Recoil (1953)

The film starts out promisingly enough.Kiernon Moore kills a jeweller during a robbery.This is witnessed by the jeweller's daughter Sellars,who the grapples with him.She decides to make her own investigations and visits crooked Martin Benson.In the building she recognises Moore but he doesn't recognise him.From here the film runs downhill fast.She actually gets lodging with Moores' doctor brother ,Underdown.She supposedly becomes Moores' lover with the idea of breaking the alibi that Underdown has given his brother.Events then get sillier and sillier till a climax which although supposed to be at night is clearly shot in the day.It is a potboiler which fails to convince or entertain.

John Gilling is one of the more talented directors who worked on British "B" pictures. This one starts off most promisingly with a high-speed car chase. It also comes to a fair climax in a deserted mansion AFTER an action shoot-out in a warehouse. There are also a couple of convincing fight scenes.Otherwise, however, this is very much a formula British "B"-picture affair. Mousey heroine-turned-detective Elizabeth Sellars tries hard to look seductive despite the director's poor choice of camera angles. Worse still, the script is padded with lots of time-wasting talk by drearily conceived characters and even less convincing players. Unfortunately, director Gilling seems to have fallen in love with his own script. At least 15 minutes of this excessive padding should have been trimmed before the film went into release.

Jean (Elizabeh Sellars) witnesses the murder of her father, Talbot (Ian Fleming) by Nicholas (Kieran Moore) during a jewelry robbery. The man behind it all is Farnborough (Martin Benson) but Nicholas has kept back some jewels for himself to bargain with Farnborough so that they can become equal partners. Farnborough rejects his deal and so begins a rival gang-war. Meanwhile the police are after Talbot's killer and Nicholas gets his brother, Michael (Edward Underdown), to provide an alibi for him. Jean rents a room in the same house that Michael has a doctor's practice so that she can befriend Nicholas with the purpose of revealing him as the killer. Both brothers fall in love with her and this brings extra dramatic tension to the story.The film follows how Jean gains Nicholas's confidence (with the police in the background), the war-fare between Fanborough and Nicholas's gangs, and the drama between Nicholas and his brother who don't see eye-to-eye. On a personal note, I didn't care much for the scenes with the mother (Ethel O'Shea) and I found it hard to believe that Nicholas and Michael were brothers because of their different accents! However, its a well-acted, tense story that is played out at a good speed.

The gorgeous Elizabeth Sellars stars in this gripping drama, though IMO wrongly cast she plays the part well in her usual faultless style.Her father is killed in a heist gone wrong and the criminal is seen by Jean (Elizabeth) but cleverly sets up an alibi which is unable to be faulted by the police. Jean then sets about trying to trap the killer (Edward Underdown) by whoring herself to him, much to the chagrin of Underdown's brother who has innocently supplied the alibi and thinks that Jean is the cat's pajamas.Cleverly working her way into the confidence of the killer and his cohorts, Jean keeps the police updated on the coming plans of the gang while the brother starts to realise he's been dudded into giving false information.A wonderful 'B' movie that moves along at a great pace with good acting and direction. The only downside seems to be the casting of some of the players - Edward Underdown and Keiron Moore as brothers? - tends to make one think of 'Twins' with Danny de Vito.Don't miss it if you get the opportunity. --- 8/ 10.