A foreign criminal called Carl Stock (played by George Mikell) was deported from Britain for his part in a raid. Having slipped back into the country on a forged passport, he sets about getting his share of the loot from his former accomplice, the Soho gangster and club owner Sam Hare (played by Eddie Byrne). He recruits another ex-con, the safecracker turned café owner Lenny Lane (played by Michael Ripper), who reluctantly agrees to help him break into Hare's Jackpot Club and steal £6000 from his safe. As the pair make good their escape, Stock shoots and kills a policeman. Stock finds himself a wanted man by the Yard, led by Supt Frawley (played by William Hartnell), and also by Hare since he stole some papers that would get him into trouble with the law if they got their hands on them...
Efficient British 'B'-pic from prolific quota quickie specialist Montgomery Tully. He keeps the well-knit storyline from the screenplay he co-wrote with producer Maurice J. Wilson moving along at a good pace right up until the finale at the Arsenal Stadium Football ground. It has a reasonable feeling for realism and place even though one can see the difference between the studio exteriors and the handful of authentic location shots interspersed with what was likely to have been stock footage of an actual football match taking place. Betty McDowall provides the emotional element to the story as Mikell's wife who clearly still feels something for him since she is reluctant to hand him over to the police as she knows he would hang for the policeman's murder. She is also torn between her new boyfriend, the fashion photographer (played by Tim Turner), and her husband's demands that she flee the country with him and the money. Eddie Byrne is excellent as the hardened criminal Hare whom Mikell quickly discovers it isn't a great idea to double cross. Michael Ripper, a mainstay at the Hammer horror studio, scores as the retired safebreaker who is trying to go straight but, ultimately, cannot escape his past as he gets toped into Mikell's plan. The top billed William Hartnell, who also starred in Tully's excellent debut feature Murder In Reverse (1945), provides authority as the hard nosed Yard man, but it isn't his best performance by a long way.
Efficient British 'B'-pic from prolific quota quickie specialist Montgomery Tully. He keeps the well-knit storyline from the screenplay he co-wrote with producer Maurice J. Wilson moving along at a good pace right up until the finale at the Arsenal Stadium Football ground. It has a reasonable feeling for realism and place even though one can see the difference between the studio exteriors and the handful of authentic location shots interspersed with what was likely to have been stock footage of an actual football match taking place. Betty McDowall provides the emotional element to the story as Mikell's wife who clearly still feels something for him since she is reluctant to hand him over to the police as she knows he would hang for the policeman's murder. She is also torn between her new boyfriend, the fashion photographer (played by Tim Turner), and her husband's demands that she flee the country with him and the money. Eddie Byrne is excellent as the hardened criminal Hare whom Mikell quickly discovers it isn't a great idea to double cross. Michael Ripper, a mainstay at the Hammer horror studio, scores as the retired safebreaker who is trying to go straight but, ultimately, cannot escape his past as he gets toped into Mikell's plan. The top billed William Hartnell, who also starred in Tully's excellent debut feature Murder In Reverse (1945), provides authority as the hard nosed Yard man, but it isn't his best performance by a long way.