Jack Hawkins has always been a mystery to me. Clearly a very intelligent man ( although he was a bit of a coward in turning down Dirk Bogarde's role in ' Victim .' Homophobia ? Fear of public reaction ? ) he had a patchy career. He was very funny in the underestimated ' Touch and Go ' but apart from various war films that pleased the crowd plus mediocre police films the British cinema served him badly. Hollywood put him into the appalling ' Land of the Pharoahs ' but still his obvioius charisma was not put to its full use. This film with its terrible titles ( both of them ) added nothing of any worthwhile diversity. It has a brilliant opening that promises well and then lumbers its way through a mediocre plot. Arlene Dahl who in my opinion rarely ever gave a good performance, but looked tediously beautiful was a bad choice of co-star and Dennis Price gets a rotten role. Stranded and without help Hawkins goes through the motions. I give it a reluctant 5 for the opening and Hawkins bravery in accepting it at all. It is relentlessly re-shown on UK channels and shows how British cinema lost its way by giving acting roles so often to American actors who did the UK a favour by acting in England's green and pleasant land. For those who think it is Film Noir they should buy a good book on the genre.
Review of She Played with Fire
