World for Ransom (1954)

Sceneggiatore:

Lindsay Hardy (written by)

Data di uscita:

31 gennaio 1954 (USA)

Genere:

Drama | Film-Noir

Plot:

Made by the same production set-up on the same lot that was producing the 1953-54 "China Smith/Captain...

Recensioni degli utenti:

Very cheap but not without its pleasures

Cast

Dan Duryea	...	Mike Callahan aka Corrigan
Gene Lockhart	...	Alexis Pederas
Patric Knowles	...	Julian March
Reginald Denny	...	Major Ian Bone
Nigel Bruce	...	Governor Sir Charles Coutts
Marian Carr	...	Frennessey March
Arthur Shields	...	Sean O'Connor
Douglass Dumbrille	...	Insp. McCollum
Carmen D'Antonio	...	Dancer
Keye Luke	...	Wong
Clarence Lung	...	Johnny Chan
Lou Nova	...	Guzik

Alias:

Singapore intrigo internazionale (Italy) [it]

Durata:

82 min

Nazionalità:

USA

Lingua:

Inglese

Colore:

Bianco e nero

Sonoro:

Mono

Divieti:

West Germany:16 (nf) | USA:Approved (PCA #16556) | Finland:K-16

Luoghi delle riprese:

Motion Picture Center Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Allied Artists Productions

Curiosità:

Shot in 11 days.

Very cheap but not without its pleasures

Robert Aldrich's 1954 quickie World for Ransom is far from essential viewing, but if you do find yourself in the same room when it's on TV, chances are you'll find yourself sticking with it despite its faults. A cheap studio backlot picture until the finale when the film actually goes outdoors (though not as far as Singapore), it doesn't always make a virtue of its economy and a couple of the bit players are strikingly dreadful actors but within its claustrophobic sets it does throw in a few memorable visuals and it's satisfyingly undemanding supporting feature fare. Offering a rare lead for Dan Duryea as a soldier of fortune in the far East suspected of involvement in the kidnap of a nuclear scientist, the in-jokes around his 50s China Smith TV show are all but incomprehensible today and the banter isn't as witty as the writers think (and the cast know it and play on the fact), yet that lends it a strangeness that makes it stand out from other 50s poverty row pictures. While Marion Carr is more than a tad awkward as the not-so-fatale femme, the supporting cast isn't without merit, with veterans Nigel Bruce, Gene Lockhart, Reginald Denny, Douglas Dumbrille and Arthur "cheaper than Barry Fitzgerald" Shields adding a few familiar faces while the most interesting performance comes from Patric Knowles: not because he's giving an outstanding display of great acting but because, to all intents and purposes, he's imitating his old Adventures of Robin Hood star Errol Flynn, and doing so rather well as an ex-British officer who has gone down in the world and is keeping very bad company. It's utterly disposable stuff, yet strangely watchable with it.