Mark of the Phoenix (1958) User Reviews

Jewllery smuggling in Europe

[chris_gaskin123 · 6/10 · 28 February 2006]

I taped Mark Of the Phoenix when ITV screened it during the early hours some time ago. They often used to screen these British crime B movies, but don't seem to now for some reason.

In this one, a jewel thief gets hold of a cigarette case made from a new type of metal. Police are on his trail and it turns out that the metal this case is made from is atomic.

This is one of the slightly better crime dramas made during this period and the fact that the metal the case is made from being atomic is certainly not surprising as the Atomic Age was at its height.

I've only heard of one of the stars of this movie, Anton Diffring (Circus of Horrors).

Mark of the Phoenix is a good time filler one evening. Not too bad.

Rationg: 3 stars out of 5.

The Purloined Necklace

[richardchatten · 6/10 · 15 October 2020]

Is this enjoyably unbelievable Cold War thriller for real? At least some of the humour seems intentional as the cast teams with broadly played sinister foreign caricatures (including foxy top-billed Julia Arnall) pursuing a metal that provides protection from radioactivity.

Wilfred Burns' score when not being parodically 'French' (actually Belgian) is as usual noisily intrusive. The producers actually sent sent a crew to Belgium and as photographed by veteran Geoffrey Faithfull it all looks good.

It's also nice to see Anton Diffring and Roger Delgado working for the law for a change.

Dull and confusing.

[johnshephard-83682 · 4/10 · 21 March 2021]

This largely uninteresting crime caper is not helped by a confusingly hard to follow plot. Three villains steal a sample of some special metal product, and have it turned into a cigarette case in order to be able to smuggle it abroad to Europe's enemies without arousing suspicion. This metal will be used to damage Europe's military defences, or something like that, it doesn't really matter, it's a macguffin. They shoot the scientist who has invented it, and make a clumsy attempt to make it look like suicide. A fourth villain then leaves the case in the hotel room of an American jewel thief (conveniently, no one locks their room in this hotel). I never worked out why he did this - perhaps there was a reel missing? Then it gets really hard to know what is going on - the various villains do deals with each other involving jewellery and the coveted case, cheat on each other, have punch ups and/or kill each other. Those still standing at the end get arrested, apart from the American thief, who for some unexplained reason the police allow to leave (though not before he openly passes a stolen necklace to the love interest, Petra, who spends most of the movie saying 'I don't understand' to everyone she meets - I know the feeling). Irrationalities abound - a villain tries to steal the case from the hotel room but has to have a fist fight first - he has a gun, but only uses it to fire a wasted shot as he is running away without the thing he came for. Another villain is interrogated by the original three for some vital information, but they shoot him before he can tell them. The American leaves the hotel with a suitcase but doesn't have it when he gets to the airport. Petra appears to play no useful function in the plot, other than to not understand it. The police do not much, but catch the gang anyway. Not a great film, but not bad enough to be enjoyable.

"Don't let the nudging title fool you."

[jamesraeburn2003 · 4 April 2004]

Anton Diffring stars in this duff British supporting thriller concerning (guess what!) the smuggling of a cigarette case composed of a secret alloy. Really it's just "The Lavender Hill Mob" without the Eiffel towers or the comedic charm of Ealing. Its produced by "Butcher's Films", Britain's poverty row film production company who turned out many a mediocre b-feature at this time. This particular one was made in 1957, but shelved until 1959 until a suitable main feature was found to go with it. Don't let the rather nudging title fool you because it's not that exciting. These days the Butcher's films occasionally turn up on ITV in the wee small hours as a time filler.

A Maguffin Is What Everyone Wants And Starts The Plot

[boblipton · 5/10 · 27 February 2023]

There not being enough maguffins in the world, a Belgian scientist has invented a new one. He is promptly killed, and the maguffin turned into a silver cigarette case. In that form, it simply drops in the hands of Sheldon Lawrence, a perfectly innocent jewel thief who is vacationing in Belgium to offer samples of his handiwork to his fence, who is promptly murdered because he turned the maguffin into the cigarette case.

Lawrence is a good-looking guy who is handy with his fists and promptly wins the heart of Julia Arnall, the fiancee of Eric Pohlmann, who wants the maguffin. Other people who want it are Anton Diffring, apparently the only homicide detective in Belgium, and Bernard Rebel. They run around and make deals with Lawrence, who has already stolen Pohlmann's jewel collection by this point, and take potshots at various people because the maguffin is worth, in the immortal words of Dr. Evil, "One million dollars!" in Berlin.

This being a second feature from Butcher's and directed by the indefatigable Maclean Rogers, it will kill an hour if you're not expecting anything brilliant.

Over complicated plot

[malcolmgsw · 4/10 · 21 July 2015]

I rather lost the rather complicated plot on this one.Maybe it was the unusual sight of Anton Differing playing a good cop.however the first scene rather set my teeth on edge.A scientist is shot in the chest from about 10 feet,the killer places the gun in his hand,and for some strange reason the police assume that he committed suicide.This undermined the whole film for me.From then on the film had so many twists i reminded me of a coiled python.However at no time did it show any sign of life.Lots of location shooting but to no real effect.A really poor effort,and rather a waste of time.The title is rather misleading.

One of the dumbest movies I've ever seen.

[dbborroughs · 1/10 · 30 January 2007]

There are times when a movie surprises even those who thought they were beyond being shocked. It doesn't happen often but every now and again even I can be shocked at how stupid a script is. Forgive me for sounding so egotistical but this movie is so incredibly stupid that it makes you feel like you could take over a world filled with dummies like those portrayed in this film.

The plot is simple, some bad guys kill a scientist working on a new metal, making it look like a suicide. They then have a jeweler make it into a cigarette case for easy smuggling. Enter an American Jewel smuggler...and this is absolutely one of the worst plotted movies I've ever seen. The detectives ignore clues and just stand around (they can't find what the dead scientist was working on but we saw the liquid metal dripping on the floor, the man is shot in the chest from across the room yet the gun is found in his hand by his head, ever hear of powder burns?). Everyone does what is the least likely thing that anyone in a similar situation would do. It boggles the mind at how stupid these people are. You want to scream at the screen because these people are so dense and stupid. Its a truly frustrating exercise. I made it half way into this turkey before I had to shut it off lest I die of apoplexy.

Mind bogglingly bad-and coming from me thats saying a great deal since I love bad movies, just not ones this bad.

Stodgy Butcher's effort

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 6 November 2015]

MARK OF THE PHOENIX is a stodgy little effort from the reliably poor Butcher's Film Service. This one tries for a Cold War vibe but ends up being poorly-plotted and rather uninteresting, with long stretches where nothing happens. The cast of rogues are hardly engaging and the storyline, about a new metal alloy which everybody's trying to get their hands on, is particularly dull.

The film features Anton Diffring and Roger Delgado as a couple of detectives on the hunt for a cigarette case, and there are various murders and fights between principal characters along the way. However, the direction is constantly pedestrian - Maclean Rogers did a lot better with some of the Paul Temple films earlier in his career - and the script from CARRY ON writer Norman Hudis fails to find any sympathetic characters in the cast. It's nice to see Diffring and Delgado playing the good guys for a change, but they have very little screen time at the end of the day.

Mark of the Phoenix

[CinemaSerf · 5/10 · 9 February 2023]

This has a surprisingly decent cast for a cheap and cheerful cold war espionage thriller. A special metal that could change the whole future of warfare is crafted into a cigarette case that accidentally falls into the hands of American jewel thief "Martin" (Sheldon Lawrence). Needless to say, those sinister folks want it back and what ensues over the next hour is a rather feebly constructed drama that rather joins the dots before an ending that offers little by way of suspense or jeopardy. It's quite dialogue heavy too, with little chemistry between Lawrence and the unremarkable Julia Arnell ("Petra") and though it passes the time effortlessly enough, it's all quite forgettable.

Nostalgic & Fascinating

[chris-4016 · 7/10 · 19 April 2018]

All manner of interesting detail, if you study it well

Classic cars, like the Ford Zodiac, with whitewall tyres, and the Citroen Traction Avant

The planes and airline scenes are well worth studying too

The plot might be thin by today's standards, but the Brussells street views more than make up for it

I found it thoroughly entertaining, and worth watching

Flat, unappealing and confused

[myriamlenys · 3/10 · 20 April 2023]

A jewel thief of cosmopolitan habits travels to Brussels in order to propose his latest loot to a local fence. This is a reasonable decision, since the fence has shown himself to be fair and reliable - at least where criminal matters are concerned. The jewel thief does not realize he is walking into a morass. Soon he'll have to contend with common-law criminals, Eastern bloc spies, expensive gangster molls AND the Belgian police...

As a Belgian I'm especially fond of watching (and reviewing) movies with some connection to Belgium. Consequently I started watching "Mark of the phoenix" with great expectations. A tale of crime, espionage and international intrigue set in Brussels ? Gimme, gimme ! Alas, it is hard to think up something nice to say about the movie. "Mark of the phoenix" reminded me a lot of that first pancake you bake before your pan reaches the right temperature : a shapeless, heavy puddle that succeeds in being both raw and overcooked. There were some valuable ideas and storylines, but these got lost in the mess. About the only thing I liked was the jewel thief protagonist, who was played by an actor with genuine charm.

The movie seemed to be weirdly preoccupied with Belgian aviation. It's a good thing that I've got such an open, guileless nature, otherwise I'd suspect some kind of lucrative publicity deal with "Sabena".

You'll notice, dear reader, that "Mark of the phoenix" ends with the Brussels police inspector telling a suspect to sashay away, preferably on a permanent basis. Unlike much of the other material, this detail feels like an authentically Belgian touch. Arresting someone means filling in heaps of paperwork, while telling someone to hit the road, Jack, calls for no paperwork at all. For many Belgian officials the choice does not even register as a choice.

Should any reader wish to film a modern-day espionage/crime movie in Brussels : I'm willing to function as your guide, location scout and concrete jungle expert. Hell, give me a fake beard and I'll even play your genius scientist ! I work for peanuts and martinis.

From the novel by Desmond Cory, who created the first 'licensed to kill' character aka "the thinking man's James Bond"

[sue-colleycross · 8/10 · 19 February 2023]

The film has an interesting and complex plot dotted with humour, as perhaps expected from the combination of its writer's experiences, as a post WWII commando in the Royal Marines, an Oxford University graduate in English literature, a technical translator and an associate professor. Desmond Cory's prolific writing career produced 45 spy thrillers as well as several screenplays, radio scripts, children's books and academic papers.

In Mark of the Phoenix we have real locations, which give the plot more authenticity than the usual budget thriller. I'm not sure why IMDb has the film's location as Walton-on-Thames? Check out ReelStreets for the actual settings. Locating the action in Bruxelles is also a coup de maître, in that the Belgian education system encourages fluency in English to avoid the obvious language conflicts. Furthermore, Bruxelles is both a multicultural city and a travel hub for the rest of Europe and Asia. In the fifties however, planes and helicopters were perhaps considered more stylish than the noir-esque night train from Bruxelles to Berlin.

The Mark of the Phoenix plot works because everything has been pre-planned and by one character for a single outcome and just as a hint, it is not the delivery of a cigarette case. It's all in the title.

Good story line

[1bilbo · 7/10 · 9 October 2009]

There is actually a good story line here. Obviously the film had a zero budget and it shows but it is well worth the watch. There are numerous flaws but there is a great deal of attention to detail - I particularly liked the scenes in the shop when the lighter case was moulded and then electroplated. As an engineer it all looked pretty accurate to me. Also the genuine coldness of the murderers who took the life of a lonely scientist. I also found the story really good - the dissident who swapped hotel rooms was an interesting character.

Not the easiest film to get hold of but if you watch it in context of it's age and low finance it is quite good.

It's a fairly good way to pass an hour.....

[tarwaterthomas · 7/10 · 24 April 2023]

.....and what's more, it's a Cold War melodrama in which that lovable all-American jewel thief Chuck Martin (Sheldon Lawrence) arrives in Brussels, Belgium via transatlantic airliner to make another score, and comes into possession of a cigarette case. The only trouble is, that cigarette case is made of a revolutionary new metallic alloy that would render all ships, airplanes, tanks, and all other military equipment resistant to radioactivity, thus changing the face of atomic warfare. So what the Chuckster doesn't find out until it's too late that a spy ring from East Germany want that cigarette case; they had just got through murdering a hired metallurgist to make the case. Can't leave a witness behind, after all. So is Chuck Martin going to find it in his heart of hearts to save the Free World? Inspector Schell (Anton Diffring), the pride and joy of the Brussels police force, hopes so. And so does an European honeybabe named Petra (Julia Arnall). In the end, our hero does the right thing, only to be told by Inspector Schell to catch the next plane to America, stay out of Belgium, and never come back. Which means our hero does not get the girl. The lead actor, Sheldon Lawrence, does not ring a bell today. And that's because although he was born and raised in Denver, Colorado, he did plenty of work in British movies and television from 1955 to 1966, and stopped acting altogether. The next time he was heard from was when he passed away in 2021 in Denver, Colorado. This movie was based on a story by British author Desmond Cory, whose real name was Shaun Lloyd McCarthy (1928-2001); he was compared favorably to fellow Englishmen John Creasey and Ian Fleming. His Johnny Fedora novels earned a wide readership in the United States during the 1970s. This was a pretty good quickie flick, and it was actually filmed in Brussels. It's on YouTube. Watch and enjoy.