Hats off to the director, John Gilling, who delivers a fast moving, action packed movie, which has a film 'noir' dimension about it. The storyline revolves around a American naval officer, Gregor Stevens, played by Scott Brady, who is on shore leave, where he hopes to meet up with his brother, but to his horror, his brother is in prison, convicted of murder, and has three days left before he will be hanged. The muscular and athletic Brady now begins to take matters into his own hands to see if he can find out as to the actual circumstances, which has led to his brother languishing in a cell, waiting to be executed. Our hero, turned sleuth, gives an energetic and powerful performance as a 'man on a mission,' where he confronts not only several shady nightclub operators and thugs, but also the blond, sultry and deliciously beautiful Yvonne, played by Mary Castle, the resident nightclub singer. Brady has plenty of opportunity to show his physical and athletic prowess in a number of scenes where he has to chase, as well as evade several underworld henchmen, who wish to 'terminate' his interest in his hunt to find out the truth. Brady's frantic investigations, where he's diving in and out of taxis and cars, also sees him confronting some very unsavoury characters, such as 'Sartago,' the smooth and suave nightclub manager, wonderfully played by Ferdy Mayne, as well as from John Blythe, who gives a convincing performance playing the cheerful and breezy cockney boxer, Dave Leary. There are many dramatic twists and turns in this fast moving storyline, which ends with a thrilling 'Hitchcockian'' climax around Olympia in London. Although the finale is a bit far fetched, the director and the cameraman should be congratulated for creating an entertaining and riveting film, where many of the action scenes have a sense of gritty realism, set against the backdrop of London in the early 1950's. Normally, these type of quick quota B films, which were made in the 50's, with an American lead actor, were mediocre 'time fillers,' shown before the main feature, but the pacy storyline and the strong acting performances by the two main protagonists, Brady and Castle, puts this on a much higher level.
Review of White Fire
