MICHAEL CAINE IN 'SOLO FOR SPARROW' STARRING GLYN HOUSTON

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQTcdn7KBJm8B8aefg4f21wNk5Oktc4CwQnBLstW1fFoNqL8LmSF1eM0cK3pGrKF1NnnlIhvljq_l7-bRm10Br9M73sHL5vAk-hlPN7WuCx9M5WSynoqVt6X2Dj6Eq4QXI4v6S2m9NFs1c70h8zebyGYciwtdloflimReXPApsLT4quWBEPTJTO6GuZlXW/s1244/image_3f3465eb.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="848" data-original-width="1244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQTcdn7KBJm8B8aefg4f21wNk5Oktc4CwQnBLstW1fFoNqL8LmSF1eM0cK3pGrKF1NnnlIhvljq_l7-bRm10Br9M73sHL5vAk-hlPN7WuCx9M5WSynoqVt6X2Dj6Eq4QXI4v6S2m9NFs1c70h8zebyGYciwtdloflimReXPApsLT4quWBEPTJTO6GuZlXW/s1600/image_3f3465eb.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Michael Caine in SOLO FOR SPARROW Year: 1962 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Most of the early/mid 1960's crime b-movies from England that wound up on the television anthology EDGAR WALLACE MYSTERIES feels like their own stories with a beginning, middle and end while SOLO FOR SPARROW feels like a pilot for a rather unique kind of police detective...<br><br>Played by sturdily stocky British character-actor Glynn Houson, whose manliness allowed a few glimpses into semi leading man status, bringing a cute bartender chick on a stakeout for the rich owner of a jewelry store, robbed by a gang that includes Michael Boles, who could play both robbers and cops with equal offbeat intensity, and young no-name Michael Caine... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

anthony newlands, british neo noir, edgar wallace, glyn houston, jerry stovin, michael caine, michael coles, murray melvin, nadja regin, neil mccarthy, sixties, wanda ventham, yvonne buckingham

MICHAEL CAINE IN 'SOLO FOR SPARROW' STARRING GLYN HOUSTON

Michael Caine in SOLO FOR SPARROW Year: 1962 Rating: *** Most of the early/mid 1960's crime b-movies from England that wound up on the t...

SUSAN HAMPSHIRE IN 'THE VIOLENT ENEMY' STARRING TOM BELL

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrdENIYVoXq1YO0WPAYErEKUg_QVpbig7nklYeXaSjbFNoep9iENzZdDn3HKFILDUAR2jQTYx0PwsM6HVAJvKoEi7I7-lob5ruYJ90VAGCexTRaXUPzREQ1xwGuHiPETm-gU61NMaoXLtg0LYWXSqKMGwIiGKjLd2eAWwwV4m-sRKRs4tQS71RRvJD4yTA/s2020/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1120" data-original-width="2020" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrdENIYVoXq1YO0WPAYErEKUg_QVpbig7nklYeXaSjbFNoep9iENzZdDn3HKFILDUAR2jQTYx0PwsM6HVAJvKoEi7I7-lob5ruYJ90VAGCexTRaXUPzREQ1xwGuHiPETm-gU61NMaoXLtg0LYWXSqKMGwIiGKjLd2eAWwwV4m-sRKRs4tQS71RRvJD4yTA/s1600/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Susan Hampshire in THE VIOLENT ENEMY Year: 1967 Rating: **1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Before infamously heckling Prince Philip while seated next to very nervous future knighted actors, sharp-faced dark-horse Tom Bell would often play unpredictably argumentative henchmen of the crime boss... a kind of villain's villain... so in one of his few starring roles, he seems more befitting one of several edgy side-characters...<br><br>Who are actually Irish performers... the plot involving the IRA breaking Bell's former iconic patriot Sean Rogan from a British prison: returned to Ireland where most of the expository-plotline takes place within a tight-knit tavern... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

british neo noir, don sharp, ed begley, ireland, sixties, susan hampshire, thriller, tom bell

SUSAN HAMPSHIRE IN 'THE VIOLENT ENEMY' STARRING TOM BELL

Susan Hampshire in THE VIOLENT ENEMY Year: 1967 Rating: **1/2 Before infamously heckling Prince Philip while seated next to very nervous fut...

ZENA WALKER WITH KENNETH COPE IN 'CHANGE PARTNERS'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0zkaMxFUxsLzkKsfbU9QBSNpsBG4nIMUDF7Y9W8z-_O8UbWS77FAb_BQ7bGIaPJy12ZnUSJdQDtoQ9Y6rq8BcR93rH5lw2qMKl6sMW_cWNm74WBTaFsOtqcaLBybhhQq-Grhh3I3SFRBEAzj44TmfcAteP9tmqxOdC0r18Q1LtHrd_bGzgzl3d0M9REJY/s1600/1%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="923" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0zkaMxFUxsLzkKsfbU9QBSNpsBG4nIMUDF7Y9W8z-_O8UbWS77FAb_BQ7bGIaPJy12ZnUSJdQDtoQ9Y6rq8BcR93rH5lw2qMKl6sMW_cWNm74WBTaFsOtqcaLBybhhQq-Grhh3I3SFRBEAzj44TmfcAteP9tmqxOdC0r18Q1LtHrd_bGzgzl3d0M9REJY/s1600/1%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Zena Walker in CHANGE PARTNERS Year: 1965 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Zena Walker is one of the most underrated British actresses from the 1960's, specializing in natural-looking good girls in kitchen sink crime films, like <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2022/09/wlucas.html">THE MARKED ONES</a>, but in CHANGE PARTNERS she's anything but... <br><br>And in this hour-long programmer that became part of THE EDGAR WALLACE MYSTERIES, Zena plays the coolest and coldest, most calculating femme fatales around...</p><p><span></span></p>

anthony dawson, basil henson, british neo noir, edgar wallace, kenneth cope, pamela ann davy, sixties, zena walker

ZENA WALKER WITH KENNETH COPE IN 'CHANGE PARTNERS'

Zena Walker in CHANGE PARTNERS Year: 1965 Rating: ***1/2 Zena Walker is one of the most underrated British actresses from the 1960's, sp...

DERREN NESBITT & KEITH FAULKNER IN 'THE MAN IN THE BACK SEAT'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd6OcxPtmXEf88yb860DxA9O3nF7-k-cMJ4uwcGCwAnr7MbQ36rdilvbovfYFxrPSeI1S9RRB1UCqQjjTo6PmxxS9CDcghsjQ9Eji5OaXg4JcF4EGoYPjdK6_grEreAcAckJSmJLJe7ovmkqUdm1d4DB1Pf2Fb0tvJ1g56VFivtt6qs-ltfTef7CQrikMi/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202026-09-26%20at%209.05.30%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1062" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd6OcxPtmXEf88yb860DxA9O3nF7-k-cMJ4uwcGCwAnr7MbQ36rdilvbovfYFxrPSeI1S9RRB1UCqQjjTo6PmxxS9CDcghsjQ9Eji5OaXg4JcF4EGoYPjdK6_grEreAcAckJSmJLJe7ovmkqUdm1d4DB1Pf2Fb0tvJ1g56VFivtt6qs-ltfTef7CQrikMi/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202026-09-26%20at%209.05.30%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1961 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The year before Vernon Sewell would direct blond-haired British duo Derren Nesbitt and Keith Faulkner as bank robbers in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/09/strongroom.html">STRONGROOM</a>, they played another pair of crooks yet far more lowly and desperate: knocking out a bookie chained to a bag of cash... and for a tight 57-minutes, they get tied to both... <br><br>Mostly taking place on the road, driving around in the unconscious man's car while trying to figure out how to dump the poor fella, after having separated his chained arm from the loot much too quickly... <br><span></span></p>

anthony bate, british neo noir, carol white, derren nesbitt, keith faulkner, thriller, vernon sewell

DERREN NESBITT & KEITH FAULKNER IN 'THE MAN IN THE BACK SEAT'

Year: 1961 Rating: ***1/2 The year before Vernon Sewell would direct blond-haired British duo Derren Nesbitt and Keith Faulkner as bank robb...

DERREN NESBITT & KEITH FAULKER IN 'STRONGROOM' WITH ANN LYNN

<p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQphBCM_PapbWWykd9ZjlnhBXjvvKKW8nqp5Ojr9wTyj-tNmVlltL6hN9BbBnp-U6Mlix6nPqLhXXvfA8T5f_e_wvw3GzDzbGSf_n6hBuPu9krQXFK1BgPwqAFjfwQYnF_yJLBeqq0yKbkZZIleZj3L-BpMrGUuQuqOOuU00RzOgc3FiJ4oIUO5kuglg5z/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202026-09-26%20at%209.18.34%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1042" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQphBCM_PapbWWykd9ZjlnhBXjvvKKW8nqp5Ojr9wTyj-tNmVlltL6hN9BbBnp-U6Mlix6nPqLhXXvfA8T5f_e_wvw3GzDzbGSf_n6hBuPu9krQXFK1BgPwqAFjfwQYnF_yJLBeqq0yKbkZZIleZj3L-BpMrGUuQuqOOuU00RzOgc3FiJ4oIUO5kuglg5z/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202026-09-26%20at%209.18.34%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Poster for STRONGROOM Year: 1962 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>STRONGROOM is an important early-1960's British crime films as it underlines what you won't find Stateside: to be extra cautious to <i>not harm anyone</i> during a heist or your jail sentence lengthens, making British bad guys not only more sympathetic but far more cautious, which includes bank robbers Keith Faulkner and Derren Nesbitt who, after locking the first guy's coworkers in the titular bank vault, is talked into by the more empathetic crook to return to the crime scene to provide some oxygen...<br></p><p></p><p>A twist ignited by the third robber's death... the older brother to the edgy Keith Faulkner, he held the key to the STRONGROOM that the oblivious cops won't let go of, so, what takes up most of the runtime is the bickering boys seeking a way back while, inside, spectacle-wearing bank manager Colin Gordon and subtle beauty Ann Lynn are running out of air, providing more race-against-time suspense than what should be occurring simultaneously outside, including investigating cops...</p><p><span></span></p>

ann lynn, british neo noir, british new wave, colin gordon, crime, derren nesbitt, guido coen, heist, keith faulkner, race against time, suspense

DERREN NESBITT & KEITH FAULKER IN 'STRONGROOM' WITH ANN LYNN

Poster for STRONGROOM Year: 1962 Rates: ***1/2 STRONGROOM is an important early-1960's British crime films as it underlines what you won...

PAUL JONES WITH PINK FLOYD GATHERING FOR 'THE COMMITTEE'

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG3jjZYfg332nCaLpKofjfiho91CT4dfv06Br0oPJRDCyE7ABLgWNR7U-AuCIciW-XAVGN70VVEfBGFxjCOosyWZ8nEaGWTB1Unj_Nu3IVA9ZIg7gRkDV8gzk-k6IKwJe_Tj0AsZe1nWw0x10XlDPjxQz3VD2pg20k_E0p_05h87kiDur9GVLgHP8UkCh-/s1718/Screen%20Shot%202026-07-18%20at%2010.22.06%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1042" data-original-width="1718" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG3jjZYfg332nCaLpKofjfiho91CT4dfv06Br0oPJRDCyE7ABLgWNR7U-AuCIciW-XAVGN70VVEfBGFxjCOosyWZ8nEaGWTB1Unj_Nu3IVA9ZIg7gRkDV8gzk-k6IKwJe_Tj0AsZe1nWw0x10XlDPjxQz3VD2pg20k_E0p_05h87kiDur9GVLgHP8UkCh-/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202026-07-18%20at%2010.22.06%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Paul Jones and Robert Langdon Lloyd in THE COMMITTEE</u><u> Year: 1968 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Best known for being the first Pink Floyd soundtrack, director Peter Sykes's surreal British New Wave THE COMMITTEE feels like a ten-minute concept stretched to an hour... but never drags and has some terrific locations ranging from working-class city to gothic-manor rural...<br><br>As Floyd's music, other than sporadic mood-piece fillers (with moments foreshadowing <i>'Careful With That Axe Eugene</i>), consists of one nifty jam at different speeds... the first is faster-paced, inside a run-of-the-mill/mundane corporate filing room (artistic for the sake of being filmed), where former Manfred Mann singer turned actor Paul Jones works...</p><p><span></span></p>

arthouse, british neo noir, jimmy gardner, paul jones, pauline munro, peter sykes, pink floyd, robert langdon lloyd, sixties, tom kempinski

PAUL JONES WITH PINK FLOYD GATHERING FOR 'THE COMMITTEE'

Paul Jones and Robert Langdon Lloyd in THE COMMITTEE Year: 1968 Rating: *** Best known for being the first Pink Floyd soundtrack, director ...

STEPHEN BOYD & CAMILLA SPARV IN VAL GUEST'S 'ASSIGNMENT K'

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWncnPrmIqJQ1OJhSaBD88KoopMduGHQtP1ieklFozBps5uvCQ0lgdKu8pOetkC5QpznoJnlKYrZCXA_w21QCU3GtrUUmgsEQZhW0ZqribFhKC5kJeYxq4u5E8l18JpyDM-U8InyWAVEDifDS39ps7fgnbr8Rqivp6Q66i2eieur3wytRKD71QuA7mcvy5/s1800/0.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWncnPrmIqJQ1OJhSaBD88KoopMduGHQtP1ieklFozBps5uvCQ0lgdKu8pOetkC5QpznoJnlKYrZCXA_w21QCU3GtrUUmgsEQZhW0ZqribFhKC5kJeYxq4u5E8l18JpyDM-U8InyWAVEDifDS39ps7fgnbr8Rqivp6Q66i2eieur3wytRKD71QuA7mcvy5/s16000/0.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: ASSIGNMENT K Year: 1968 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>British director <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/val%20guest">Val Guest</a> and Irish actor Stephen Boyd are both underrated and only known by film buffs: Boyd the super-handsome, square-jawed, cleft-chin villain in BEN-HUR while Guest directed the more suspenseful Hammer entries including non-scary crime flicks... <br><br>Here both converging into what's basically a James Bond spy movie the same year Sean Connery replacement George Lazenby took to the snowy alps in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2012/04/on-her-majestys-secret-service.html">ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE</a>... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

andrea allan, british neo noir, catherine schell, espionage, jane merrow, john alderton, leo mckern, michael redgrave, robert hoffman, sixties, sport, ursula howells, val guest, vivi bach

STEPHEN BOYD & CAMILLA SPARV IN VAL GUEST'S 'ASSIGNMENT K'

Title: ASSIGNMENT K Year: 1968 Rating: ***1/2 British director Val Guest and Irish actor Stephen Boyd are both underrated and only known by...

WILLIAM LUCAS MAKING 'THE BREAK' WITH CHRISTINA GREGG

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP11Rqcn79bgZ3GBm28SrGDV8S9CZjweRVpxdm0xCxHeuO8Y1k_Qdxhg2JN9UnmrqllrVL-r-lwJrLdUNdGySlV41UdL2LkaMUMVdCIPcenCWT9PhrPVM4rT8cpRff9w4Aced44eC-BzvA2Cq9CzlWXogtYStK4lSDd3GbPXwXSs431RaLJElOAXvjMNdd/s1630/Screen%20Shot%202025-10-31%20at%201.54.19%20PM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1092" data-original-width="1630" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP11Rqcn79bgZ3GBm28SrGDV8S9CZjweRVpxdm0xCxHeuO8Y1k_Qdxhg2JN9UnmrqllrVL-r-lwJrLdUNdGySlV41UdL2LkaMUMVdCIPcenCWT9PhrPVM4rT8cpRff9w4Aced44eC-BzvA2Cq9CzlWXogtYStK4lSDd3GbPXwXSs431RaLJElOAXvjMNdd/w400-h268/Screen%20Shot%202025-10-31%20at%201.54.19%20PM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Christina Gregg & William Lucas THE BREAK Year: 1962</u></td></tr></tbody></table>The same year British beauty Christina Gregg played a schoolgirl told <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/08/catfone.html">DON'T TALK TO STRANGE MEN</a>, she was the twenty-something sister of a convict who made THE BREAK from a train...<br> <br> And winds up with handful of eclectic characters that... as Quentin Tarantino attempted in HATEFUL EIGHT inspired by John Carpenter's classic THE THING... are all stuck together, here within a rural Bed and Breakfast: all with not only different personalities and perspectives but purpose, motivation and temperaments... Meanwhile the leading man is a sophisticated type: here a blocked author and, on the upside he quickly yet slowly finds kinship with the gorgeous Christina Gregg, but he's also being surreptitiously eyed by the most intriguing and perhaps crooked person onboard in CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN tutor Robert Urquhart as a wily-charming gumshoe insurance investigator...<br>

action, british neo noir, british new wave, christina gregg, eddie byrne, gene anderson, lance comfort, robert urquhart, sixties, thriller, tony britton, william lucas

WILLIAM LUCAS MAKING 'THE BREAK' WITH CHRISTINA GREGG

Christina Gregg & William Lucas THE BREAK Year: 1962 The same year British beauty Christina Gregg played a schoolgirl told DON'T TAL...

CHRISTINA GREGG PLAYS VICTIM FOR THE 'COVER GIRL KILLER'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSvhI_aVSQYxrd2l9L3Wmr0zvodQxTVr8Yzrmu-FgEGoPlvOeSGyKeIhET9Lv0PEnCMatJE6cCtbEf0DUEMWRv3NHQVi7r0pNZSnfypAxTD79HE9K1bwbxl-yDD-5jU-BeT_BC53BIHFQccItx5KxdDvHM6ZRKjt7dE9HT64Te7LbN5P9ajJ9K75g_EQdo/s1230/Screen%20Shot%202025-10-31%20at%201.36.11%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="760" data-original-width="1230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSvhI_aVSQYxrd2l9L3Wmr0zvodQxTVr8Yzrmu-FgEGoPlvOeSGyKeIhET9Lv0PEnCMatJE6cCtbEf0DUEMWRv3NHQVi7r0pNZSnfypAxTD79HE9K1bwbxl-yDD-5jU-BeT_BC53BIHFQccItx5KxdDvHM6ZRKjt7dE9HT64Te7LbN5P9ajJ9K75g_EQdo/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-10-31%20at%201.36.11%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Christina Gregg faces death in THE COVER GIRL KILLER Year: 1959 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Any chance to see model-turned-actress Christina Gregg is worthwhile, no matter how disappointing this particular British New Wave crime thriller is despite the cool title of COVER GIRL KILLER, supposedly the inspiration for PEEPING TOM. Gregg would later play a 15-year-old virgin stalked by a psychotic phone caller, while here she's an older yet equally shy, innocent and naïve victim of a spectacle-wearing photographer who kills cover girls, as the tile implies...</p><p>Sadly, most of the film has two cops blandly discussing the murders when there could have been more British beauties taken out in a body count fashion, mixing horror within the pulpy police procedural that's not very intriguing. Although lead ingenue Felicity Young, as the girl/friend of a flaky magazine owner no one takes seriously, is also worth the watch. You'll hope she fares better than poor Christina.<br></p><p><span></span></p>

body count, british neo noir, british new wave, christina gregg, crime, julie shearing, sixties

CHRISTINA GREGG PLAYS VICTIM FOR THE 'COVER GIRL KILLER'

Christina Gregg faces death in THE COVER GIRL KILLER Year: 1959 Rating: ** Any chance to see model-turned-actress Christina Gregg is worthwh...

DAVID MCCALLUM, BRIAN WESKE & JILL IRELAND IN 'JUNGLE STREET'

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju-4Wb6dz-Claf4T-QGMDuK-YLOjWlYlHGOCxanTGHiK_hLY0S54tKkPNdyT7LDLo2xfrg6juUGkXg6wkRWhht2_tD5vvxJ70Ba75P-X9aCwtO_qeE5HhL4h3F_NUqdcGyJiuQ9GRffGkqEj3vD9H2k47yMwgHfDLmCGB9EhtriZVmAOx5C9lOmNkqEh-a/s1896/Screen%20Shot%202025-10-25%20at%2010.10.36%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1008" data-original-width="1896" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju-4Wb6dz-Claf4T-QGMDuK-YLOjWlYlHGOCxanTGHiK_hLY0S54tKkPNdyT7LDLo2xfrg6juUGkXg6wkRWhht2_tD5vvxJ70Ba75P-X9aCwtO_qeE5HhL4h3F_NUqdcGyJiuQ9GRffGkqEj3vD9H2k47yMwgHfDLmCGB9EhtriZVmAOx5C9lOmNkqEh-a/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-10-25%20at%2010.10.36%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>David McCallum and Gillian Watt with Anne Scott in JUNGLE STREET (Jungle Street Girls) Year: 1960 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>After having met and married after working together in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/09/HellDrivers.html">HELL DRIVERS</a> where they were basically glorified cameos, three years later David McCallum and Jill Ireland — as an aimless <i>still at home</i> loser hanging around a strip joint to catch that joint's top stripper — actually <i>starred in</i> another B&W British flick that's far superior: a heist thriller that takes an entire film to reach that heist with creative twisty avenues, and our two stars aren't alone...<br> <br> The third lead in the triangle is freshly-sprung convict Kenneth Cope, a handsome and experienced lad with a romantic background with Ireland (one scene as he charmingly converses with McCallum's kitchen sink mother is a standout); he also wants payback from former partner McCallum, who <i>didn't</i> get caught from what landed him in prison... </p><p></p>

brian weske, british neo noir, charles saunders, david mccallum, faye craig, gillian watt, guido coen, howard pays, jill ireland, joy webster, julie shearing, kenneth cope, marian collins, sixties, vanda hudson

DAVID MCCALLUM, BRIAN WESKE & JILL IRELAND IN 'JUNGLE STREET'

David McCallum and Gillian Watt with Anne Scott in JUNGLE STREET (Jungle Street Girls) Year: 1960 Rating: ****1/2 After having met and marri...

WILLIAM LUCAS, ZENA WALKER & DAVID GREGORY 'THE MARKED ONE'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/william%20lucas"></a></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqWlqhNBW53SMywUPaBGKvTAAm0GE3XnFuRr6zJRwAEYeVj_a4oFBaQIyMugN5mN7vmUppaAJq8u4E0Nf0LalB_uk8lue3B91c6PhFC8qK332_8ANut387eW_2PsGXrHNvIrSK3G7wQCsqrqNve-9Z63T2VvHfKdtZAIO7TWk9tu8JA3cZLe7WBJIjmWc3/s1774/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-08%20at%2012.13.09%20AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="844" data-original-width="1774" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqWlqhNBW53SMywUPaBGKvTAAm0GE3XnFuRr6zJRwAEYeVj_a4oFBaQIyMugN5mN7vmUppaAJq8u4E0Nf0LalB_uk8lue3B91c6PhFC8qK332_8ANut387eW_2PsGXrHNvIrSK3G7wQCsqrqNve-9Z63T2VvHfKdtZAIO7TWk9tu8JA3cZLe7WBJIjmWc3/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-08%20at%2012.13.09%20AM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE MARKED ONE Year: 1963 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Obscure British actor <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/william%20lucas">William Lucas</a> gained niche fame as the father from the 1970's BLACK BEAUTY, no longer the Bogart-looking tough guy from a string of early-1960's b-crimes as leading bad guys (<a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/02/gimme-a.html">THE BREAK</a>), sketchy middlemen (<a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/03/payrollers.html">PAYROLL</a>) or criminals in-between (CALCULATED RISK, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/03/breakOUT.html">BREAKOUT</a>)...<br><br>And THE MARKED ONE also leans to that midpoint... an ex convict who, with a divorced wife, young daughter, dotting landlady (Laurie Leigh) and a factory job, is threatened by enigmatic goons to retrieve forgery plates that he might or might not have, providing more mystery to the character than his dire circumstance...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

british neo noir, british new wave, crime, david gregory, gillian watt, kidnapping, kim tracy, laura leigh, marianne stone, post-heist, sixties, thriller, william lucas, wrong man, zena walker

WILLIAM LUCAS, ZENA WALKER & DAVID GREGORY 'THE MARKED ONE'

Title: THE MARKED ONE Year: 1963 Rating: ***1/2 Obscure British actor William Lucas gained niche fame as the father from the 1970's BLA...

WILLIAM LUCAS & JOHN RUTLAND WEATHERING 'CALCULATED RISK'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYHRU7OaVKlLY96mUGH78mkarDQs6TTzgmdORuZrWAfTfgVMy2P48P-72YEFr-WRLbiZETvPVDjatgBbVNCl9vrMzGlYxbn5LoZFWQpTk9cZWr6vFDVxABtNYeTVSpy9BQJ_P07oc4h_t2NxGp39G3GJeo7epT1YWyHheKdVLnVU-ExISjMusScEiUvP6o/s1742/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-08%20at%206.15.02%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1742" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYHRU7OaVKlLY96mUGH78mkarDQs6TTzgmdORuZrWAfTfgVMy2P48P-72YEFr-WRLbiZETvPVDjatgBbVNCl9vrMzGlYxbn5LoZFWQpTk9cZWr6vFDVxABtNYeTVSpy9BQJ_P07oc4h_t2NxGp39G3GJeo7epT1YWyHheKdVLnVU-ExISjMusScEiUvP6o/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-08%20at%206.15.02%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>William Lucas in CALCULATED RISK Year: 1963 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Low-budget thriller has <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/02/gimme-a.html">THE BREAK</a> baddie and overall capable <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/british%20new%20wave">British New Wave</a> actor William Lucas in CALCULATED RISK, a hybrid of THE ASPHALT JUNGLE as a newly-released older short guy has big plans for a big heist (John Rutland doing Sam Jaffe) and LARCENY INC since they must dig through a pair of locations to reach the targeted goal... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Which aren't stores but bombed-out houses from twenty-years past, leading to a lucrative bank vault while Lucas, as a sophisticated yet crooked businessman (like ASPHALT backer Louis Calhern), who really doesn't need the bread (unlike Calhern and more like shifty Marc Lawrence), heads up a group of thugs resembling dockyard barflies...<br> </p>

british neo noir, british new wave, caper, dilys watling, george martin, heist, john rutland, shay gorman, sixties, suspense, terence cooper, thriller, warren mitchell, william lucas

WILLIAM LUCAS & JOHN RUTLAND WEATHERING 'CALCULATED RISK'

William Lucas in CALCULATED RISK Year: 1963 Rating: ***1/2 Low-budget thriller has THE BREAK baddie and overall capable British New Wave a...

CAROL WHITE, DAVID GREGORY & PETER REYNOLDS IN 'GAOLBREAK'

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFi62zVDagV5OKbNqNZgE4DVlvklCOp-CPedGO5TZtGkZMibJtzHRRCZtLDfMTCdGvGnly9rSm4kMhyphenhyphen14zsi6jSKyedRBHrMUTSvgqiu-8-a7JWg9Z_eIzDHTX1maV6zZHd11ZSoY0sZxd8p4q9AbtvJhxbGDXpzyTn8_ZQ8aVjOlyO1oYbQx3ohSYV4U-/s1892/Screen%20Shot%202025-10-25%20at%2012.11.49%20PM%203%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="996" data-original-width="1892" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFi62zVDagV5OKbNqNZgE4DVlvklCOp-CPedGO5TZtGkZMibJtzHRRCZtLDfMTCdGvGnly9rSm4kMhyphenhyphen14zsi6jSKyedRBHrMUTSvgqiu-8-a7JWg9Z_eIzDHTX1maV6zZHd11ZSoY0sZxd8p4q9AbtvJhxbGDXpzyTn8_ZQ8aVjOlyO1oYbQx3ohSYV4U-/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-10-25%20at%2012.11.49%20PM%203%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Carol White in GAOLBREAK AKA JAILBREAK Year: 1962 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In the Swinging-Sixties, full-lipped blonde starlets were the thing in British cinema, from Julie Christie to Susannah York to Judy Geeson... but it started with Carol White, who appeared way back into the early-1960's, from a small part in BEAT GIRL to a co-starring turn in one of many Butcher's Film Group B&W crime-programmers, GAOLBREAK... <br><br>She's the girlfriend of the only kind-hearted member of a Ma Barker-style family of crooks led by oldest brother (and crime flick regular) Peter Reynolds, who conspires with surreptitiously resilient mother Avice Landone to knockoff a building with the contents of art auction proceeds... but there's a problem...</p><p><span></span></p>

british neo noir, carol white, david gregory, heist, laura leigh, marianne stone, peter reynolds, sixties

CAROL WHITE, DAVID GREGORY & PETER REYNOLDS IN 'GAOLBREAK'

Carol White in GAOLBREAK AKA JAILBREAK Year: 1962 Rating: **1/2 In the Swinging-Sixties, full-lipped blonde starlets were the thing in Briti...

PETER MAXWELL'S 'IMPACT' WITH CONRAD PHILLIPS & ANITA WEST

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-JMpKxh-Kv9FaDfYljrsDLfF4qc1xyneZ8ummhF4U2O0yeIfd8bUgEP3nGDbOHQwaF7il-J0tlJfZHNa_iCd9xtoujAB0AXa_zay-mW-NEwtDJNJAlBwL-HSF_e8nVokFwyZcNGaCQqA3lISMq0-a6EwGbHik6-hqsWopuKJYiev0q6KooP68BflnNWrl/s1896/Screen%20Shot%202025-10-24%20at%2011.04.51%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1104" data-original-width="1896" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-JMpKxh-Kv9FaDfYljrsDLfF4qc1xyneZ8ummhF4U2O0yeIfd8bUgEP3nGDbOHQwaF7il-J0tlJfZHNa_iCd9xtoujAB0AXa_zay-mW-NEwtDJNJAlBwL-HSF_e8nVokFwyZcNGaCQqA3lISMq0-a6EwGbHik6-hqsWopuKJYiev0q6KooP68BflnNWrl/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-10-24%20at%2011.04.51%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Conrad Phillips in IMPACT Year: 1963 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The low-budget British studio Butchers turned out film noir-type crime-dramas like they were television episodes, playing out like something more from the small screen than big...<br><br>And that's not a negative critique since they almost always pay off with good stories and great actors, in this case an equally edgy and severe wrong-man/good guy and nightclub-owning villain...</p><p><span></span></p>

anita west, ballard berkeley, british neo noir, conrad phillips, george pastell, john rees, linda marlowe, peter maxwell, sixties, wrong man

PETER MAXWELL'S 'IMPACT' WITH CONRAD PHILLIPS & ANITA WEST

Conrad Phillips in IMPACT Year: 1963 Rating: *** The low-budget British studio Butchers turned out film noir-type crime-dramas like they wer...

PETER SELLERS GETS COMPLETELY VICIOUS FOR 'NEVER LET GO'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ25rr2pF2qJtlCIQVTUScOKR4NHlt0dJXzRnFWw_iMDJMApT9Iy619nMrAsX8LmmTZPclzVX9Tm8q7LYTSlZQVl74khQYzKNpCBv0Sk-ho5u-t6En76jk9O842R87u_Ec-tjDa94e1rjwsY6X07wO_u6FKF-127WIB7mVAKq4gyZPn04HrEzRw6yvUr4g/s1570/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-21%20at%208.17.30%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="964" data-original-width="1570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ25rr2pF2qJtlCIQVTUScOKR4NHlt0dJXzRnFWw_iMDJMApT9Iy619nMrAsX8LmmTZPclzVX9Tm8q7LYTSlZQVl74khQYzKNpCBv0Sk-ho5u-t6En76jk9O842R87u_Ec-tjDa94e1rjwsY6X07wO_u6FKF-127WIB7mVAKq4gyZPn04HrEzRw6yvUr4g/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-21%20at%208.17.30%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>David Lodge and Peter Sellers in NEVER LET GO Year: 1960 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A British Neo Noir cross between DEATH OF A SALESMAN before and DEATH WISH after, John Guillermin made NEVER LET GO the same year as THE DAY THEY ROBBED THE BANK OF ENGLAND, only a car's worth much less than an entire country's bullion vault... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But don't tell that to desperate cosmetics salesman Richard Todd, whose old fashioned, pseudo-charming client-pressuring style goes against the company's new-fangled <i>scientific methods</i>... </p><p><span></span></p>

adam faith, british neo noir, british new wave, carol white, crime, cult, david gregory, david lodge, elizabeth sellars, john guillermin, peter sellers, revenge, richard todd, teddy boys, thriller

PETER SELLERS GETS COMPLETELY VICIOUS FOR 'NEVER LET GO'

David Lodge and Peter Sellers in NEVER LET GO Year: 1960 Rating: **** A British Neo Noir cross between DEATH OF A SALESMAN before and DEATH ...

VAL GUEST DIRECTS STANLEY BAKER IN HAMMER'S 'HELL IS A CITY'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo6un97B2w4zbuKKV9EtsUOnNFVDWO4GEVEz6CVnuoBcYWHxm9vpznvlhlamV3t-novtp5jK4sfM8jSofMERmVEd8DqvxeOwXmK6GGXCpc5ScIPbIJoDQtoltM7StUZEgVpfJaN7AdWPjzCWPVEeAmVijIDCQI4J2ccj82yiuKzsNMNdr2fAM2uxcHApSS/s1926/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-09%20at%2012.20.26%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="944" data-original-width="1926" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo6un97B2w4zbuKKV9EtsUOnNFVDWO4GEVEz6CVnuoBcYWHxm9vpznvlhlamV3t-novtp5jK4sfM8jSofMERmVEd8DqvxeOwXmK6GGXCpc5ScIPbIJoDQtoltM7StUZEgVpfJaN7AdWPjzCWPVEeAmVijIDCQI4J2ccj82yiuKzsNMNdr2fAM2uxcHApSS/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-09%20at%2012.20.26%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Stanley Baker in HELL IS A CITY Year: 1960 Rates: ***</u><u>*</u><u>*</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The second and final Hammer feature with Val Guest directing his <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/03/YE.html">YESTERDAY'S ENEMY</a> leading man Stanley Baker, HELL IS A CITY is not only a Noir-like Police Procedural but an Escaped Convict Procedural as sinister John Crawford hops from various former colleagues and lovers while intense cop Baker, who'd originally put him away and is revenge-driven to nab him back, visits/questions the same people...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>From a bookie's cheating wife (Billie Whitelaw ignoring rich husband Donald Pleasence who employed doomed Lois Daine); a flirty waitress; a stubborn salesman with a gorgeous deaf/dumb daughter (Sarah Branch); and featuring various locales run by a shady gang with deliciously pulpy nicknames like Clogger Roach...</p><p><span></span></p>

billie whitelaw, british neo noir, donald pleasence, geoffrey frederick, george a. cooper, hammer films, jazz score, john crawford, lois daine, sarah branch, sixties, stanley baker, val guest, vanda godsell

VAL GUEST DIRECTS STANLEY BAKER IN HAMMER'S 'HELL IS A CITY'

Stanley Baker in HELL IS A CITY Year: 1960 Rates: *** * * The second and final Hammer feature with Val Guest directing his YESTERDAY'S E...

JACQUELINE ELLIS HITCHES JIM O'CONNOLLY'S 'THE HI-JACKERS'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkUyJxDz-nWmKEVmKAVXwwmmHpsLuga0zc9o-FvOu8eQVQG2ZIKK7nmgTW7tWAhOEEZ1Hn4sJvxCx2fT-eIeRAkzqNaP29-DPY70br56HK1YmI1Gw23rl_v0CSkNebPdMaAK4-UtQC3kXfEZSju6opD7tlhHbLMqcOISYH4NewX_cMZs3-KRJBMbUw2hUz/s1406/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-08%20at%2012.52.05%20AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="826" data-original-width="1406" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkUyJxDz-nWmKEVmKAVXwwmmHpsLuga0zc9o-FvOu8eQVQG2ZIKK7nmgTW7tWAhOEEZ1Hn4sJvxCx2fT-eIeRAkzqNaP29-DPY70br56HK1YmI1Gw23rl_v0CSkNebPdMaAK4-UtQC3kXfEZSju6opD7tlhHbLMqcOISYH4NewX_cMZs3-KRJBMbUw2hUz/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-08%20at%2012.52.05%20AM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u> Title: THE HI-JACKERSYear: 1963 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Writer/director Jim O'Connolly should be well known for two films where the cult status went to someone else: In BERSERK, Joan Crawford gets credit while stop-motion guru Ray Harryhausen and his dinosaurs ruled THE VALLEY OF GWANGI. But O'Connolly's by himself in creating two neat, tight and entertaining B&W post-noir crime flicks derived from the British b-picture company, Butcher's, in the early/mid 1960's...<br> <br> The first being THE HI-JACKERS starring Anthony Booth as an independent truck/lorry driver: victim of the titular gang faking accident scenes on the rural roadside and then stealing the cargo: in his case, cases of Johnnie Walker Red...<br> </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>

anthony booth, british, british neo noir, british new wave, crime, david gregory, derek francis, glynn edwards, jacqueline ellis, jazz-score, jim o'connolly, marianne stone, ronald hines, sixties

JACQUELINE ELLIS HITCHES JIM O'CONNOLLY'S 'THE HI-JACKERS'

Title: THE HI-JACKERSYear: 1963 Rating: **** Writer/director Jim O'Connolly should be well known for two films where the cult status we...

JIM O'CONNOLLY'S 'SMOKESCREEN' STARRING PETER VAUGHAN

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-YyzsB9bM8IIv4i8aKzbupV_ntCyu3kJvVqk_9FuYjAt_PnYyUj3YhjacbiW0WpZm2ROMnx0TPaM4qXoJud0sWHywFJpeulzKPIRTX7xigcedORS91ax0JKZkAq21Ha1t7Auh-rQ_qL1PTt0qBenPU6tGNAb7gXwd_pSa8pVTZXnSta0C-zlPjs36XylJ/s1578/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-08%20at%2012.59.27%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="802" data-original-width="1578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-YyzsB9bM8IIv4i8aKzbupV_ntCyu3kJvVqk_9FuYjAt_PnYyUj3YhjacbiW0WpZm2ROMnx0TPaM4qXoJud0sWHywFJpeulzKPIRTX7xigcedORS91ax0JKZkAq21Ha1t7Auh-rQ_qL1PTt0qBenPU6tGNAb7gXwd_pSa8pVTZXnSta0C-zlPjs36XylJ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-08%20at%2012.59.27%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>David Gregory & Jill Curzon in SMOKESCREEN Year: 1964 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The biggest shame about Jim O'Connolly's quirky low-budget British post-noir SMOKESCREEN is that it was a film instead of a television series since Peter Vaughan's perpetually cautious and stingy insurance adjuster Roper had so many more adventures in him....<br> <br> His particular case involves what the audience and a young couple witness from the very beginning: a burning car driving off a cliff, and we never see a driver, which is what Roper searches for throughout the hour-long programmer, going from one person to the next in the usual "gumshoey" investigative fashion... <br> </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>

british neo noir, british new wave, david gregory, derek francis, glynn edwards, jill curzon, jim o'connolly, john carson, penny morrell, peter vaughan, sixties, yvonne romain

JIM O'CONNOLLY'S 'SMOKESCREEN' STARRING PETER VAUGHAN

David Gregory & Jill Curzon in SMOKESCREEN Year: 1964 Rates: **** The biggest shame about Jim O'Connolly's quirky low-budget Bri...

LANCE COMFORT DIRECTS WILLIAM LUCAS IN 'TOUCH OF DEATH'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrkSj1udlq1BWVl6WoWs_fbOOgMyNnA4ETsUn40QXNnRC7nQJPdYHOodo4GCSLXFZ-zTx6YOx_iuKnJz651jPcVZ0xUqly9b2vlPy59jwWYyw2NEPDMFYNJCBloRTYRX09rJi5K8WsqdoUQLVpOjPhtjJ3_cMKbfbKZhUQYtlYHgK2Yqr3usbQrU70JBh_/s1734/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-08%20at%206.17.54%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1016" data-original-width="1734" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrkSj1udlq1BWVl6WoWs_fbOOgMyNnA4ETsUn40QXNnRC7nQJPdYHOodo4GCSLXFZ-zTx6YOx_iuKnJz651jPcVZ0xUqly9b2vlPy59jwWYyw2NEPDMFYNJCBloRTYRX09rJi5K8WsqdoUQLVpOjPhtjJ3_cMKbfbKZhUQYtlYHgK2Yqr3usbQrU70JBh_/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-08%20at%206.17.54%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>William Lucas in Lance Comfort's TOUCH OF DEATH Year: 1961 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Four years after TOUCH OF DEATH, when British b-movie director directed British tough guy actor <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/02/gimme-a.html">William Lucas in THE BREAK</a>, he never reached the boat that would take him to freedom... which happens here after a somewhat rushed gas station safe heist, in which to blast the thing open, a poison's used...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Making DEATH a combination of several American film noirs (that inspired these kind of British kitchen-sink crime-fillers of the late-1950's/early-1960's), from CITY OF FEAR bringing in the poisoned crooks/race-against-time element; THE ASPHALT JUNGLE with a safe cracking heist backed by a troubled old rich man (a subplot that comes to nothing)...</p><p><span></span></p>

british neo noir, crime, david sumner, heist, jan waters, lance comfort, roberta tovey, sixties, william lucas

LANCE COMFORT DIRECTS WILLIAM LUCAS IN 'TOUCH OF DEATH'

William Lucas in Lance Comfort's TOUCH OF DEATH Year: 1961 Rating: ***1/2 Four years after TOUCH OF DEATH, when British b-movie director...

MIKE HODGES DIRECTS A KILLER MICHAEL CAINE IN 'GET CARTER'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSD36OBqqh1u6xPWb1OI7eAeIcZGaUU2xbjYq7vxOIhWHwAHEIl1JP0I9wWAORKPOZFPTa5jZurj2sSIvxQzu7SDbg6-JemYmqxV1AwtX4JNvIHV0ZY_9wdQDLMvfa7bqKoqRCaBtdpQY0eAGcFk5IQnD0uXIoEQqYqdQgtYDEosiyuo3k8YpPLtSB9fu1/s1824/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-02%20at%2012.42.26%20AM-1%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="828" data-original-width="1824" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSD36OBqqh1u6xPWb1OI7eAeIcZGaUU2xbjYq7vxOIhWHwAHEIl1JP0I9wWAORKPOZFPTa5jZurj2sSIvxQzu7SDbg6-JemYmqxV1AwtX4JNvIHV0ZY_9wdQDLMvfa7bqKoqRCaBtdpQY0eAGcFk5IQnD0uXIoEQqYqdQgtYDEosiyuo3k8YpPLtSB9fu1/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-02%20at%2012.42.26%20AM-1%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: GET CARTER Year: 1971 Rating: *****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The plot of director Mike Hodges' GET CARTER is simple enough: London-based gangster Michael Caine as Jack Carter returns to the squalor of hometown Newcastle to find out how his brother died, which was supposedly a drunk driving accident that Jack thinks was murder...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Easy so far, sure, but how he figures out the truth is more complicated than memorizing Shakespeare in Klingon... And in the opening scene he's reading Raymond Chandler<i>,</i> a nod to the kind of Film Noir that GET CARTER embraces by the myriad of last names spouted in a dizzying barrage that needs <i>close</i> paying attention to... </p><p><span></span></p>

alun armstrong, british neo noir, british new wave, exploitation, george sewell, godfrey quigley, ian hendry, john bindon, michael caine, mike hodges, petra markham, seventies, thriller, tony beckley

MIKE HODGES DIRECTS A KILLER MICHAEL CAINE IN 'GET CARTER'

Title: GET CARTER Year: 1971 Rating: ***** The plot of director Mike Hodges' GET CARTER is simple enough: London-based gangster Michael ...