John Russell, at 36 his face aging to look like a handsome lizard, has a plan to smuggle drugs off ships right under the nose of customs inspectors. To do it, he’ll need three accomplices starting with a faked rescue at sea to plant a ‘key’ man onboard; a real doctor to risk a dangerous insulin overdose; and a fake nurse to carry ‘the stuff’ off the boat. Russell’s even made a little film of the plan to show his 'investor' how it can work. But just like UNFAITHFULLY YOURS/’48 and GAMBIT/’66, showing the best made plans on screen/in action doesn't guarantee it will play out as written. A dandy setup for a caper, and twenty years ago any studio in town could have done a bang up job of it. But building a little indie from scratch in ‘50s Hollywood means some things will work and some things won’t. Best is cinematographer Carl Guthrie, putting out pitch black locations and camouflaging bare bones interior sets. Nearly as good is Russell, unapologetically vicious as he beats his team into submission. On the other hand, the script has him choose ridiculous partners in crime: drug addict ‘key’ man to break down under stress; a diabetic whose blood sugar has recently stabilized and now can’t take any insulin at all; and a sentimental nurse who falls for the emergency medic (Stuart Whitman) she’s using as unwitting patsy. (That’s June Blair, a shockingly bad actress in a rare feature film made after she was a Playboy model and before she became Ozzie & Harriet daughter-in-law Mrs. Dave Nelson.) Still, a neat little watch that ends at a classic L.A. graveyard of decommissioned trolley cars stacked one atop the other.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Shot full frame, but meant to be cropped by the projectionist to about 1.78 - 1. The 16x9 feature will distort the image, but you can bump up your picture size to get there.
DOUBLE-BILL: See Hollywood pros take this construction and run with it in GAMBIT/’66. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2019/06/gambit-1966.html
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