FuzzyTagz
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Scarlet
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
JohnHowardReid
On the same VCI "Hammer Film Noir" disc as "The Glass Tomb", is "Paid To Kill" (1954). This film, also known as "Five Days", is another unlikely venture for the credited Montgomery Tully. It is also excitingly photographed (for around half its length anyway) in true noir style by Jimmy Harvey. This one doesn't have the same all-pervasive noir mood of "The Glass Tomb", but mostly reserves these effects for the action scenes. On the other hand, the premise, whilst somewhat outlandish, is a rather suspenseful one, even though those of us who are used to the twists and turns of the average whodunit, will probably guess the solution. Nonetheless, the acting is solid, especially from delightfully seedy Paul Carpenter in one of his best roles ever as the "friend in need", and from Thea Gregory as the glamorous wife. Dane Clark walks through his role as the distracted company director with his usual assurance, while Howard Marion Crawford has a ball as an eccentric Egyptologist. Newspaperman, film critic and novelist Paul Tabori wrote the suspenseful story and screenplay.
blanche-2
Dane Clark was one of the actors who went to England and made these films for Hammer, Kit Parker Films, etc.Here he stars in "Paid to Kill," a 1954 film also starring Anthony Forwood, Paul Carpenter, and Cecile Chevreau.Clark plays a businessman out of options when an important deal falls through. Desiring security for his wife, whom he adores, he arranges for someone to kill him.We've seen this before, though it does contain a twist. However, it's pretty routine.Clark was a John Garfield wannabe who had a prolific, if not spectacular career in films and television for nearly five decades.Anthony Forwood, a tall, handsome Brit, was married to Glynis Johns before he became the manager and long-time companion of Dirk Bogarde. He actually made a few films in the '50s before working behind the scenes.I like these black and white British mystery/suspense films. Some are better than others, but they manage to be entertaining.
mark.waltz
Irony meets Film Noir in this study of an anxious C.E.O. who, believing he is on the verge of financial ruin, plots his own murder so his philandering wife will get the insurance money. But as fate has it, his fortunes turn, and he must stop the hit-man he hired to kill him before it is too late. "One way or another, I'm gonna get ya!" could be the theme song of one sequence where the killer goes after him in a variety of ways, and after these several attempts fail, he learns the truth.An above average entry in this series of Hammer Film Noirs (many of them less than mediocre), it is a variation of the old "D.O.A. plot where the victim tries to solve his own (possible) demise. A faithful secretary is his only confidante, and there's always a doubt as to who the real culprit is. Dane Clark may seem an odd choice to play a corporate executive (especially one in England), but he's actually quite good. There's a very funny sequence involving a rare Aztec vase being protected by a nervous assistant to the over-the-top Sydney Greenstreet like archaeologist whose denouncement at the very beginning of the film sets Clark's plans into motion.
MARIO GAUCI
I'd always been interested in catching some of the films from Hammer's pre-horror boom; so far, the only title I'd come across was PHANTOM SHIP (1935) which was made a couple of decades before the studio reached its peak period but which, presciently, starred one of the era's horror icons – Bela Lugosi.Anyway, Hammer apparently made a whole slew of ultra low-budget noirs featuring either faded American stars or second-tier leading men. This one, then, happened to be shown on late-night Italian TV and, knowing it's been released on DVD by VCI, I made it a point to check it out. It turned out to be a decidedly modest but not unpleasing little film: the star in this case is Dane Clark (not exactly top rank, you see) and, as I lay watching, felt that he wasn't really noir material – an opinion which, incidentally, I would change the very next day when I saw this same actor in the superior French-made GUNMAN IN THE STREETS (1950)! The plot, though far-fetched, is engaging: Clark's business fails and, in order to provide for his wife, proposes to have himself killed so that she can collect on his insurance; soon after, his fortune unexpectedly turns and he desperately seeks to stop his killer from carrying out the assigned task! Even if I watched the film dubbed in Italian, the London settings and character types offer a whole different atmosphere to the American noirs – the same thing goes for the French locations of GUNMAN IN THE STREETS – and this does help keep one's mind off the measly production values. The denouement provides a few surprises – Clark's wife emerges a villainess (which allows him free rein with the devoted secretary who had really loved him all along), the attempts on his life turn out not to have been done by the person he paid expressly for that purpose – which elevates the whole slightly than would otherwise have been the case. Besides, the film is short enough at 75 minutes not to overstay its welcome or allow the proceedings to slip into tedium. By the way, the original British title of this one is FIVE DAYS (the period of time over which events take place) but got changed to the more evocative PAID TO KILL for the U.S.
