User Reviews

This low-key Btritish film presents an interesting twist on the usual crime drama. An army deserter Rod Fenner (superbly played by Lee Patterson) blackmails a young lady Ann Coltby (Ann Sears) into revealing the whereabouts of some jewels stolen by her father 20 years earlier. The drama doesn't quite live up to the title (it's all cat and no mouse) but there is some good dialogue and Lee Patterson plays his role just this side of psychotic. You're never quite sure what he's going to do next.

However there are a few overplayed hard-to-swallow scenes, most notably the point where Ann first realises she is being held prisoner and is about to smash the window and cry out for help. Rod catches her and stops her by throwing a cushion at her. I have never seen anyone fall to the ground and pass out after being hit by a cushion. also later when Rod ties Ann to a chair he does so in such a way that it would be very easy to escape (all she has to do is raise her legs because he hasn't tied those to the chair). But thankfully these moments don't spoil the drama too much.

A welcome bonus is a superb jazz-like score by Edwin Astley, watch out for the moment in the final scene where a group of street musicians play a specially arranged version of the title theme.

Incidentally the other poster who suggests that there is a scene missing at the end where the policeman (Victor Maddern) fights Rod and gets the broken arm we see him with at the end of the film is wrong. I think this scene is purposely not shown, the director has left it up to us to imagine what happened.

SYNOPSIS: Ann Coltby, an orphan whose father was implicated in a diamond robbery and hanged for murder, is being questioned by William Scruby, an accomplice in the crime. He is determined to find out where the stones are hidden and when he uses force there is a struggle and Scruby falls to the ground. At that moment Rod Fenner, an American army deserter who is being blackmailed by Scruby arrives on the scene, convinces Ann that she has murdered Scruby, and holds her hostage in her own house while he tries to trace the diamonds himself.

COMMENT: It's hard to believe that this hoary old melodrama is the work of film critic/documentary film-maker Paul Rotha. Even by the humble standards of the British "B" it is signally lacking in action and has a tame climax that anyone who has sat through all the circuitous dialogue that slowly unravels the old gaslight plot, will find disappointing, to say the least.

There's not even much use of real locations, production values being no greater than the average support. Aside from a few attractively framed compositions and the use of dialogue over a scene of Patterson combing his hair, the direction is totally uninteresting.

The players also are no more than capable. The heroine in fact is rather dull, and the role of the police inspector sits uneasily on the diminutive shoulders of usually-cast-as-a-small-time-crook Victor Maddern.

OTHER VIEWS: Of great curiosity value, this is the second of the two feature films - No Resting Place (1951) being the other - directed by the famous film historian and documentary film-maker, Paul Rotha. British Empire Films took advantage of Rotha's visit to Sydney and Melbourne, as a guest of the film festivals, to promote the movie. As a consequence, it took more money in these capital cities than any other British quota quickie of the period, including the Edgar Wallace ventures.

A cheap hostage thriller from the little heard of production company, Anvil Films. I think this might have been their only foray into the thriller genre. It's a short crime story based on a novel by popular author John Creasey and it was directed by Paul Rotha, best known for his documentary shorts. Rotha doesn't seem particularly at home in the thriller genre given that this film is singularly devoid of thrills and entertainment.

For much of the running time this is a simple two-hander between a kidnapper and his victim. Pretty Ann Sears is so vacant that she doesn't even realise that she's being held captive until the film is halfway over. One of the main reasons I didn't like it was Lee Patterson's slimy lead character. Patterson had been fine in other British films of the era but I found him a truly detestable presence here and given that he's on screen for about 95% of the running time there's just no getting away from him.

CAT AND MOUSE has a bit of an episodic feel to it and there are some frequently ridiculous moments, like when Sears is knocked out by a flying pillow. The plot is so simple that it doesn't really sustain the running time even though this is a relatively short film. Victor Maddern is fine but underused as the detective on Patterson's trail. The budget is so poor that the film unforgivably cuts away from an exciting climax to merely offer the aftermath.

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.

I only caught the last half but it contains all the elements I seek in obscure British movies. Someone here called it a B-Movie and it is with B-actors, B-acting, B- plot. Remember it comes from a time when the bad guy/gal had to be seen to be punished anyone breaking the social norms has to shown up. A few plot holes to make it more enjoyable, e.g. The very loose tying up , the injured detective where you are never shown how he got injured, i guess the scene they filmed was too hammy even for this movie.

Oh and there was some damaged sections where the original tape had got too old. Recommended if you like all this stuff.

Within a decade, American actor Lee Patterson would only have "One Life to Live" (actually playing twins who never met on that popular daytime soap opera), but in this rather messy British thriller, he's a very troubled American soldier, absent without leave, and possibly from a military hospital that handles mental cases. Patterson just happens upon fragile British lass Ann Sears, having possibly just accidentally killed someone who was blackmailing her for old crimes regarding her father. Quite convenient for a crazy person to use to gain her trust then go completely off the wall as he basically keeps her hostage and figures out a way to use her crime to get some money and make his escape, possibly after taking care of her in a violent manner.

Details of the first part sets up the plot far too conveniently, but Sears and Patterson are quite good as the convoluted plotline is developed. I didn't believe any of the set-up for a moment, but Patterson's character is extremely realistic, and thus frightening. The investigation of the discovered body leads to the police finding a witness, but it's obvious that the clock is running out. The tension continues to build, and it becomes much better, making me wish that the first 15 minutes had been a lot better. I'm sure that Patterson utilized the obvious psychosis of this character when he played Joe Riley, the love interest of heroine Victoria Lord on "OLTL" who suffered from a split personality. If not a good film, still an intriguing British thriller that does go on a bit too long.