PASSPORT TO TREASON (1956)

This eighty-minute, Mid-Century Film Productions movie was released in America by Astor Pictures Corporation. Both are as forgettable as the film itself. It is one dark film, perhaps because the budget never allowed for any studio lighting. Though a fairly intelligent script, the film still generates a lot of fog.

At the height of his career, popular Western and television star Rod Cameron gets work overseas in modern-day London. The Candian-born actor's stoic persona and physical presence add credence as the lone American in this British film. His stiff, deadpan delivery never lights up the screen, however. A slow start might make you fast forward but there is no need. There is always a change of pace and the film climaxes right at the end, as low-budget movies tend to do. Not a lot of action, but the brief fistfight sound effects, however, suggest each blow completely crushes every facial bone of the opponent. A few years before her famous James Bond role, Lois Maxwell works for MI-5 to assist Cameron. She obviously had connections.

Cameron is the detective out to discover the hidden purpose of a peace organization. As to be expected, he is captured and given a truth serum to reveal what he knows. Also expected, he manages to escape at night, stealing a car to get away. Funny to think the influence of the serum made him weave erratically from lane to lane. In reality, he may actually be forgetting which side of the road to drive on.

Night scenes mostly cover a lot of potential editing mistakes and it is plenty dark. The film slightly brightens at the end. Still, it plays out more like an early Forties mystery. There is nothing intense and it is all quite familiar.

CAGE OF EVIL (1960)

One cannot assess lesser-known films fairly without understanding the era in which they were produced. This film could easily be dismissed as a cheap production simply because it is old and stars B-movie actors. While that is true, this is better than some might give credit. There are no surprises and the ending is an oft-used premise. Yet Zenith Pictures pulls together a fairly plausible story with enough suspense to keep you locked in. Introduced in documentary style, it is told through the eyes of a police lieutenant, played by John Maxwell (below right with Foster). He tells of the last assignment of a young, ambitious officer with a short future in the department. Maxwell’s high register, lackadaisical vocal narration would have been better suited for a lighthearted travelogue film.

Ron Foster stars in another Robert Kent Production, again with co-star, Harp McGuire. Foster is competent in this role coming from a wealth of experience in television dramas. This is one in only a handful of films for him. He is an officer who feels he is routinely being passed over for promotion. An officer with good intentions but goes afoul over Patricia Blair, the girlfriend of a diamond thief. She is, shall we say, well known in the underworld. Foster is assigned to shadow her in order to gain her confidence. Blair becomes temptation personified and holds the key to the cage in which they will soon find themselves. The two fall into a scheme to remove her boyfriend's future then fly to Mexico with stolen jewels. No one ever goes to Minnesota. Around every deceitful turn, they plunge deeper into futility and the viewer will not be surprised by any of it. The film ends in a shootout as the couple climbs higher and higher on the oft-used stairway to nowhere.

Note: Distributed by United Artists, the film was produced by Edward Small and Robert Kent, both adept at turning out decent crime dramas on a shoestring budget. The screenplay is by Orville Hampton based on his story and Alexander Richards. The title film score does not fit this movie, sounding more like a light comedy that might include dance numbers. Paul Sawtell did fine work, but Dimitri Tiomkin is what you want here. Look for young, future TV stars, Ted Knight and Henry Darrow near the end.

THE MAN WITH MY FACE (1951)

Not much to say here. It is a fantasy story with a cast that tries to sell the premise to the audience. United Artists had the courage to distribute this one for Edward F. Gardner Productions. The screenplay appears to have challenged the director, Edward Montagne, who was stumped on how to present this B-movie. Interpreting the novel of the same name were screen credits for the team of Tom McGowan, Samuel W. Taylor, and Vin Bogert.

Imagine arriving home one evening and someone who looks like you have taken over your life, your wife, your brother-in-law, and your bank account. No, I mean exactly like you. Even your wife believes you are an imposter. So the film is already in science fiction territory. This is a dupe that takes a lot of planning.

The original James Bond, Barry Nelson, stars, along with a cast of unknowns, in a film that is hard to fathom. In under fifteen minutes, the plot is revealed and the balance of the movie is assumed. You will find yourself always ahead of the script. The movie never convinces that there is a Nice Nelson and an Evil Nelson. Nice Nelson simply may be a bit loopy and is assumed to be the imposter. There may have been a Half Nelson in there somewhere. Talk about identity theft! But this is not supposed to be a science fiction movie. Not much of a film noir, either, though it falls into that category. Nice Nelson finds his picture plastered in every newspaper as the robber of 500k so the police are after him. Evil Nelson has trained Dobermans in pursuit of Nice Nelson, soon to be a man without a face. It certainly creates bad press for the breed. Let’s face it, this is more predictable than blinking. If you are interested in seeing Jack Warden in his movie debut then it is worth watching. He plays a friend who owns facial recognition software. Nah. Do not believe that either.

Note: A number of low-budget movies might have been more respected by shaving minutes and offering them free through television. Again, “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour” comes to mind.

ACCUSED OF MURDER (1956)

Filmed in Naturama, Republic’s answer to Paramount’s VistaVision, and Truecolor, where interior shots looked crisp and realistically, yet cold, this seventy-four-minute film is a pretty lackluster outing for a mostly competent cast. They lift this to a solidly average B-movie. Distributed by Republic Pictures, it is directed and produced by Joseph Kane, and is based on the novel, "Vanity Row" by W. R. Burnett. The seventy-four-minute screenplay is by Burnett and Robert Creighton Williams. A film probably dismissed once leaving the theater.

You witness a murder. You arrange to meet the assumed murderer, hitman Warren Stevens, with the intent of blackmail. How dumb do you need to be? Like Virginia Grey in this role. Her “dance for hire” job stinks and she looks marked for death from her first scene. After she confronts Stevens, he insists he did not commit any murder and decks Grey. But neither is quite through. She pesters him by phone later, with Stevens returning to severely beat her as a final warning. Grey will be the performance best remembered from this film.

Stevens is on a shortlist of suspects, the other being Vera Ralston, who portrays a singer, after a fashion, whose nightclub is frequented by Sydney Blackmer, an underworld lawyer. To him, her dubbed vocals are like sugar to a cockroach. I could have used closed captioning for some of her dialogue due to her thick accent. Despite this possible communication problem, Blackmer is interested in marriage, a thought that never occurred to her. He does not take her rejection gracefully.

During the investigation, the police lieutenant, David Brian, after hearing---translating---her story to his fellow officers, gets more involved with Ralston than official police procedures. His performance is the other one remembered. He is solid and believable, coming off strong yet compassionate. He is sympathetic toward Ralston believing she is innocent, though growing evidence provides doubts. Squint-eyed partner, Lee Van Cleef, pressures Brian, suggesting he has a conflict of interest. Cleef possesses a most unfortunate last name for an aspiring sergeant: Lackey. There are a few twists and curves to keep one guessing how Blackmer expired with an ending that may surprise you. But by shaving fifteen minutes never to be missed, it could have played better as an hour-long early television episode.

RAILROADED (1947)

Anthony Mann kept busy directing in the late forties. Distributed by Eagle-Lion Films, this seventy-two-minute film is based on a real-life case, forming the basis of a more famous film, Call Northside 777, the following year. This shoe-string budgeted film adds an extra dose of noir, so dark at times it is hard to see what’s going on. In the climactic scene, Hugh Beaumont and John Ireland aim guns in cave darkness better than most. With this very predictable, loaded script, one wonders how the police could accuse someone on hearsay and speculation and be such a bad judge of character. Obviously, things have not changed that much since. There is the usual suspense with questions and answers. Sheila Ryan is not a good judge of character either, as she assumes John Ireland is just having a bad day. Again. He was usually typecast as a bad guy or down and out loser. Hugh Beaumont, on the other hand, typically played a person in authority and is solid here as a thorough, cool and collected investigator. Just the opposite, Ireland loses his cool often with no sanctity for life.

Note: You may enjoy this one. The strangulated budget hurts the worse. Enjoy watching Beaumont's competent acting before "retiring" as an investigator and using his skills to figure out what Wally and Theodore are up to.