a big stone, and knock her out. When she comes to, she's in a fugue state, with her memory gone. She goes into hiding, but the police want to find her. So does her boy friend, and his associates. She wanders around, until she runs into Glyn Houston, a boxer on the downslide who takes a fancy to help rescue the damsel in distress.

It's a bit of idiot plotting, strengthened by Miss Gray's uncertainty of what's going on. The acting is solid, but it all could be quickly cleared up, and the police are on the job, and doing a good one. Still, the acting is good, and the camerawork by Geoffrey Faithfull is solid. Faithfull had been a cinematographer for Hepworth back in the silent era, and would work through the end of the 1960s, totaling almost 200 features and shorts in a long career. He died in 1979, aged 86.

John Gilling wrote and directed this very nice film noir in 1963, we see a lot of nasty characters, from a sexual predator hotel owner to an impressive brute played by the famous Milton Reid, from stupid beatnicks to all kinf of crooks, all threatening the beautiful Janine Gray having lost memory in a hold up (Janine Grey is a not too well known actress, 25 titles in her filmography, and mostly tv series). Thanks for her, she meets Glyn Houston as Mike, a honest former boxer who'll do everything for her without abusing, until the desperate last shot. Kind of Hithcock. Don't miss the sexy Julie Mendez.

Some unusual aspects to this thriller,which surfaced recently on a London tv station screening.For one the actors at the bottom of the cast are better known than the two leads.John Gilling uses unusual camera angles in imitation of Carol Reed.Reasonable story though there are some implausible aspects.

I don't remember having already watched this film before, though it is in my collection. I understand why, when I see it now, there is really nothing special, despite its obvious qualities. The story is not that riveting, tense or hard boiled. Just a good time waster from a director who became famous for some adventure and horror films in the sixties and fifties. This one, I doubt anyone rememebers it in John Gilling's filmography and career. It reminds us that he was also a crime film provider, but mostly in the fifties, not the sixties. I am glad, however, to have seen it again. It remains a good film.

This is a pretty entertaining movie, proving that the Brits were capable of film noir in the 60's. It has an interesting beatnik/jazz-era vibe more associated with late 50's US films. While it leans toward melodrama, particularly the acting of the beautiful lead actress, it stays true to film noir with its very dark behaviors and outcomes and a pervasive hopelessness. High contrast B&W (or is it just a cheap Sinister Cinema print--but thanks anyway, guys, for making this available!!), jaunty camera angles and nightmarish city images keep it interesting. (Side note: thru Amazon, many obscure noir and thriller titles, probably all public domain, are available in bare bones prints by Sinister Cinema for $8.99 each, a bargain for those interested in such fare.)