Innocent-man-on-the-run pic . . with a twist you’ll see coming a mile away. But not bad, with a neat turn from Bernard Lee (007's original ‘M’) as a wily, chain-smoking detective closing in on the case. It also provides the rare chance to catch glamorous Haya Harareet in something other than BEN-HUR/’59. She’s the estranged wife of Stewart Granger, a cargo shipping exec who’s already being blackmailed by his dentist, now forced to prove that a robbery at his firm is an elaborate frame-up. With production values and tension wanting, the film needs a lot more plot & personality than it gets. But scripters David Pursall & Jack Seddon think their one big twist is enough. (And a painfully intrusive jazz-inflected score by Philip Green also doesn’t help. Green does far better for Dearden in ALL NIGHT LONG/'62, a modernized OTHELLO set amid the London jazz scene.) Dearden makes an efficient job of it, but try SAPPHIRE/’59 to see him really work a police procedural.
DOUBLE-BILL: Though best known for KHARTOUM/’66 (a very uneven pic), Dearden’s SAPPHIRE, with its intriguing race angle and excellent location work, may be his best film.
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