Rent Noose (1948)

Not much of interest except Greville's directoral mannerisms - Noose review by CB

In some ways a conventional British B movie gangster film but this is better than another Greville British film 'Guilty' . This one is set only in London and has many cliched aspects to its plot about a gangster meeting his just deserts at the hands of an incorruptible British police, a fearless press, albeit with an American reporter, and justice system. Greville introduces some stylish angles and cuts to enliven the filming but there is not much else of interest to this film beyond his direction even though the screenplay is by Richard Llewellyn. Nigel Patrick's acting stands out but I found his character tiresome after a while and Derek Parr is as usual anodyne. I wonder what Greville really thought about this and all his British-made films?

Warrants Hanging. - Noose review by NC

A racketeer will stop at nothing to protect his business. Murder and maimings are a regular practice. A young female reporter crosses his path.

Nigel Patrick, usually cool and anchored, plays the racket's second-in-command, and is the only reason for watching this terrible film. His rattling motormouth, working triple-time, enlivens every scene he's in. The veteran Hay Petrie has a small part as a barber/executioner, and manages to generate some menace. The rest of the cast flounder and sink in wave after wave of turgid lines and direction, helplessly lost at sea. One of those films you regret wasting your time on.

Soho Noir. - Noose review by Steve

This is a record of London after WWII, set among the blackmarkets and demobbed soldiers. It's adapted by Richard Llewellyn from his own West End play and directed by Edmond Gréville, a stylist who transformed standard scripts into imaginative visual compositions not usual for such budgets.

He turns a Soho spiv melodrama into British film noir. A  pair of sparring news reporters (US import Carole Landis and dull Brit Derek Farr) go up against the mafia. And while that doesn't sound likely, particularly as Landis writes for the fashion page, it is merely the frame for Gréville's elan, and a few startling performances.

Joseph Calleia is memorably menacing as the mob boss, his principle tools being intimidation, torture and a lack of brains. Landis brings some attractive screwball glamour. Then, not so much stealing the film, as heisting the whole venture outright, is Nigel Patrick as the gang's motormouth go-to front office finagler.

It's one of the standout oddball performances in UK films, and credit to Gréville for allowing him to dominate to such bizarre effect. The tone pitches awkwardly between violence and comedy, and the ending is a disaster. But this is a cult classic because of the director's panache and Patrick's astonishing one man extravaganza.