THE LONG HAUL

Diana Dors and Victor Mature

THE LONG HAUL (1957). Director/co-screenplay: Ken Hughes. Colorized. 

American ex-GI Harry Miller (Victor Mature) lives in England with his wife, Connie (Gene Anderson) and little boy, Butch (Michael Wade). Desperate to find work he comes afoul of crooked trucker, Joe Easy (Patrick Allen of Night Creatures) and Easy's "easy" girlfriend, Lynn (Diana Dors), who transfers her affections to Harry after Joe is brutal with her. Naturally this doesn't sit well with either Connie or Joe. Still Joe, Harry and Lynn wind up driving a truck full of stolen furs to the river for an illicit rendezvous. They've been told they must get on the ship and sail to America with the furs to avoid prosecution, but Harry may not be able to leave his wife and child behind no matter what ...

Patrick Allen with Mature

The Long Haul is a very good example of British film noir with all of the usual elements. Of course these elements -- desperate man pulled into crime, a tug of war between wife and mistress, sexy femme fatale with redeemable features -- are all quite familiar to the viewer, but they are all blended together quite well and bolstered by some fine acting. In the right role, as this is, Mature can certainly deliver and his portrait of this weak, confused man is right on target. Dors proves that she isn't just big breasts and blond hair. Patrick Allen is also terrific as the slimy Joe, calculating the odds until the last. Liam Redmond and Peter Reynolds are also notable as two ill-fated gentlemen, Casey and Lynn's brother, Frank. Trevor Duncan has crafted an exciting score as well. Reynolds and Dors both appeared in Man Bait. Ken Hughes also wrote and directed Heatwave. 

Verdict: Absorbing, well-acted British crime thriller. ***. 

JOE MACBETH

Paul Douglas as Joe Macbeth

JOE MACBETH (1955 ). Director: Ken Hughes.

Gangster Joe Macbeth (Paul Douglas) is made the number two man in an outfit run by DeLuca, "the Duke" (Gregoire Aslan), but his wife, Lily (Ruth Roman of The Baby) thinks he ought to be number one himself. Mrs. Macbeth importunes her husband to knock DeLuca off when he comes for a visit at their estate, and this is only the first of several murders as the Macbeths opt for power and try their damnedest to hold on to it. But when Macbeth has his suspicious friend, Banky (Sidney James of The Man in Black), taken care of, he'll have to face the wrath of Banky's furious son, Lennie (Bonar Colleano of Pool of London).

Bonar Colleano

Joe Macbeth is an obvious updating and vulgarization of Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth, but even on its own terms it just doesn't work. Douglas has been seen to better advantage in other pictures, Roman is not that convincing as a Lady Macbeth type, and even the highly talented British actor Bonar Colleano, although he has some fine moments, is somewhat lacklustre as Lennie (his character is actually a combination of Macduff -- although another guy is named "Duffy" -- and Banquo's son, Fleance). Joe Macbeth is also a disappointment as a gangster movie, lacking the tension, suspense, and excitement that the genre requires. As others have noted, you keep waiting for the Shakespearean "moments" instead of being gripped by the story. Another problem are those moments of black comedy that don't fit the tone of the picture (most of these have to do with an ever-hungry rival mobster named Dutch, played by Harry Green).

Verdict: Stick to the original. **.  

HEATWAVE (1954)

Hillary Brooke and Alex Nicol

HEATWAVE (aka The House Across the Lake/1954). Writer/director: Ken Hughes.

"Carol's in love with Carol."

Mark Kendrick (Alex Nicol) is an American writer in England who is trying to start his latest novel, but is distracted by a neighbor across the lake, the beautiful Carol Forrest (Hillary Brooke). Carol carries on her love life as if she weren't married to her wealthy husband, Beverly (Sidney James), a suffering millionaire with a heart condition. Carol adds an initially resistant Mark to her trophies and suggests that it might be nice if Beverly could kick off sooner than later ... Ken Hughes not only directed this entertaining, if minor, film noir but wrote the screenplay from his own novel. With all of the standard elements -- weak hero, duplicitous female (the strongest person in the movie), rich, equally weak husband and so on -- it still manages to hold the attention. One surprise is how good Brooke is as the femme fatale. James [Carry on Cruising] and Nicol [Because of You] are also good, although Nicol perhaps underplays a bit too much considering everything his character is going through. Heatwave is at times illogical, with Carol acting as if she thinks Mark has her over a barrel when she can always fall back on the old "he said/she said" and get a good lawyer. This was a co-production of the American Lippert pictures with the famous pre-horror Hammer studios. Ken Hughes also helmed Wicked As They Come with Arlene Dahl as the femme fatale.

Verdict: Absorbing, if lower case, film noir. **1/2.

WICKED AS THEY COME

WICKED AS THEY COME (1956). Director: Ken Hughes.

This pretty much forgotten movie stars Arlene Dahl (pictured) as a woman from a poor Boston suburb who uses her charms to insure she wins a beauty contest, and from then on strings along a series of men, each one older and richer than the one before. She eventually becomes embroiled in a murder trial. Phil Carey plays the less successful – and rather sappy – guy who remains consistently infatuated with her and comes to her defense. Dahl gives a pretty good performance (one suspects she was playing someone not all that different from the real Arlene Dahl), and Herbert Marshall is also fine as one of her married paramours; the supporting performances are also on the money. She gets engaged to her first conquest, runs up a huge bill at shops as his fiancee, then skips town and leaves him with a staggering amount of debt – but he manages to get an ironic revenge at the end. Dahl’s philosophy, as she tells the father-son newspaper team whom she used to become beauty queen, is that men are perfectly willing to exploit women for their pleasure but they don’t like it when the shoe is on the other foot (however, she should by no means be confused with a feminist, although she is certainly quite intelligent). It’s strange that Dahl doesn’t try to make her way to Hollywood but opts for a "career" in business instead, but that may be part of her "smarts." The script comes up with a somewhat dubious (and convenient) psychological motive for her hatred of men as if her wanting a better life and more security isn’t enough to turn her into a gold digger. The picture is not a masterpiece but it holds the attention and is often very funny. "Women like me don't get proposals," says Dahl, "only propositions."

Verdict: Some fun. **1/2.