Never Back Losers (1961) User Reviews (8)

Tim Fraser in Training

[howardmorley · 7/10 · 3 June 2016]

I thought this Merton Park Films 'B' feature was worth a 7/10 rating as it held my interest for its duration of about 50 mins. or so.I was 14 in 1960 when the star of "The World of Tim Fraser" (Jack Hedley) was transmitted as a TV series by the BBC and this Francis Durbridge series is still remembered by this 70 year viewer along with a few other reviewers apparently.The world of fixing horse races and accompanying crooked betting by gangsters is an oft repeated theme.The TV commentary appeared to be by the late Peter O'Sullivan who regularly commentated on horse racing on "Grandstand" the flagship BBC sports Saturday TV programme.

My goodness what a dangerous job insurance investigation work was portrayed by the media back then in 1961 with no danger money paid and working for only £15 per week! As my captioned Summary title series was transmitted in 1960 it appeared that for the plot of "Never Back Losers" private investigator Tim Fraser, was in training. P.S. I always like to see again cars from this era and see if I can remember the makers model type.Alas so many British marques have now disappeared.

"You've been reading too many detective stories"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 6/10 · 31 August 2019]

Another Merton Park Studios adaptation of an Edgar Wallace novel concerning an insurance company investigating a claim from a horse jockey who has been in a car crash. But was the accident an accident? The company send inexperienced Jim Mathews to look into it and he enters a murky world of crooked gambling and fixed races. It is a competent film with the usual good cinematography from capable Bert Mason and director Robert Tronson moves the film along at a good pace.

Jack Hedley as Jim Mathews grows in the role well, from immature enthusiasm to real determination. Hedley was a reliable performer who excelled in ordinary heroism. Also in the film, and dominating every scene he is in, is Patrick Magee as the criminal Ben Black. He might be affable on the outside but you can tell he is a very dangerous man. There are welcome character actors in support roles like Richard Warner, Derek Francis, Hilda Barry and the ubiquitous Harold Goodwin.

Better than the usual Wallace "B" movie

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 3 November 2013]

This one was adapted by Lukas Heller from Edgar Wallace's 1929 novel, "The Green Ribbon", a fact that shows up in the better characterizations and the interest-getting introduction. Robert Tronson is one of the more skillful directors in this league but budget restrictions prevent him from making as much of the climax as even someone like Vernon Sewell would have. All the same, the players are certainly agreeable and the movie has sufficient pace to sustain an audience's interest at a passable level. Camera operator: Herbert Smith. Wardrobe: Eileen Welch. Make-up: Aldo Manganaro. Hair styles: Hilda Fox. Set continuity: Marjorie Owens. Music composed and conducted by Bernard Ebbinghouse. Title music: Michael Carr. Assistant director: Ted Lewis. Casting director: Ronald Curtis. Sound editor: Roy Norman. Sound recording: Sid Rider, Ron Abbott. Associate producer: Jim O'Connolly. Production manager: Joe Levy. London trade show: December 1961. U.S. release through Schoenfeld: 27 September 1967 (sic). Australian release through British Empire Films: 13 September 1963. 61 minutes.

No Dog In The Fight, No Horse In The Race

[robin-moss2 · 7 May 2013]

Never Back Losers is another in the British series of B feature movies based on the stories of Edgar Wallace. As was so often the case in this series, the basic story does not make sense but this was concealed by the film's very brisk pace.

Two rival gangs of crooks are trying to "fix" horse races and a jockey is coshed and left for dead in a stage-managed car crash. An insurance investigator makes routine enquiries into the "accident" and one of the gang leaders feels threatened by this and takes counter measures. This central premise of a gang leader being worried about an insurance investigator looking for an excuse not pay the insurance claim does not make any sense. All the investigator needed to do was to point out that he was not a police officer and that it was none of his business who committed which offence.

The acting in Never Back Losers is variable. Jack Hedley is quite good as the amiable insurance investigator and Patrick Magee is very good as the sinister gang leader. Jacqueline Ellis is an attractive heroine despite the confused screenplay doing her no favours. Unfortunately, some of the other actors give quite bad performances.

The photography and lighting are very good for a film with a 20 days shooting schedule, and the editing is tight and well paced.

Edgar Wallace's Literally Episodic Programmer

[TheFearmakers · 7/10 · 18 October 2022]

Another b-crime programmer from the early 1960's that was originally an episode of the British anthology EDGAR WALLACE MYSTERY THEATER, and Jack Hedley, who we follow from a boring desk job at an insurance company, becomes their mobile investigator...

And with an hour runtime, it's not long until he finds not only the villain in a slithering Patrick Magee, but ingenue Jacqueline Ellis, a bad girl initially, visiting Jack's home with an angry pistol drawn...

Turns out she's really not bad, only worried, as her brother's a jockey mixed up with a crooked gambling ring and might be the next horseman dead after the one being investigated here...

All so Magee can fix horses better than his rival, who Jacqueline Ellis worked for, and NEVER BACK LOSERS provides one of the most laidback gumshoe-types in Jack Hedley... resembling a sophisticated, leading man version of character-actor Eddie Byrne... and despite the fact he never seems pressured there's still some intrigue and suspense, and that pretty dame's always by his side.

Not amongst the best of the Edgar Wallace Series.

[ronevickers · 4/10 · 4 February 2014]

Unfortunately "Never Back Losers" is one of the weaker efforts in the Edgar Wallace series of mysteries. Whilst most other entries feature solid acting performances, allied to a strong storyline, this film fails on both counts. The story is wayward, and doesn't really make a great deal of sense. Many of the situations depicted are simply difficult to believe, in the extreme, and the lack of progression becomes quite irritating at times. The film is also badly let down by the standard of acting. Apart from the always reliable Patrick Magee, the rest of the performances are patchy at best. Even amongst the leading players, the acting is pretty poor. Not a memorable contribution to the series at all, I'm afraid.

Stand-out entry in the Edgar Wallace series

[lucyrfisher · 9/10 · 11 November 2021]

Jack Hedley is good as the insurance man sick of punching an adding machine. He's sent to investigate a jockey's "car accident" which has left him severely injured after possibly throwing a race. His boss (who has a posh accent and an RAF moustache and generally acts like "M") sends him to talk to some bookies and get the background. Of these bookies says he should see "Ben Black" and might find him in the Silver Moon club.

It's a basement drinking club, strangely empty as so often in films like this. But there's a skimpily clad cigarette girl who seems too nice to be doing such a job. Hedley draws a blank and leaves, but is roughed up outside. The girl (Jacqueline Ellis) offers to patch him up, but a customer who was playing the fruit machine says he'll take him to Ben Black.

The best scene follows, with Patrick Magee mesmerising as the gang boss. Hedley and Magee trade well-written dialogue.

More plot transpires. Hedley is in a hotel room (I can't remember why) when the cigarette girl comes through the door with a gun. Turns out she only wants to protect her younger brother who is riding the horse the injured jockey would have ridden. Gang A want him to lose and are putting pressure on with bribes and threats, but Ben Black's lot have a lot on him winning.

Hedley stays around to see he gets to the course safely, but then he and Ellis are captured by Black's gang and they all sit down to watch the race in a modernistic flat with some interesting wall art.

The tension piles up, the plot is wound up, and Hedley and Ellis run off together through Soho in the rain.

Ellis is good too, and pretty - but why is she wearing a black wig?

The usual scheme.

[searchanddestroy-1 · 25 September 2011]

A UK thriller in the American way. A private detective investigates on the accident of a jockey just after a race where he lost. And not only him, but also a bunch of guys who bet on him. Everything is predictable here, but it's not bad after all. It looks like a US piece of work, with a score adequate to the situations; little jazzy enough to keep some interest to the atmosphere. Gals, gangsters, handsome private eye snooping around, you have already seen this a billion times before, and will be after this too.

Forgettable but a pretty time waster for lonesome Sunday evenings.

I don't know the director, but I guess he made other Edgard Wallace Mystery episodes, or films.