User Reviews

It seems as if Monty Tully wanted to make this film as different as he could from the run of the mill crime films.So we have the joint head of the gang being a blind and deaf woman with a perfect speaking voice.We also have Sean Connery in an early role stuttering every fifth word in his brief speeches.Paul Carpenter who normally plays the hero this time plays the villain.Despite the fact that he seems to do all the organising he relies almost the whole time for his partner in crime to undertake the fencing of the proceeds of crime notwithstanding her disabilities.Eleanor Summerfield is the barmaid in a club without customers.Skip Homier is the unlikely American lead who disappears about two thirds the way through only to reappear at the end.Despite all this it is rather entertaining.

Sean Connery's first major screen role (after appearing as an extra several years earlier) before he became one of the world's best known big screen actors from the 60's onwards.So how does the movie's first and best James Bond fare here? Well,we all have to start somewhere and sometime,and 'major' is the very last ephitet to describe this minor 'B' British crime effort,the like of which Irish-born director Montgomery Tully helmed on other occasions like this.If it's any compensation,Connery started fairly near the bottom and steadily worked his way up after this low-key,low-budget but mildly efficient melodrama set in seedy backstreets and cheap sets,with a colourless American lead (Skip Homeier).It's not saying much,but the best scene in the film is a silent-style robbery sequence performed at a factory,which ends in murder and further somewhat obvious plot complications.As for Connery,his role consists of a brief supporting turn as a gang member,though he gives the part a little more depth by employing a speech impediment.Despite the constant threat of typecasting after his unparallelled success as 007,he would convincingly and persuasively tackle various other memorable screen roles afterwards. NO ROAD BACK would be totally lost in the ether of film history had this not featured the future Sir Sean in his raw,youthful salad days;for that reason alone,it is of minor historical interest,but little more.

Rating:4 and a half out of 10.

A night club is used by criminals for fencing their loot. The gang essays one big job, stealing diamonds, but once it involves murder the gang and the fence take the consequences. This is a good B movie. Based on a play that presumably was set in the club but it opens out from there, particularly for the tense robbery sequence. There are many fine scenes, the most striking being the murder of Rudge which has violence, pathos and irony combined.

The notional hero Clem Hayes is played feebly by American import Skip Homeier and his character could have been dispensed with one feels. Thankfully there is a good cast in support including Alfie Bass, Eleanor Summerfield and Patricia Dainton who all shine but even they are eclipsed by Margaret Rawlings as the blind and deaf jewel fence Mrs. Railton . She is quite magnetic when on screen. And of course there is Rummy the dog played by the grandly named Romulus of Welham.

Not a typical B movie but all the better for it.