Monday, July 23, 2018

MAN BAIT 1952 (KIT PARKER FILMS)

Another wonderful little film noir from Hammer.

Terence Fisher directed this finely crafted film. George Brent stars as John Harmen, a bookstore owner with an invalid wife and a fairly quiet life.

One day he has to reprimand a gorgeous young woman who works for him named Ruby (Diana Dors). He makes the mistake of keeping her after hours to help him catalog some books and in a moment of passion he kisses her, and this totally disrupts his once quiet life.

Ruby and her friend Jeffrey Hart (Peter Reynolds) decide to use blackmail to get some money that Jeffrey needs badly. Ruby squeezes money out of John until he says enough.

Ruby begins to feel guilty for what she has done, but Jeff is just getting started. One night he accidentally kills Ruby and tries to pin the murder on Harmen. Harmen's secretary, Stella Tracy (Marguerite Chapman) tries to help him prove his innocence and it almost costs her her own life.

This is a well made and taut film noir in the very capable hands of Fisher, who of course, would go on to legendary status with both US and UK film audiences in just a few years. If you're a fan of film noir i can't recommend this enough and Dors is nothing short of stunning.

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