This film was recently given an airing by satellite channel performance.It was slightly disconcerting to realise that this was one of the rare commercial features directed by the doyen of the documentary field Paul Rotha.The print that they showed looked as if it had been through the rewind machine the wrong way round. The plot was full of peculiar moments where you are thinking that it just does not hold together.You have the usual scene where the villain,Lee Paterson,having drunk himself into oblivion suddenly comes to his senses to prevent the escape of the heroine. Also at the climax Patterson is surrounded by about 6 policemen and the scene dissolves to one in a jewelery shop where Victor Maddern,one of the cops,has his arm in a sling clearly a victim of the knife attack by Patterson which has been deleted.Very odd.Only worth a look if you have an interest in British films of this era.
Review of The Desperate Men
