Appointment with Crime (1946) User Reviews (23)

British Noir

[boblipton · 6/10 · 17 July 2005]

This decent British noir is about a petty crook who gets out of prison and is caught between the police looking for a murderer and the crooks who got him put in prison in a smash and grab job. It is a lot grittier than American noir. William Hartnell is very believable as the ex-con and Joyce Howard is fine as the not-too-bright dance hall girl who believes him. American noirs seem to have a sheen of glamor in comparison to this underclass melodrama.

There is a strong homosexual component to the underworld in this movie, with Herbert Lom as an effete foreign crime boss; his chief henchman plays his role as flamboyantly homosexual, just shy of a British comedy. The whole thing looks shot cheaply, which adds to the grime, and the direction and actors don't seem to do full justice to the script, but the net effect is decent. Worth a look.

Hartnell is Britain's own James Cagney in this one!

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 15 March 2020]

... Just transpose the James Cagney of "The Public Enemy" into immediately post-war Britain and make him a loner, but a bit of an enigma at first. But as the film rolls on you will not like what you learn about Hartnell's character, Leo.

Leo is recruited by a couple of gangsters - Loman and Hatchet - who use a dance hall as a front, to do a smash and grab job at a jewelry store. Things go terribly wrong when a protective awning in the display window falls on Leo's wrists and he is then apprehended by the police and does time. The gang does not stand behind him as they had promised after Leo gets caught but, seriously, what could they have done but get caught themselves? But Leo is the type to hold a grudge. When he gets out of jail he goes straight to Loman and says to pay the debt they owe him - the imprisonment and permanent damage to his wrists - they should give him a job. He is rebuffed and thrown out. And from there Leo becomes the original Darkman minus the burns and decides to frame the framers, so to speak.

The film is - I think - being intentionally vague about what Leo did before he was caught and imprisoned. The beginning might even have you believing he might have been a musician, as I could not see what his obsession was with the permanent damage to his wrists. That is probably so that he initially has the sympathy of the audience. And they don't really change that characterization much until a true sympathetic character - a dance hall girl, worn down by life at a young age, who is impressed by Leo's kindness and attention in the face of his excon "just one mistake" underdog status - appears.

This film has something you would not see in American films at the time since Britain never had an all encompassing production code like the US. In this film the something that you would not see in American movies is an almost openly gay couple who have pretty prominent roles, with one member of the couple being particularly flamboyant for the time.

One thing that this film does that you would see in 1946 American films? This British noir, one year after the war is over, when Britain is still largely in ruins, has completely erased the war. Apparently the crime syndicate in the film, the police careers involved, and the dance hall girls along with that noir lifestyle have histories that seem to go back five years without mention of warfare.

I'd recommend this one. It doesn't have any stars that most Americans will have heard of with maybe the exception of the always interesting Herbert Lom, but everybody does a commendable job in a film with a plot that will keep your interest and plenty of atmosphere.

Gritty Britnoir which loses steam along the way

[XhcnoirX · 6/10 · 1 April 2016]

William Hartnell is part of a smash & grab crew led by Raymond Lovell. When Hartnell smashes a jeweler's window, a protective gate drops on his wrists, breaking them, and the crew takes off without him before the police arrives. After serving time in prison, Hartnell wants to get even with Lovell and his crew, by framing him for the murder of his chauffeur, using Lovell's gun. He establishes an alibi for himself through dancer-for-hire Joyce Howard, but police inspector Robert Beatty thinks Howard is a bit too eager to support Hartnell's alibi and digs deeper. Lovell's gun however belongs to Herbert Lom, art dealer by day, Lovell's criminal boss by night. So rather than getting even with Lovell, Hartnell now has to deal with the police, as well as Lom.

Hartnell ('Brighton Rock', the first Doctor Who) plays his character as tightly wound as possible (or incredibly stiff, depending on your point of view), which works well for me. Every time you sorta start to feel sympathy for him, he does something mean again (despite caring for Howard, he still deceives and lies to her to save his own skin). Lom ('Night And The City', 'Hell Drivers') is great as a suave crook. They are the standouts in an otherwise decent but unremarkable cast. I wish Joyce Howard's character wasn't written as naively as it is, it doesn't work too well with the 'street wise' side of her character.

The movie starts out great with a quick set-up and some really nicely done shots, including extreme Dutch angles and shadow-rich scenes. I was hoping for a precursor to the awesome 'Brighton Rock' already, but after a while things start to lose steam. There are still plenty of shadows and decent shots, but the plot becomes unnecessarily muddy and even slow in places. It is however gritty, both in Hartnell's character as in the overall feel. Not a bad effort from director & writer John Harlow (who also directed/wrote a couple of Sexton Blake movies) but it doesn't live up to the great first 10-15 minutes. 6.5/10

Hands Off

[tedg · 12 February 2015]

For me, noir is a very specific form. It is as pervasive and important an invention as Jazz.

The thing that distinguishes it is a main character who is put through the wringer in circumstances that would never occur if there were not us ghosts watching and manipulating reality.

It had a long incubation period in the 30s with much experimentation, then a brief period of pure noir bracketed by Welles' projects. Along the way are other experiments; this is one that failed. Here we have our average joe caught up in events. But we learn he is a petty crook to begin with, and when things go wrong he plots to get even.

The experiments here are:

— he is not completely an innocent and not afraid to harm others.

— the control of events in the film is neither with him or us (until a final irony on the last few seconds). Nor does it alternate.

— the bad guys here are stereotypically gay.

So mark this one up to a British experiment with this new US-generated noir idea. Experiments like this that fail are important in defining the vocabulary we use, perhaps more than what works.

Brisk Uk noir

[gordonl56 · 7/10 · 15 February 2008]

Decent film noir with a U.K. twist. William Hartnell plays a gang member who gets left behind when a robbery goes wrong. He is grabbed up by the police but refuses to give up the other gang members. He is sent up the river for several years to think about his choice of employment. When he gets out he lets the crime boss, Herbert Lom, know that he expects a nice payoff for time spent in jail. Lom does not see it the same way and decides to dispose of Hartnell. This causes the bodies to pile up since Hartnell is not willing to go without a fight. Hartnell is quite good in this better than expected low budget crime film. Well worth catching it if you can find it. (b/w)

Mr Hartnell should have grassed his mates up and saved us a rather....

[ianlouisiana · 7/10 · 14 January 2018]

Convoluted plot.Instead,like many a villain,he keeps schtum and plans revenge on his co - freres whilst doing his bird. I read the word "noir" freely bandied about in reference to "Appointment with crime" but as I watched it I saw only a semi - quota picture with second division actors doing their best to look and sound tough - mainly by glaring and speaking loudly it should be said. I think "eccentric" would be a better word to describe it,and I use the term generously. At a time when homosexuality was frowned upon(it wasn't illegal to be gay - just illegal to commit homosexual acts - a fine distinction to be sure),it was quite brave to present two characters with overtly camp mannerisms that weren't remotely funny. Revenge,they say,is a dish best served cold,or alternately,if you go out for revenge first dig two graves. Mr Hartnell's spiv may or not have been aware of these aphorisms and if he was he probably wouldn't have cared. In his world he would have been less of a man if he let people take liberties. "Appointment with crime" is one of many good British films forgotten or neglected rather unfairly. Everyone does what was expected of them,the direction has many nice touches and with everybody gone to that big studio in the sky I may be seeing things through rose - coloured glasses but for all its many repellent characters it does have a certain charm.

Half and Half

[zboston3 · 7/10 · 28 January 2017]

I'm giving this 7 stars mostly for the first half of the picture. If you're bored by bloated, CGI filled epics such as Hollywood has been grinding out for the last few years than this evidently early swing at film noir from Britain can be a refreshing change.

In the first half you've got a lot of out of the ordinary camera work that will keep your interested, and a host of unusual characters. The star portrays a cold blooded, almost robotic killer who's mixed up with a boss who looks and sounds like a British Orson Welles and then there's Herbert Lom as the over boss who seems a bit swishy. Not to mention some other English actors who are unfamiliar and a bit unusual.

Unfortunately the film seems to sag about half way through and never quite recovers though it can still be worth hanging on to the end,

Tough, low key British crime

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 1 May 2020]

APPOINTMENT WITH CRIME is a grim and gloomy British crime film which reminds one of everything from POINT BREAK to FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL. William Hartnell, no stranger to tough characters, plays an ex-con who finds himself crippled during a smash-and-grab robbery and ends up swearing vengeance on his former accomplices who abandoned him to spend years in prison. The film has a low key look and feel to it, enhanced by strong performances and an ahead-of-its-time character in the form of Herbert Lom's homosexual mob boss - something rarely even hinted at during the 1940s. There are a couple of violent interludes straight out of a horror film to boot.

Just okay

[dbborroughs · 4/10 · 16 June 2011]

Okay British crime drama with William Hartnell as a crook who gets caught in a smash and grab when a gate falls on his wrists. When he gets out of prison he tells his boss he wants money for not saying anything- the boss says no so Hartnell plots revenge.

This is the first lead role I've seen with Hartnell outside of Doctor Who and it's clear why he was always a character. He's incredibly stiff, which made him perfect for the soldiers and policemen he often played in other films.

The film just missed for me being more stylized than anything-tilted cameras people standing in tableaux. There is something there that makes it better than just a typical crime film, but at the same time there is a formality that under cuts it.

A man goes for revenge after imprisonment

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 26 November 2021]

Right before the final few moments of 1946's "Appointment with Crime," I realized I saw it many, many years ago - the final scene is very striking.

William Hartnell plays Leo Martin, who went along with a robbery scheme and was badly injured and wound up in prison while the other perps went free. When he is released from prison, he plans his revenge.

One of his ex-partners, Loman (Raymond Lovell) runs a dime a dance joint. Leo wants a job from him and subsequently learns that the job, a jewelry store robbery, was actually planned by someone else - Gregory Lang (Herbert Lom), an art dealer.

Leo comes up with a way of framing Loman for the murder of the other partner, and then blackmailing Lang, whose gun was used. He also gives himself a great alibi for the murder. At the time it occurred, he was at the dance club monopolizing the time of Carol (Joyce Howard).

Lom is appropriately classy and slimy at the same time. Hartnell is scarily effective and manages to talk without moving his mouth very much.

I have been working off of a list of noirs and near-noirs - many of them atrocious - and this is a cut above those I've seen.

Tough slogging to get through this one

[Paularoc · 3/10 · 30 August 2012]

It was a effort to watch this tale of a petty thug's quest for revenge against fellow thugs who left him behind in a botched smash and grab robbery. Leo Martin goes to prison for years and thinks only of getting even with his erstwhile colleagues. So he sets up an elaborate plot and alibi which of course goes awry. William Hartnell is either very miscast in this part or just a normally stiff and unconvincing actor. His character is unlikable, uninteresting and bland. The only reason I kept watching this was because of the appearance of Herbert Lom but not even he could save this dog. The one highlight of the film for me was Wilfred Hyde White's bit but a one minute appearance does not make up for over an hour of dreary boredom.

Wow...Hartnell plays a vicious little rat in this one!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 7 February 2020]

For Dr. Who fans, this film would be an interesting thing to see. While William Hartnell (the first Doctor) made quite a few movies, he didn't star in all that many...and here he is the star.

The film begins with Leo (Hartnell) doing a smash and grab job at a jewelry store. It goes horribly wrong and Leo's fellow gang members run away and leave him to the authorities. It's pretty doubtful they could have done much to help...but Leo is the type to hold a grudge. When he eventually gets out of prison, he seems to have one thing on his mind....revenge against his old mates. Soon they start dying off...and you wonder if Leo will take them all out during the course of this movie. However, some of the gang members are real tough and clever sorts...perhaps they can stop him before it's too late.

If you like film noir, then you'll probably enjoy this. Hartnell plays a real nasty little rat...sort of like a Jimmy Cagney type but much more vicious. It also has a really dandy ending! Well worth seeing...for Who fans and non-Whovians.

Pretty good Brit-noir

[jamesrupert2014 · 7/10 · 16 October 2022]

Small-time hood Leo Martin (William Hartnell), fingered by the coppers when his colleagues abandoned him after a botched smash-and-grab, swears revenge when he gets out of the joint. I must admit that I watched this British crime-meller because it starred Hartnell, the 'First Doctor' in the Dr. Who canon, but he is pretty good in a stiff way as the vengeful, amoral con (other than 'gangster honour', his character doesn't have many redeeming qualities). The story is pretty bleak, with the criminal life coming across as seedy and unpleasant rather than dangerous but slightly glamorous, as is common in many American films. Joyce Howard is a standout as Carol, a 'taxi dancer' working for 6p/dance at a sleazy nightclub, who initially befriends Leo and believes his protestations of innocence and good intentions, as are Herbert Lom as the crime boss and Alan Wheatley as his mincing, effete minion. Also worth mentioning is Ivor Barnard as a diminutive but menacing hitman. The melodrama is laid on a bit thick, especially in the first 10 minutes, and film is choppy at times, suffering from poor editing either in the initial production or afterwards when dealing with the censors (an abrupt cut from a pivotal 'torture' scene suggests the latter). The buildup to the climax is good but the ending is a bit flat. All in all, good but not great. Anyone wanting to see a pre-Who Hartnell play a hardcase would be better off watching 'Brighton Rock' (1948), in which he plays Dallow, the second-in-command to psychotic gangster 'Pinkie' Brown (David Attenborough).

1 - smash, 2 - grab, 3 - away

[AAdaSC · 4/10 · 16 April 2012]

William Hartnell (Leo Martin) feels he has been set up in a jewellery robbery that goes wrong. He is caught and sent to prison and then emerges keen on confronting his pals that let him down, ie Raymond Lovell (Gus Loman) who now owns a successful nightclub and chauffeur Victor Weske (Hatchett). He commits a murder and frames Lovell with blackmail by using Lovell's gun. However, Lovell's gun actually belongs to gang mastermind Herbert Lom (Gregory Land) and Lovell, in turn, blackmails Lom. Robert Beatty (Rogers) is the detective responsible for solving this murder and he pursues Hartnell and the dancehall hostess Joyce Howard (Carol) who Hartnell has been spending all his time with.

While the story is quite entertaining and has some clever moments, eg, the orangeade scene and it's later significance, the cast let things down. The worst offenders are the VERY unconvincing baddie Alan Wheatley (Noel), Joyce Howard, Raymond Lovell and William Hartnell. There are also minor characters that irritate. In fact, the film is only saved by Herbert Lom and Robert Beatty - a completely different league to the others. Not because they are doing anything outstanding but because they are capable of a competent, believable performance.

Alan Wheatley - convincing as a flowery homosexual but utterly wrong as a gangster. Awfully camp dialogue delivery. Joyce Howard - laughably bad at acting. Terrible diction. Raymond Lovell - another unconvincing gangster. Miscast as heavy with a lisp. William Hartnell - trying too hard to be tough. Pitches his voice in a semi-shout which can be hilarious (eg, when Howard asks his name, he shouts at her "Leo the Lion") but is mostly annoying.

Overall, the film is OK while you are watching but it needs a cast transplant. It has the potential to be a good film but this lot ruin it somewhat.

Interesting British crime drama kept me guessing and entertained at Cinevent film festival 2011.

[Larry41OnEbay-2 · 7/10 · 31 May 2011]

I was not familiar with the director or lead actor but I wanted to see this film for the great Herbert Lom who has a small but significant role. I don't like it when film buffs call a movie a "film noir" simply because it is a dark photoplay. To me a classic film noir has a femme fatal that leads a man down the road to ruin. In this film the female lead is an innocent dance hall girl that does not go bad nor does she lead any man to ruin! But the story was well told with an engaging plot, fascinating characters and an original look and feel that I recommend to anyone who thinks they've seen it all.

SPOILERS: The story is basically a revenge tale told of a petty thief forced to commit a crime who is caught and seeks revenge on those who set him up. After being released from jail his hunt for satisfaction leads him to murder and a carefully planned alibi with a lovely tough- girl.

The cast and directors are written about here on the IMDb and elsewhere on the web so I will not go into those details here. Bottom line, I found this little film engaging and entertaining and I want to thank Steve Haynes and the gang at Cinevent (annual silent & early sound film festival held every Memorial Day weekend in Columbus, Ohio) for projecting forgotten gems like this up on the BIG SCREEN where they should be seen/discovered, with an audience and enjoyed for the past 43 years!

Good first half but then loses its way

[malcolmgsw · 6/10 · 17 September 2020]

This shapes up to be a decent thriller but falls flat in the second half.Firstly there is some inexplicable editing.Hartnell is having his wrists put in a press then next scene he is in Herbert Loms office unscathed.He is then asked to go to Loms office in the morning.That scene doesn't appear and then Hartnell is on a train to rob some jewels.Essential exposition is omitted.Hartnells performance is variable and the climax is risible.

Starts well

[lucyrf · 7/10 · 14 July 2020]

The beginning is quite experimental as we flash back - forward - through what led William Hartnell to hunt down his former colleagues and pick them off one by one. Alan Wheatley is excellent as an outrageously camp gang member whose speciality is rubbing out awkward customers. As in I See a Dark Stranger, the supporting cast in cameo roles are almost the best thing about this movie. The script is snappy - to start with, anyway, and everybody can be clearly heard.

I liked Joyce Howard as the dance hall hostess. She delivers hardboiled dialogue in an authentically "common" accent. Yes, no Hayes code in Britain - the word "lavatory" is even spoken out loud and the body is discovered by a gent aiming to use an air raid shelter as a gents. Alan Wheatley almost throws up when Herbert Lom is riddled with bullets. About those bullets - the fight scenes and gunshots are pretty unconvincing. Leo is barely aiming at Lom and the gun sounds like a cap gun.

The last scene on the train is beyond melodramatic and would defy any actor to make it convincing. But as always with British noir the story is set in wonderfully drab interiors, apart from Herbert Lom's pad full of "exquisite" antiques. I wish dance halls still existed. (They drink orangeade because those places didn't have a licence.)

Was the original story set in America, with its talk of 10 cents a dance and taking a train to the coast? What if Carol got on the wrong "coast" train at Victoria and ended up in Eastbourne?

Appointment with Crime

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 8 January 2023]

Petty thief "Leo" (William Hartnell) is left high and dry by his cohorts when a robbery goes wrong. Determined on vengeance when he is eventually released from jail, he sets out to settle accounts with "Loman" (Raymond Lovell) and his lackey "Hatchett" (Victor Weske). Prison and rage have hardened this man, and "Loman", for one, underestimates the determination of "Leo". That's an error he soon rues as he is soon not only cleverly implicated in a murder but also put onto the radar of the formidable "Lang" (Herbert Lom) who has a very non-nonsense reputation! Robert Beatty could hardly be called a versatile actor, so actually fits the bill of the rather plodding "Insp. Rogers" rather well. Indeed, for the most part even the usually wooden Hartnell makes a decent fist of this tautly directed budget drama. The story is hardly an original one, but John Harlow does keep it moving well enough and it's a perfectly watchable afternoon feature.

One crime leading to a mess of developing crime traffic

[clanciai · 9/10 · 14 June 2020]

This is a grim drama and a real noir, and the more noir for being British. William Hartnell is perfect as the ex-convict who on a job going wrong was let down by his partners and goes to prison for it, and on his return to freedom concentrates on getting even with those who let him down, and of course that is a tricky way to go. He gets mixed up with a dancing girl (Joyce Howard) of course, they always do, who actually tries to help him since she believes he is on the level, but she has to pay for it. The catcher in the rye is Robert Beatty, the Canadian police inspector who tries to sort out the developing crime knot, while the spider in the web is no one less than Herbert Lom, also perfect for his job, an art dealer and true gentleman with other engagements as well. The muddle gets constantly trickier, but Hartnell seems to be able to get away with everything, when the past catches up with him. The end is as shocking as the beginning. It's one of those great films on the small scale, but it is indeed very noir, one of the most noir of all British noirs. Even innocence will remain disturbed for life.

Grim But Superbly Made British Crime Drama with William Hartnell

[zardoz-13 · 8/10 · 17 January 2017]

William Hartnell plays an arrogant, tough-as-nails, hoodlum in "Echo Murders" writer & director John Harlow's "Appointment with Crime," a grim, British, black & white thriller about treachery in the London underworld. Robert Beatty and Herbert Lom co-star in this atmospheric yarn. The incident that sets this grisly chain of events into motion is a botched jewelry heist in Bond Street with Leo Martin (William Hartnell of "Dr. Who") getting the surprise of his life. Leo smashes the display window of a jewelry shop with a brick. As he seizes a fistful of jewelry in each hand, a metal grate pins him by the wrists in the commission of his crime. Although he was caught and imprisoned, Leo refuses to inform on his accomplices, Gus Loman (Raymond Lovell of "The 49th Parallel") and Hatchet (Victor Weske), but he broods over their treachery while in prison. Leo murders Hatchet with a pistol that he took away from Loman, and then he blackmails Loman with the gun because it has Loman's fingerprints on it. The devious Leo designs an alibi that involves a dancer, Carol Dane (Joyce Howard of "Shadow of the Past"), who works at the club where Loman has a upstairs office. Meantime, Loman is considerably agitated because he lifted the pistol from a wealthy crime boss, Gregory Lang (Herbert Lom of "Hell Drivers"), without the latter's knowledge. Now, he seeks Lang's help. The sagacious Lang summons a man named Noel Penn (Alan Wheatley of "Spaceways"), who is conspicuously homosexual, to deal with both Loman and Leo. Noel takes his business to another compatriot who liquidates Loman and runs down Leo, but Leo manages to escape getting his feet in cement for a plunge in the Thames. This nifty little crime melodrama about 'crime does not pay' ends predictably bad for the unscrupulous rat that Hartnell plays.

EXCELLENT...BLEAK...GRITTY...BRITISH FILM-NOIR

[LeonLouisRicci · 8/10 · 27 August 2021]

Straight from the Middle of the Zeitgeist that will become Known as Film-Noir.

This British Movie is Expressionistic with Dutch Angles and a Dark, Brutal, Violent Tone that Captures the Elements of the Burgeoning Genre quite Well.

William Hartnell Pulls-Off a Cagneyesque Performance of Snarling Bitterness and Biting Revenge.

Only Slightly Lightens-Up after He Meets and Falls for a Dance-Hall-Dame (Joyce Howard) in an Endearing Role and Adds a Little Heart to this Glum Tale.

The Tone is Unwavering and Presents one of the Best of the Brit-Noirs of the Period.

A Psychological Study in Criminality and an Antagonist that is Unsympathetic.

Herbert Lom Plays an Unambiguous Homosexual Crime Boss that has a Partner that is Flamboyant and Exuberantly Gay.

Never seen in 1940's American Movies to this Extreme.

Above Average All Around and is a Film-Noir Sleeper.

Note...USA Audiences will notice the casual use of terms "Hell" and "Damn" that were completely absent in American Films of the 1940's.

Smash and Grab

[richardchatten · 8/10 · 24 April 2020]

A tough, ruthless thriller that resembles 'Point Blank' set in a postwar London rife with violence & criminality. Two of the more senior crooks are obviously a gay couple, and Ivor Barnard contributes a chilling cameo as a killer for hire in spectacles and a bowler hat.

Could have been a bit grittier

[searchanddestroy-1 · 11 February 2024]

The story itself is riveting enough to keep you awake all long the viewing, and the finale excellent, bitter, unforgettable. But the directing is too smooth for this kind of topic, scheme. Maybe the the late forties was not yet the best period for gangsters stories; I am sure that in the early sixties, with someone like Stanley Baker as the lead, it would have been terrific. But it remains a rare feature, very underrated in the British film noir history. The 2020's UK crime flicks are lousy for most of them. The director John Harlow was not a great one, he was not Basil Dearden nor Michael Powell or John Boulting.