Leofwine_draca NOOSE is a well-plotted but oddly uninspiring little crime film which deals with efforts to bring down an Italian black market racketeer operating in London following WW2. His sheer breadth of power means that the authorities are powerless against him, until a lone female reporter decides to write a scoop that brings him out of the woodwork and up against her.There's some great material in the narrative here, including a completely amoral villain who enjoys using knuckle dusters to beat up women! The stark gang violence makes ahead of its time, but it's a pity that the execution is less than stellar. The film plods when it should grip, and it only really gets going in the last twenty minutes or so, with an unusual and rather powerful climax. It's one of those rare films where the women are both empowered and sexualised, leaving the men looking weak by comparison.The tragic Carole Landis stars in her penultimate acting role before her untimely suicide and very good she is too: bright, brassy, and running rings around the menfolk. Joseph Calleia and Derek Farr are rather uninspired as the rival protagonists, though we do get the likes of Stanley Holloway in support, and even a brief cameo for Michael Ripper. Nigel Patrick is something of a scene stealer as a loud-mouth spiv, and although his telephone manner is absolutely hilarious, I found his brash character ended up being too over the top for his own good.

howardmorley I rated this film with 6/10 mainly because the final punch-up by the boxers with the mobster gang was inconsistent, being almost comic slapstick with what had gone before involving which involved killings.As is commonly known Carole Landis had been a girlfriend of Rex Harrison and possibly through blighted affection committed suicide the same year as this film aged 29.Nigel Patrick plays an immoral cockney spiv not so ruthless as his partner an Italian gangster played by Joseph Calleia who is prone to lapse into "Don Giovanni" by Mozart occasionally.Stanley Holloway as the detective plays his part without any of the humour found in many other of his film portrayals.Derek Farr gives an unremarkable workman-like performance as the fiancé of Carole Landis.I was surprised to find this full length 1948 film on Youtube probably because it is in the public domain and therefore out of copyright.

bob the moo American journalist Linda Medbury may be on the staff of a London newspaper to cover the fashion column but this is not going to stop her covering other stories that she comes across. However when she gets onto the extensive racket run by Sugiani, nobody can convince her of the plain and simple fate that has come to anyone who has gone toe-to-toe with his operation. So while Linda continues to work to expose Sugiani for who he is, her military boyfriend Captain "Jumbo" Hyde gathers many men as he can from his associates to protect her in place of a police force defeated before they begin by corruption.This summer the BBC delivered a season of British films and, to their credit it was not the usual parade of Dam Busters, Zulu and other Bank Holiday favourites but rather an interesting mix of films that are rarely seen. With 26 votes to its name on this site, it is perhaps fair to say that The Noose was one of these. The style of the film is a bit mixed. At times it appears to be every inch a British version of the American gangster film but then at others it is more of a comedy with cheeky chappy clichés kicking around in the shadows. As a result it doesn't totally hang together and I found myself distracted and my interest broken up by the inconsistent tone.However it is still of interest and does have scenes of value. We do get moments that are easily comparable with the strongest from American noir and we do get amusing characters that remind us where we are but again, these things seem to be working against one another. Gréville's direction is good in regards working with his cinematographer but in terms of solving the issues over the narrative flow, he cannot. Nor can the cast either, and many of them seem to be in different films unfortunately. Landis is enjoyable in the lead – she has what the experts would call "spunk" and it brought a bit of spark to the film. Farr is no more than serviceable and sadly the film sags when he is the focus. Calleia is a solid villain but the problem is that he isn't playing it straight and tough and he has an air of flamboyance about him. There is nothing wrong with him in this regard it is just that, within this film it is Nigel Patrick that dominates that sort of area with a wonderfully comic caricature that he works well.An interesting film to see then for its attempts to do what it does within a British context but it is the inability to either hold a consistent tone or blend the different ones successfully that sees it be a lesser film than I would have hoped. I would have liked to be able to praise it on account of it being obscure and thus me looking cool but as it is it is interesting but not all that great.

noir guy Tangy post-War British 'Spiv' movie (a cycle of 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). Directed by Edmond T. Greville (BEAT GIRL aka WILD FOR KICKS), and adapted from a stage play, this features Carole Landis (in one of her final roles) as nosy reporter Linda Medbury who, together with her ex-commando boyfriend Jumbo Hoyle (played by Derek Farr), gets on the trail of a gang of post-war black marketeers headed by Soho nightclub owner Sugiani, played by Joseph Calleia (whose role was based on a real-life Post-war London criminal). This gets them mixed up with London 'Spiv' Bar Gorman, played by Nigel Patrick, whose slangy, comic performance almost overshadows the surrounding film. Imaginatively shot, speedily paced, and ripe with post-War vernacular and the requisite criminal dust-ups (primarily involving the good guys' recruited gang of boxers, market porters, and cab drivers versus the low-life criminals), this is an entertaining slice of British crime and deserves to be better known, as it's worthy of a place alongside such noted post-War British crime movies as BRIGHTON ROCK and NIGHT AND THE CITY. Check it out, if you get the chance.