Cage of Evil (1960)

CAGE OF EVIL – 1960A somewhat predicable low budget crime thriller, that suffers from a lack of thrill. Police Detective Ron Foster is assigned a case involving the robbery of a wholesale diamond seller. One man is in hospital suffering from a blow to the head. The Police soon discover that the alarm system has been sabotaged. Foster suspects one of the employees of being an inside man for the heist. Foster roughs up the man who turns out to have nothing to do with the robbery. Foster could not have picked a worse time to lay hands on a civilian. He is up for a promotion and the incident has a negative impression on the higher ups. Foster is most annoyed with being skipped over. The diamond case soon has a possible lead. Patricia Blair, a girl popular with certain underworld types is looked into. Foster goes undercover and is soon swapping spit with the pretty blonde. Foster falls for the bimbo and is soon in cahoots with Blair. Blair is in fact a middleman between underworld types and high end fences, who buy the stolen jewels etc. Foster and Blair plan on setting up a meeting between the diamond thief and a big fence. They intend to take out both and keep the cash and the stones. They plan on then heading south of border time for sunshine and good times. This idea needless to say hits a few speed bumps. The bodies soon start to pile up, including Foster's Police partner, Harp McGuire. It is only because Foster is a cop that he can stay one step ahead of everything. This of course cannot last for long. The Police soon tumble to Foster's bit in the killings. Foster and Blair snag a flight to Mexico and hopefully safety. No such luck, as the Federale's have been alerted by the US side. Foster draws his piece but comes out on the losing end of the exchange. Blair and the stones are grabbed up for return to the States.Prolific b-film helmsman Edward L. Cahn loses the pace with this one. Cahn cranked out over 125 features during his 30 years in the business. He pumped out several above average b-features, including, DESTINATION MURDER, GIRLS IN PRISON, INSIDE THE MAFIA, THREE CAME TO KILL and the 50's sci-fi classic, IT, THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE. Patricia Blair was known to a generation of TV viewers from her roles on, THE RIFLEMAN and the long running DANIEL BOONE series.

A handsome Ron Foster is about the only fun thing in this film.The ending is given away at the very beginning by the narrator so forget any suspense. "This was the last crime Scott Harper (Ron Foster) would investigate where did he go wrong...." What a fizzle that is.It is a typical B production crime cop turns bad plot. I am not sure why it is labeled noir it seems a typical crime movie to me---noir I expect the unexpected. This thing was boiler plate.Poor Harper is beset by the worst luck imaginable and makes so many dumb decisions. This movie is for the uninformed audiences. I am sure even in 1960 Mexico had extradition treaties with the US...Harper should have known he could be tailed by the rental car and dumped it off someplace other than the airport like maybe another rental car agency then a taxi..... Or he could have rented it in a different name I mean they were on the lam. Also this guy was a detective for 7 years he would know the ins and outs of the system.Of course this being Hollywood crime doesn't pay--DULL.It is entertaining if you have absolutely nothing else.I give it 2 stars.DO NOT RECOMMEND

Cage of Evil (1960) ** (out of 4) Routine and rather lifeless crime picture has Detective Scott Harper (Ben Foster) getting assigned to a diamond heist, which left one man dead. The detective starts to investigate showgirl Holly Taylor (Patricia Blair) who has a connection the big crime boss but soon the two fall in love and the detective decides to go bad and get the diamonds for himself. CAGE OF EVIL features just about every cliché you can imagine from the crime genre and by the time it's over you'll be slightly entertained but there's still no question that you've seen this type of thing so many times before and this here doesn't add anything new. I mentioned being slightly entertained and the main reason for this is that the detective is simply so stupid and makes so many stupid mistakes that you really can't help but be entertained by how many dumb things he does. I mean, it's easy to believe that he'd turn bad after being passed over on a promotion but at the same time he just makes one mistake after another. A detective should know how to work around the system but this guy makes such boneheaded mistakes that even a newborn baby wouldn't do something of the things he does. Another problem is that director Edward L. Cahn really doesn't bother building up any real drama or suspense. The entire film comes off rather flat and it appears that the director was just wanting to get everything on film, on budget and he didn't stretch to try and do anything special. The story itself is pretty familiar stuff but the final ten minutes do start to pick up and lead to a nice ending. CAGE OF EVIL really isn't recommended to anyone except for those who must see every crime pic from this era.

Disgruntled cop Ron Foster, passed over for promotion one time too many, is seduced by B-girl Patricia Blair into a diamond theft scheme. And then things go downhill! Considering the general run of director Cahn's many B-pix of the 1950s and early 1960s, this one is rather above average. The look is more standard b/w TV of the late 50s than film noir, but the two leads are very good and put some life into it. There is more outdoor shooting than usual, and the ending adheres to the Production Code of the day.