A smooth talking Canadian conman called Paul Gregory (George Nader) cultivates the friendship of wealthy widow Harriet P Jefferson (Bessie Love) in order to steal her priceless coin collection left to her by her husband. He sells them for £55,000 and hides the money away in a safe deposit box and, as he planned, he is soon arrested and gets sentenced to ten years in prison. Aided by his accomplice Sloane (Bernard Lee), Gregory breaks out of prison and plans to flee the country by boat using a false passport. But, Sloane, not content to accept the cut of the proceeds offered to him, attempts to double cross Gregory. He fails and Gregory accidentally kills him. From here on things start to go from bad to worse for the slick conman since Sloane had cleverly hidden away the key to the safe deposit box meaning that Gregory cannot get his hands on his money. None of his old underworld contacts in London are prepared to help him out since they consider him "too hot to handle" because he is now wanted on a murder charge. His last hope turns out to be Bridget Howard (Maggie Smith), a young woman deserted by her crooked fiance who fled to Tangiers after being fired from his job in the City for pilfering. She agrees to hide Gregory away in a dilapidated farm cottage on her father's estate in rural Wales. But, is she all that she seems and will she turn out to add to Gregory's seemingly never ending run of bad luck?
This Ealing Studios crime drama features a pretty standard plot that could be found in numerous programmers at the time; and it moves along at a rather stately pace. Yet, it still possesses enough merits to make it worth watching. It is the debut feature of director Seth Holt, a considerable talent whose potential was sadly never to be fully realised, who succeeds in creating a tense, sweaty and claustrophobic atmosphere out of George Nader's plight in which we the audience can actually feel ourselves in his character's shoes. All of his former criminal buddies don't want to know because he's wanted for Bernard Lee's murder and, one of them, a former crook gone straight turned nightclub owner, Mack (Howard Marion Crawford) is even prepared to shop him to keep a favourable appearance with the law. There are numerous familiar faces to look out for in the supporting cast (many uncredited) including Harry H Corbett, Harry Locke, Lionel Jeffries and Noel Howlett. But, it is a very young Maggie Smith who emerges triumphant in the acting stakes here. She provides the emotional element as the young girl falling for the hunted George Nader who agrees to hide him from the police. In a moving climax set in the glorious Welsh countryside, Nader, through binoculars, can see her being taken away in a police car to be questioned by Geoffrey Keen's Inspector Scott of the Yard. He thinks that she too has turned traitor and has given him away; and he leaves a note behind with a spiteful message to that effect. But, it turns out that she has not; only things take a tragic turn and he never knew that she was the only person left in the world that he could trust. The proceedings are enhanced by Paul Beeson's stunning b/w camerawork, which takes in some splendid London inner-city and rural Wales locations that add to the noirish atmosphere of the plot and create a real feeling for place.
This Ealing Studios crime drama features a pretty standard plot that could be found in numerous programmers at the time; and it moves along at a rather stately pace. Yet, it still possesses enough merits to make it worth watching. It is the debut feature of director Seth Holt, a considerable talent whose potential was sadly never to be fully realised, who succeeds in creating a tense, sweaty and claustrophobic atmosphere out of George Nader's plight in which we the audience can actually feel ourselves in his character's shoes. All of his former criminal buddies don't want to know because he's wanted for Bernard Lee's murder and, one of them, a former crook gone straight turned nightclub owner, Mack (Howard Marion Crawford) is even prepared to shop him to keep a favourable appearance with the law. There are numerous familiar faces to look out for in the supporting cast (many uncredited) including Harry H Corbett, Harry Locke, Lionel Jeffries and Noel Howlett. But, it is a very young Maggie Smith who emerges triumphant in the acting stakes here. She provides the emotional element as the young girl falling for the hunted George Nader who agrees to hide him from the police. In a moving climax set in the glorious Welsh countryside, Nader, through binoculars, can see her being taken away in a police car to be questioned by Geoffrey Keen's Inspector Scott of the Yard. He thinks that she too has turned traitor and has given him away; and he leaves a note behind with a spiteful message to that effect. But, it turns out that she has not; only things take a tragic turn and he never knew that she was the only person left in the world that he could trust. The proceedings are enhanced by Paul Beeson's stunning b/w camerawork, which takes in some splendid London inner-city and rural Wales locations that add to the noirish atmosphere of the plot and create a real feeling for place.