Here we have a typical fifties B thriller.A parachuted in American actor becomes involved in a spy plot featuring almost every plot device you can think of,with lots of familiar British character actors.Taylor wasn't a star so his inclusion is puzzling.There is a m aguffin of a secret formula.Quite frankly by the end i had rather lost track of exactly what was happening and why.
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malcolmgsw5 October 2018
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horn-524 November 2005Professor Henrik (Hugo Schuster), a world-famed scientist who holds the secret formula for a new type of jet fuel, returns to England, and his briefcase is switched with that of Ted O'Hara (Kent Taylor.)Henrik is met by his secretary , Joan Butler (Jane Hylton), but when she is called away Henrik is kidnapped by a gang, headed by a man called Zelinsky (Karel Stepanek.) O'Hara becomes acquainted with a Renee L'Epine (Kathleen Byron), who unknown to him, is a member of Zelinsky's gang. She and Squire Marlowe (Martin Boddey)take O'Hara, against his will, to Zlinsky's headquarters, and it is disclosed that they KNOW he has Henrik's briefcase---which is more than he knows---and are willing to pay him a considerable sum of money for it.
O'Hara gets in touch with Scotland Yard Inspector Dalton (John Boxer) and O'Hara tells Dalton that the name of Weber, an espionage agent, was mentioned by Zelinsky. The Inspector tells O'Hara to take the formula to Weber in Paris to negotiate with him. On the boat-train Renee and Dan Flemying (Maurice Kaufmann) take the formula from O'Hara and, arriving at Weber's establishment and have already handed it over to Otto Weber (Feredrick Walk), but they didn't have the code and O'Hara says he'll hop right back to England and get the code. A few days later, O'Hara follows Joan to Trafalgar Square, where he sees her hand something over to Marlowe...and, thusly, the plot thickens -
mark.waltz28 December 2021Switched briefcases indicate the wrong man being followed by enemy agents typical intrigue but in a very slow-moving pace. Professor Hugo Schuster's briefcase is accidentally picked up by American visitor Kent Taylor, and he is harassed by agents which includes the sinister looking Kathleen Byron. Taylor joins forces with Schuster's secretary Jane Hylton after the professor is kidnapped which takes them into some dark and mysterious places.
I was completely bored with this film which is repeating a storyline that has been done over and over again and so much better. The location footage isn't all that exciting, and the photography and sound are poor. The characters are all cliched, either all good or all bad, and the pacing makes this a snoozer. As a British quota quickie, it's tedious and tiresome.