Review of White Fire

In this entertainingly convoluted crime movie, sailor Scot Brady has to punch his his way around various London locations in order to prove that his brother is innocent of the murder that will send him to hang that week, He is befriended by a series of characters, virtually all of whom are part of the gang that framed his brother, who then, having helped him get too close to the truth, have to arrange to have him beaten up, arrested for murder and/or killed. Fortunately for our hero the heavy mob prove to be repeatedly incompetent in fist fights, in cars that aim to run him down but miss, and by an assassin with a rifle who takes one shot (which also misses), and then runs away, The police inspector, who knows from the start that our man is telling the truth, nonetheless ( when seeming to suspect him of murder) leaves him free to wander about risking his life in order to flush out Mr Big. The villains seem to be one step ahead at all times, always turning up in the right place without having any way of knowing it, but then bungling their one task yet again. Twist upon twist occur until, conveniently, the entire cast descend on a trade fair and the cops can nab the gang as a job lot in what is a rather rushed ending.

It is one of those 'don't ask too many questions' films otherwise the plot logic might collapse - why do the villains even pretend to help him? When they do finally overpower him and beat him senseless, why do they then soak him in whiskey rather than just finish him off? How do they switch the gramophone record when no one saw him stash it away? That aside, and forgiving a few obligatory tropes of the genre - the villain who fronts a night club, the club singer/love interest, the thugs who wear the overcoats that thugs wear etc, - it moves along at speed and is never dull.