User Reviews

Patrick Doonan plays a rather solid stepbrother to tearaway Bryan Forbes who run a garage.Their sick father is upstairs in bed reliant on them.A drunken Forbes brings home a drunk Sandra Dorne who promptly falls for Doonan.There are a number of plot threads that are left hanging.The ending is predictable for this type of drama.Far too much talk.

They are not quite Cain and Abel, but these step brothers find themselves tied together even though they do not share any blood. It's a nice opportunity to see the future British directing legend Bryan Forbes in an acting role, playing the wild spirited owner of a garage whose involvement with Sandra Dorne causes him to become involved in a life of crime, having brought her home drunk one night and coming into conflict with his more sensible older step-brother Patrick Doonan who isn't amused by Dorne's drunken pass. Surprisingly, unlike other floozies in films, Dorne shows regret over the previous night's activities, and her feelings for one brother changes to the other. Desperate to impress her, Forbes becomes involved in criminal activities, turning to their unseen father when he needs money. All you see of the bedridden man is an imperious hand pounding a cane with a skeleton handle at the top as Forbes makes his demands.

It's obvious that the father has a controlling influence over him, but as a result of this confrontation, has a heart attack that proved to be fatal. Desperation sets in for Forbes while the law, along with Doonan, closes in on him. A very somber and fortunately short film, it does provide some well-written character development for the two brothers, particularly Forbes. Dorne initially comes off as a one-dimensional street tramp with her trashy manners oh, so it's nice to see her change that demeanor when she sobers up. Usually characters like this in British films make a pass at the wrong man and end up dead, but the writers for the audience by giving her this different dimension. It's an interesting film, okay as written, but a bit dour in mood.

Amazing - at under an hour this movie is a gritty noir but also encompasses the later kitchen sink cycle. It wasn't well received at the time but now looks a top drama. Bryan Forbes (later a champion director) plays Ted, a frequenter of dance halls, with loud ties and greasy hair, has fallen for singer Lucky Price who he thinks is headed for the "big time" - so does she but instead the night finds them running from a ruckus. In desperation he turns to his more dependable brother Johnny and the rest of the movie is played out amidst a run down garage.

Usually used to seeing Patric Doonan as cowardly thugs and never in a part that propels the story. He is sensitive Johnny who not only has to look out for his wayward brother but manage the garage for his infirm and demanding father. He sees the women in Ted's life very much like their mother whose drunken behaviour made life hellish at home for the boys.

Ted comes home with Lucky - he is desperate to get away, his dream is to open a pub, only his old man, bedridden but clinging to life and his gambling debts stand in his way!! Lucky initially impresses as drunk and rude but finds herself drawn to the belligerent Johnny who in turn finds that underneath she is just a lonely girl. All characters have depth - even Ted is damaged because of his mother, their tough and resilient exterior hides sensitivity. Even the unseen father with his weekly visits to the bank is unable to adjust to his bad health and post war conditions. Lucky and Johnny go to the movies and leave a shattered Ted doing night duty at the garage with his father's constant bangings pushing him to desperation!!

Blonde bombshell Sandra Dorne was Britain's "B" movie answer to Marilyn Monroe, pouty and often sulky - you always remember her even though the movies were often quickies. Temple Abady who worked on As and Bs as well as the London Philharmonic was responsible for the pulsating score!!

Very recommended.

Two brothers, Johnny and Ted (played by Patrick Doonan and Bryan Forbes), run their disabled father's garage. Johnny works hard and takes the time to look after his father whereas Ted is a womanising gambler who refuses to pull his weight. Nevertheless, Johnny puts up with it all and lies for him when he is in danger of getting into trouble with the police. Things change with the arrival of nightclub singer Lucky (played by Sandra Dorne), Ted's girlfriend, who deserts him in favour of Johnny. Meanwhile, Detective Sergeant Simpson (played by John Horsley), an ex-army pal of Johnny's, starts to suspect that Ted might be responsible for the death of a man at the club where Lucky works. Ted's predicament goes from bad to worse when his bookmaker (played by Martin Benson) calls in the £150 debt he owes and the nightclub owner, who had been covering his debts, refuses to do so any longer as a result of Lucky quitting her job. To what extreme lengths might the frightened and desperate Ted go?

This modest British 'B'-pic is notable for an early role for Bryan Forbes who gives a top notch performance as a bounder who increasingly loses control as his drunkenness and gambling ultimately lead him to murder. The film is enhanced by its well-realised setting of a garage and a post war Britain where no one has got any money and people's ambitions seem frustrated. The characterisations have far more substance than one would normally expect from this kind of movie with Doonan as the put upon brother who has a talent for art and spends what little free time he has sketching. But, his impossible situation suggests that he has little chance of pursuing his goal to become a professional artist. Yet, the arrival of Dorne's club singer seems to offer a route out for him since, although they don't get on at first, they find that they both have much in common - tough childhoods as a result of their upbringings - which saw them confined to dead end jobs for life, or so they thought. This is one of director Francis Searle's better films. He only made one 'A'-film in his entire career and became a prolific maker of second features during the fifties and early sixties. With this he demonstrates that he had a flair for gritty, realistic and moving dramas that make one wonder what might have been had again been offered major films. There is a tense finale too where Horsley's police sergeant closes in on the doomed Ted.