jamesraeburn2003 Set at the end of world war two, two demobbed soldiers, Ted Peters (Richard Attenborough) and Dave Robinson (Bill Owen credited as Bill Rowbotham) remain friends and still regularly meet. But, their civilian life has gone in completely separate directions. Ted is a taxi driver and can make enough money to get by but not to be able to marry his girlfriend, a dancer called Joy Goodall (Sheila Sim) whom is currently struggling to find work. Meanwhile, Dave has fallen into the world of crime and works for a gang led by Gregory (Barry Jones) who runs the Palais de' Danse as a legitimate front. Dave tries to tempt his old army buddy into joining him saying that he can use it as a nice little earner, but Ted won't hear of it. When Dave attempts to squeeze more money out of Gregory for his part in a jewelry raid, he is shot by his right hand man Paul Baker (Barry K Barnes) as he attempts to flee the club. Mortally wounded, Dave manages to slump into the back of Ted's taxi where he is soon found dead. The police believe that Ted knows more about his old friend's underworld connections than he is letting on, which means that he becomes a marked man as Gregory and his gang decide that he must be eliminated. Ted decides to expose the gang and, to this end, Joy takes a job at the Palais de' Danse where she discovers that Gregory is planning a raid on an Oxford Street department store, Wrigley and Mastersons. Will Ted and Joy finally turn the tables on Gregory or will he be too smart for them?A taut British crime noir directed by John Paddy Carstairs; a film maker whom I have always associated with comedies such as Norman Wisdom's Trouble In Store. So I was quite surprised at just how good this was and the suspense aspect is nail-biting in places. In particular, there is a tense scene where Gregory's henchman Smithy (Cyril Chamberlain) and his thugs lure Ted into an old warehouse where they plan to kill him and plant phony evidence to suggest that he was Dave's accomplice and had murdered him. The tension in this scene is most effectively racked up by the overpowering sound of a dripping tap, which dominates the soundtrack here for dramatic effect. It was quite amusing to see Dickie Attenborough's mild mannered and somewhat naïve character get to do some punch ups with the villains too. He comes out on top in some of them as well and it was here where I thought it was stretching credibility just a little too far; because he himself gets beaten up pretty severely and it is hard to believe that after all that he would have been able to get up again and emerge triumphant against his opponents. There are moments of surprising ferocity in the film too such as Cyril Chamberlain's demise where he is run over by a truck. His killers get out to check that they have done a thorough job of it and all there is left of him is a puddle of mud on the ground!It is very well acted all round with Attenborough and Sim (his real life wife) very good as the good natured and honest young couple who unwittingly get involved with the underworld via an innocent meeting with the former's old army friend. And, in the best Hitchcock tradition, the plot unfolds in how they have to fight their way out of their predicament. The film's best performance, however, comes from Bill Owen who plays the ill-fated Dave. He skilfully portrays a happy go lucky sort of guy who becomes too over confident in his naivety when he thinks he can dictate terms to professional criminals and loses his life as a result. Barry Jones is quite good as the arch-criminal Gregory portraying him as a fairly ordinary respectable businessman who no one would think for a second is a big noise in Soho's underworld. Judy Kelly also deserves a mention as the Palais dancer Toni Masters. She becomes jealous when her boyfriend, Gregory's second in command, Paul Baker (Barry K Barnes), starts paying more attention to Joy and threatens to spill the beans on his criminal life. And, yes, of course, she endangers her own life in the process.The film is given a convincing film noir appearance by Reg Wyer's excellent b/w camerawork who creates an unsettling appearance of London's West End that adds considerably to our enjoyment and involvement with the plot.

Alex da Silva Compo from "Last of the Summer Wine" obviously loved the East End and probably made friends with Chas 'n' Dave. That's why I saw them play at Holmfirth. It was where Summer Wine was filmed – the friendship link is complete. Compo is an East end gangster in this film. He's short in stature and makes an unconvincing tough guy. He would have been flattened in his fight scene at the beginning of the film. The same goes for his ex-army buddy, Richard Attenborough (Ted), Again, this short person would have been flattened in both his fight scenes. The fights are badly staged and very fake.There's a criminal gang running a dancehall and carrying out robberies and Dickie short-arse meddles in their affairs so he can get to the truth behind his pal Compo's demise. Guess what – he succeeds. Standard good guy v bad guy stuff. The most interesting moments of the film for me occur in the dancehall where Diana Dors hangs out. Singer and dancehall girl Judy Kelly (Toni) is the best of the cast. What is it with people cutting in on other men dancing with a girl by tapping them on the shoulder and stealing their girl away? No way! This would be disastrous and cause non-stop scuffling. I hear this was an American custom introduced in films. I can't believe this actually happened! Any info on this ludicrous concept would be greatly appreciated.

malcolmgsw whilst it has to be said that this film uses many situations that even in 1947 were clichés,nevertheless this is a well made and entertaining film.You always know what the characters are up to.So when Attenborough meets up with army buddy Bill Owen,you get the feeling immediately that Owen is up to no good.Owen is shot and then crawls into Attenboroughs cab where he bleeds to death.So unfortunately the next fare gets a rather nasty shock.Everyone seems to be playing to their type,Garry Marsh as a jovial policeman and Danny Green who enjoys taking people for a ride.The only problems are that Attenborough doesn't look too convincing in the fight scenes,and you have to wonder why the gang would try to hunt him down since it only makes him a lot more suspicious.

noir guy Brisk, efficient British post-War crime melodrama set in London - part of the 'Spiv' movie cycle(films with roots in 30s American Gangster movies, featuring characters profiting from wartime rationing in a similar fashion to 30s bootleggers, but not so clearly glamorised as their Stateside equivalents - see also the superior NOOSE). Richard Attenborough stars as former soldier, Ted Peters, now making a living as a London cab-driver who becomes involved with a criminal gang headed by dance hall owner and criminal mastermind Mr Gregory (the seriously undervalued Barry Jones), whose henchman and M.C. Paul Baker (Barry K. Barnes) has offed Ted's childhood friend and former army buddy Dave Robinson (Bill Rowbotham, better known to U.K. audiences as Bill Owen, star of long-running U.K. T.V comedy series LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE). At Ted's behest, his girlfriend Joy (Sheila Sim) gets a job as a dancehall hostess in Gregory's dance hall as part of Ted's attempts to expose the criminal gang and the true nature of the crime lord's enterprise is gradually exposed. Punchily directed by John Paddy Carstairs, and redolent with post-War atmosphere, this is another example of the type of popular genre fare which entertained U.K. audiences in the 40s at the same time as the now revered 'noir' movies similarly engaged their U.S. contemporaries. Deserving wider acclaim, the movies from this post-War U.K. genre are valid, and diverting, social documents which often gave early exposure to burgeoning talents (in this instance, an uncredited brunette Diana Dors and a 'blink and you'll miss him' Dirk Bogarde) and should, by rights, be as revered in their country of origin as the more celebrated and documented U.S. post-War crime movies. Worth checking out, if you get the chance.