BIFF ELLIOT ORIGINALLY HAMMERS PEGGIE CASTLE 'I, THE JURY'

Peggie Castle and Biff Elliot in I, THE JURY Year: 1953 Rating: ***1/2

The first Mike Hammer film was in 3D, and so the first Mike Hammer actor, Biff Elliot, had to practically burst through the screen... in every single scene, in fact, traipsing from location to location in the usual gumshoe fashion, questioning suspects from wealthy bookies to random hoods to a pair of gorgeous sisters to an eventual twist-ending gun-moll who needed more screen-time for that inevitable (and somewhat predictable) transition to matter..

Said to be inspired by the pretty psychologist fatale in NIGHTMARE ALLEY, future 99 RIVER STREET bad-girl blonde starlet Peggie Castle still visually shines next to Elliot's scrappy, duck-tailed Hammer whenever he doubles-back to her lavish home...

Biff Elliot in I, THE JURY

That allows sizzling pulp author Mickey Spillane's good-girl secretary Velda (played by classy brunette Margaret Sheridan) the usual wispy-envy for Hammer's iconic (at-that-point dime-novel-niche-famous) womanizing...

But other than one prolonged sequence where her jealous glare remains after Hammer takes off with Castle, nothing much is made of Hammer's two regular characters, also including gruff old cop Pat Chambers, providing veteran actor Preston Foster a few innocuous cameos more liken to an introductory television pilot than a big screen presentation...

Peggie Castle and Biff Elliott in I, THE JURY

As a film noir, orchestrated with a jazzy mute-trumpet and strangely padded with random Christmas-cards before each sequence (perhaps irony to Hammer's erupting violence), science-fiction horror screenwriter Harry Essex's direction isn't very creative or particularly nuanced...

The camera's mostly stagnant as Hammer crashes/bashes into various interiors, gathering clues on who murdered his best friend in the blistering cold open, where the victim crawls towards the screen: about the only time the 3D aspect is noticeably contrived...

Margaret Sheridan in I, THE JURY

Otherwise I, THE JURY is more an action-packed programmer, lacking the kind of pot-boiling suspense that would make the greatest Hammer picture, 1955's KISS ME DEADLY, a page-turning thriller the title character deserves...

But overall, Elliot works good enough since he never tries making Mike Hammer too brooding or provocative: basically a hyperactive revenge-driven private-eye that the audience experiences along with the surrounding characters, which seems the sole intention all along — stark voyeurism through rolling thunder.

Peggie Castle and Biff Elliot in I, THE JURY

Peggie Castle in I, THE JURY

Biff Elliot in I, THE JURY

Margaret Sheridan in I, THE JURY with Tom Powers

Peggie Castle in I, THE JURY

Peggie Castle and Biff Elliot in I, THE JURY

Peggie Castle in I, THE JURY

The Seitz Twins in I, THE JURY

Elisha Cook Jr in I, THE JURY

Biff Elliot in I, THE JURY

Margaret Sheridan in I, THE JURY

Peggie Castle and Biff Elliot in I, THE JURY

Peggie Castle and Biff Elliot in I, THE JURY

The Seitz Twins in I, THE JURY

The Seitz Twins in I, THE JURY

The Seitz Twins in I, THE JURY

The Seitz Twins in I, THE JURY

Biff Elliot in I, THE JURY

Biff Elliot with good friend Jack Lemmon in SAVE THE TIGER

Biff Elliot and Mary Anderson in I, THE JURY