Spin a Dark Web

This was an interesting little British crime film that starred both an American actress and a Canadian actor, which I guess was common at the time. The story is about Canadian Jim Bankley who while training at a British boxing gym owned by Tom Walker he befriends Tom's two children, Bill and Betty. Bill is a promising boxer at the ring and unbeknownst to Jim is asked by a local mobster to take a dive in the ring which he doesn't do. Meanwhile Jim who hasn't been successful is looking for work and his fellow Canadian, Buddy. He finds Buddy who gets him a job with his employer the local mobster Rico Francesi...only it's not really Buddy or Rico that gets Jim hired, it's Rico's sister Bella. Bella takes a shine to Jim and wants him moved up the paces. Bottom-line is Jim is a good guy (I.e. He may be ok with tapping phone lines to fix betting on horses at the track, but he is not ok with murder), so when Bill ends up dead at the hands of one of Rico's goons and Jim finds out about it he wants out. Only then does he discover how blood thirsty Bella really is. Good action, interesting story...but the best part of this film is really the 1950's sidewalk/street scenes in England...fresh market, neon signs, liquor store, etc. GGreat, great footage and for me the best part of this film. A noir buff might enjoy this film..and those with curiosity like me.

A boxer fails to take a dive as promised. Fight promoter Martin Benson sends Lee Patterson to warn him --nicely. The fighter knocks Patterson down, who kills him in reply. Now Patterson is on the run, and wants Benson to protect him.... and he knows all the angles. It's a nice, dirty little movie, well directed by Vernon Sewall, with an unusual take on the sort of dirty boxing promoters who look upon the whole operation as the entertainment business, and who want things to run smoothly. I can't help but think it's all a metaphor for the movie business under the Studio System, with the managers trying to run a nicely packaged system, and the talent they so depend on always bollixing things up, leaving the bosses to fix things without anyone getting hurt. Anyone else, that is. There are some nice performances by Faith Domergue as Benson's bloodthirsty wife, and some familiar performers, like Sam Kydd amd Bernard Fox (in his screen debut), further down the cast list.

Yet within those strands, there are so many roads that this interesting and atmospheric British film noir the the Innocent fly on during that trek to the middle. The fly here is veteran TV actor Lee Patterson ("Surfside 6", "One Life to Live"), and the spider is Faith Domergue, an Ava Gardner like femme fatale who has all sorts of venom in her kisses. Domergue is the sister of a British mafia don who entraps Patterson in a dangerous game, using her female desirability to get him involved in the organization. But Patterson has a moral Center, unlike the sticky center of Domergue's web, and it is obvious who will end up being trapped in their own sinister plot, especially when Rona Anderson, the sweet girl Home Paterson really loves, ends up as a part of their scheme. It takes much concentration but once you are in, it's difficult like the web to get out. Domergue is probably the best of the newly discovered femme fatales of the mid 1950's, honey voiced, but that honey can also be sticky and a trap. It's atmospheric and tense, with Patterson smart but appropriately innocent, like any fly drawn into a web should be. The tension builds ferociously as at the plot speeds towards its climax, and by that time I guarantee you will be hooked. That's Bernard Fox of "Bewitched" (Dr. Bombay) who ends up being one of Domergue's victims. This one is worthy of various viewings to get all the elements of the plot understood, although the conclusion left me a bit perplexed as to what really went down with certain elements.

A rather good surprise. British thriller are sometimes flat and uninteresting, talkative and boring. Not this one, I must admit. Vernon Sewell, as Montgommery Tully, is a good director for this kind of productions. B movies of course. It tells the story of an American, a prizefighter, who is involved with gangsters in a sort of race track racket. The film points out the techniques, about the betting. I don't know the lead actor, but Faith Domergue is the femme fatale of this movie, the "bad girl". After the boss of the gang has killed one of his partners, our hero wants to quit the gang. With predictable results. But the ending is foreseeable too. It looks like an American film noir, from a narrative point of view. That's the reason why I liked it so much. Even no much cockney accent in the dialogues. A pretty good time waster.

One is to see how bad Faye Domerogue is acting and two to see 26 year old Lee Patterson in all his handsome glory. The rest is a typical B gangster film with a frigid femme fatale.

In the 1950s-60s, many American actors went to Europe to star in various films. Perhaps the studios saw it as a way to draw in more people to see the films...perhaps it was to satisfy investors that they had a big name for the leads. Regardless, hundreds of films were made with various A and B-list Americans. "Soho Incident" is unusual in that it does star one American (Faith Domergue) but also a Canadian (Lee Patterson). And, while I loved Domergue in the film (she was a great femme fatale), she and her brother in the film were lousy choices for the movie. Why? Because Martin Benson played an Italian guy and Domergue his sister. So why did he sound VERY Italian and she sounded just like an American? Despite this dumb casting choice, "Soho Incident" is a dandy crime film...one well worth seeing. The story finds Jim (Patterson) working as a boxer but going no where. So he decides to go for fast and easy money by going to work for Mr. Francesi, a gambler with a dubious reputation. Much of this is because Francesi's sister (Domergue) is infatuated with him. Soon he makes himself very useful doing various shady things, but he isn't willing to hurt anyone...which is a problem since his boss isn't above murder. And, when Jim sees him kill a fellow crook, he's had enough and wants out. But it isn't Mr. Francesi he has to worry about but his demon-like sister....she'll stop at nothing to destroy Jim and she takes his leaving VERY personally. You just have to see the awful things the sister does in this one....she is the ultimate femme fatale. I'll say no more....just see it and be amazed. Fine writing that avoids the usual clichés is why I particularly liked this one.

When this film was made Soho had a rather seedy reputation.Gangs running protection rackets,illegal gambling and drink clubs,prostitution and strip clubs.Soho had it all.Most though not all of this has gone.Nowdays it is full of trendy restaurants and clubs.So the most interesting aspect of this otherwise uninspired and derivative thriller are the location shots.The credit titles,open over the Casino Cinema,now Prince Edward Theatre,showing "This Is Cinerama".I was taken to see this and saw it again a couple of years ago at The National Media Museum in Bradford.Very spectacular.We then follow Patterson around the streets at night.Next we see him coming out of a building in Soho Square which i believe is where the BBFC is now situated.Finally we get shots of Patterson walking through the famous Berwick Street market.The strange thing about the plot is Patterson is supposed to be a boxer,but he suddenly becomes a telephone engineer without explanation.The plot is predictable enlivened only by the oily boss splendidly portrayed by the marvelous Martin Benson,who keeps on complaining about the food he is served.

This was an interesting little British crime film that starred both an American actress and a Canadian actor, which I guess was common at the time. The story is about Canadian Jim Bankley who while training at a British boxing gym owned by Tom Walker he befriends Tom's two children, Bill and Betty. Bill is a promising boxer at the ring and unbeknownst to Jim is asked by a local mobster to take a dive in the ring which he doesn't do. Meanwhile Jim who hasn't been successful is looking for work and his fellow Canadian, Buddy. He finds Buddy who gets him a job with his employer the local mobster Rico Francesi...only it's not really Buddy or Rico that gets Jim hired, it's Rico's sister Bella. Bella takes a shine to Jim and wants him moved up the paces. Bottom-line is Jim is a good guy (I.e. He may be ok with tapping phone lines to fix betting on horses at the track, but he is not ok with murder), so when Bill ends up dead at the hands of one of Rico's goons and Jim finds out about it he wants out. Only then does he discover how blood thirsty Bella really is. Good action, interesting story...but the best part of this film is really the 1950's sidewalk/street scenes in England...fresh market, neon signs, liquor store, etc. GGreat, great footage and for me the best part of this film. A noir buff might enjoy this film..and those with curiosity like me.