Themes: Dishonor Among Thieves, Criminal's Revenge
Main Cast: William Hartnell, Raymond Lovell, Robert Beatty, Herbert Lom, Joyce Howard
Release Year: 1945
Country: UK/US
Run Time: 91 minutes
Plot
Leo Martin (William Hartnell) is a low-level member of a smash-and-grab gang run by shady dance-club owner Loman (Raymond Lovell), who is cajoled into a risky job on a major jewelry store. When the robbery goes wrong, and Martin is caught (and his wrists broken), the hood keeps silent and does his stretch in prison -- all along, he nurses a grudge against Loman and his driver Hatchett (Victor Weske) for running out on him. And that grudge grows to full-blown, murderous vengeance when Loman blows off the newly-released Martin as no use to the gang (as his hands aren't what they used to be). Now Martin plans to get even by squeezing Loman dry of everything he has, starting with his peace-of-mind -- he implicates the club owner in a murder, while planning a seemingly perfect alibi for himself, and also manages to latch on to the ring-leader that Loman is fronting for, "respectable" art dealer Gregory Lang (Herbert Lom). Lang has a knack for tying up loose ends -- including Loman -- and thinks he can handle a low-level spiv like Martin, but he doesn't reckon with the latter's rage, deviousness, or resourcefulness. Martin's planning gets him past all of the obstacles in his way, even -- so it seems -- the plodding efforts of Inspector Rogers (Robert Beatty), still investigating the killing that put Martin's plan into operation. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Review
The British came to film noir at just about the same time that the Americans did -- it's just that fewer people noticed, and the genre never grabbed the imagination of audiences in England the way that it did Americans. But the British film industry did its share of film noir, of which Appointment With Crime is a good example, in addition to being the best picture that director John Harlow ever made. William Hartnell is a nasty, unpleasant, yet ever-so-slightly sympathetic protagonist, a crook with smashed wrists, the latter owing to the machinations of his boss Loman (Raymond Lovell at his oiliest). With his receding chin and darting, beady eyes, he resembles a demonic version of the kind of belligerent eccentrics that Howard Morris later specialized in on television. And the world he inhabits is filled with people just as unpleasant as he is, including untrustworthy (and un-reliable) gang leader Loman, gullible taxi dancer Joyce Howard, manipulative, murderous money man Gregory Lang (Herbert Lom), and his flamboyantly gay assassin Penn (Alan Wheatley). So when he starts planning revenge and murder -- and can figure far enough ahead to work out an alibi to give Inspector Rogers (Robert Beatty), as well as turn Lang's self-protective impulses to his advantage -- one can almost identify with his character, to the degree of wanting him to succeed, at least part of the way. Hartnell's energy drives this movie forward, and he's helped by some clever intermingling of montage sequences at the beginning, and quite a few odd and disconcerting camera angles at stretegic points, which make this movie look very interesting at several strategic points. Some of the expositional sequences plod a bit, but overall this is a lively, offbeat crime thriller with a lot of dark shadows, psychological and otherwise, hanging over its characters and action. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Alan Wheatley - Noel Penn; Cyril Smith - Sgt. Weeks; Elsie Wagstaffe - Mrs. Wilkins; Ian Fleming - Prison Governor; Wally Patch - Joe Fisher; Harry Lane - Big Mike; Kenneth Warrington - Winckle; Frederick Morant - Harry Millerton; Ian MacLean - Det. Mason; Victor Weske - Hatchett
Credit
John Harlow - Director, Gerald Moss - Cinematographer, James Wilson - Cinematographer, Louis Jackson - Producer, Michael Leighton - Screen Story, John Harlow - Screenwriter
