GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.

Mehdi Hoffman There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

morrison-dylan-fan With my dad being a fan of George Sanders The Saint/Falcon movies,I decided to search round for a Sanders movie that he could enjoy over the Easter holiday.Taking a look at a DVD sellers page,I spotted a fun-sounding Film Noir starring Sanders,which led to me staying quiet.The plot:Desperate to get as close to one of the few manuscripts of Hamlet in existence,book forger Jim Fleg kills the security guard and steals the manuscript.Being an expert on the black market,Fleg arranges for Myra Blandy to sell fakes of the manuscript for him.Ignoring Fleg's demands,Blandy sells a manuscript to a high-roller called Hal McByrne.Unknown to Blandy,McByrne is a tough cop,who has been following their trail.Fearing that McByrne is closing in,Fleg decides that Mcbyrne's chapter needs closing.View on the film:Opening with a startling robbery sequence.co-writer/(along with Lawrence G. Blochman) director John Larkin brews a frosty Film Noir atmosphere,with Larkin & cinematographer Joseph MacDonald dimming the lights,as Fleg and Blandy find themselves stuck in a tough corner.Taking place largely in a library,Larkin smartly uses war time blackouts to cover the location in merciless shadows,which McByrne discovers contains people who want to give him his final blackout.After kicking things off with a thrilling intro,the screenplay by Larkin & Blochman sadly jumbles things up,with the writers keeping the movie largely locked down in the blacked-out library,which leads to the film being unable to build a real sense of tension.Along with the closed-in location,the writers also blow away the excitement created in the opening,by pushing Fleg to the sidelines,and instead focus on the growing romance between McByrne & Blandy,which despite giving Blandy a good Femme Fatale shade,is never set alight.Despite being pushed to the narrow margins, George Sanders is still able to give a wonderful performance as Jim Fleg,thanks to Sanders showing Fleg's silky smooth charm to hide a ruthless desire to keeps his crimes unpublished.Chasing after Fleg, Richard Denning gives a good,stern performance as Hal McByrne,whilst the pretty Gail Patrick gives an icy Femme Fatale performance as Myra Blandy,in a Film Noir which offers a speedy read.

Spondonman I saw this only once back in the '80's when UK TV regularly used to show programmes more than a few years old, never forgot it and finally caught up with again last night. It would be an ordinary little b picture in a rather grotty condition but for its unusual plot and setting which make it worth at least one look.Polished thug (George Sanders) – and his slinky female cohort (Gail Patrick) – both with mental issues are ready to murder people to get to valuable rare books so he can forge copies from them for resale. He murders a library security guard to get an olde copy of Shakespeare's Hamlet, problems then arise after he rips off a sinister gang of Nazis already speculating for the post War world, and a mercenary private dick (Richard Denning) is also on his track. Most of it is set in a dimly lit city of a library with miles of bookshelves, only running back and forth along its aisles and even stumbling across the Art room twice cheapens the overall atmosphere, which is surprisingly dark and menacing. Make no mistake, the various sets of baddies at each other's throats are an evil bunch of weirdos, with Sanders spouting manic cod psychology at every lucid moment, never mind Patrick not telling the truth for the entire picture. With a stroke of luck long haired Denning sorts it all out leaving wide eyed Sanders hoping to "die in terror", Patrick to go her own sweet way as a not very convincing victim of her own conscience, and even walks off at the end happily for a coffee with a GI's girl. And this is only a sketch for there's a lot packed into 67 complicated minutes.Thought provoking hokum yet daft beyond words and a little gem I treasure. To paraphrase what the man said, fulfil your secret desire to be caught off guard and pleasantly surprised.

dougdoepke Master forger of rare books (Sanders) gets mixed up with Nazis (Blackmer), a detective (Denning) and a double-crossing dame (Patrick).The convoluted script may take a Rosetta Stone to solve, still it's a slickly done TCF programmer. Those two smoothies Sanders and Patrick are well cast as a couple of A-team masochists, engaged in a game of one-upmanship and about as trustworthy as rattlesnakes. In fact, Patrick's character qualifies for the Devious Dame Hall of Fame, with her warm personality and stone cold heart. Still, I'm a bit surprised that some of that pain-loving dialog Sanders relishes made it past the censors. Usually old Hollywood just hinted at such things instead of belaboring them.Denning and Roberts are clearly America's team, though Denning may wobble at times. One thing for sure—set design and art direction come cheap since most of the action takes place in a single setting, a library. Still, director Larkin keeps things moving. And get a load of baldy Kurt Katch's mute Nazi. He's about as inviting as the polar ice cap and just as chilling. But, I'm still wondering which thug belongs to which gang, which does get confusing.Oh well, things do sort out, I think. Then too, it's 1942 and the war is still in doubt. Byron Foulger's officious little air warden may be on the silly side, but the blackouts weren't. These old movies do show us things the history books can't. Anyhow, the movie may be nothing to write home about. But it's still impressive how Hollywood could turn out such slick little programmers in the middle of a big war.

lucy-66 The plot is as much of a riddle as the psychology of the two mainvillains: George Sanders and the perfect noir woman. They calmlydiscuss their need to fail, self-sabotage and love of punishmentand fear, namechecking Freud but in a skeptical aside. The(blackhaired of course) girl spends most of the action in furs, highheels and a spiky hat with a veil. (You mean that's not how youdress to visit your local library?) Her words and actions are alwaysambiguous. The library setting is played for all it is worth:dialogues take place in rooms filled with antique furniture,classical sculpture or old musical instruments. Sanders, seenthrough the 'prison bars' created by the strings of a harp (usuallyplayed by angels), plucks one out to use as a torture instrument.We last see him deliberately cutting his wrists on the handcuffsand looking forward to his execution. A routine thriller? I don't thinkso. xxxx