Colin Blakely tries to talk brother John Cowley into ending his career as a 'snout', an informer to Chief Inspector Nigel Patrick. He can come into the profitable junk business as a partner with Blakely. Cowley says he's never had it so good..... until the gang that's been hitting banks learns he's been grassing and kills him Meanwhile, Patrick is ordered to stop associating with criminals. He scoffs and keeps on working information his way. This is, until the gang frames him with photographs and cash from one of the recent robberies hidden in his attic. He's taken in and charged.
Ken Annakin's movie, derived from a novel by Douglas Warner, offers an examination of the limited loyalty on both sides of the battle between law and crime, with a slow series of character studies that gradually speeds up, into an exciting final fifteen minutes. Both sides have brains, and both sides make mistakes, and that makes it all the more believable. Patrick gives a fine performance as an honest cop who cuts a few too many corners.
Annakin would spend the rest of the 1960s offering bloated comedy epics. Here, he takes his time, and it really pays off.
Ken Annakin's movie, derived from a novel by Douglas Warner, offers an examination of the limited loyalty on both sides of the battle between law and crime, with a slow series of character studies that gradually speeds up, into an exciting final fifteen minutes. Both sides have brains, and both sides make mistakes, and that makes it all the more believable. Patrick gives a fine performance as an honest cop who cuts a few too many corners.
Annakin would spend the rest of the 1960s offering bloated comedy epics. Here, he takes his time, and it really pays off.