The credits of this surprisingly well-mounted vehicle for a young Richard Hearne don't mention it originally being a play; although it certainly feels like one. It also feels more thirties than forties with its plot about jewel thieves. (Were Wally Patch & Ronald Shiner not introduced in uniform you'd hardly be aware it was set in wartime; although it's considerably enhanced by a couple of foxy females in forties suits played by Judy Kelly and a fairly young Hermione Gingold as an aunt with a roving eye.)
Hearne as the young hero is throughout obliged to impersonate jewel thief 'Slippery Jim', alias the butler Chapman (who just happens to have white hair & a long droopy moustache like a certain Mr Pastry), but utterly fails to suggest two different people (a problem ironically exacerbated by the slick editing and unobtrusively convincing trick photography) but compensates for this with his extraordinary physical agility well served by the nimble direction and camerawork.
Hearne as the young hero is throughout obliged to impersonate jewel thief 'Slippery Jim', alias the butler Chapman (who just happens to have white hair & a long droopy moustache like a certain Mr Pastry), but utterly fails to suggest two different people (a problem ironically exacerbated by the slick editing and unobtrusively convincing trick photography) but compensates for this with his extraordinary physical agility well served by the nimble direction and camerawork.