Man with a Gun (1958) Online

Another in the string of second features Canadian star Lee Patterson made in British studios toward the end of the fifties. This time he's a trench-coated insurance investigator looking into the affairs of nightclub owner John Le Mesurier, one of whose premises burned down shortly after he had taken out a policy on it. Le Mesurier's daughter is played by Britain's 'B' film queen, Rona Anderson, who had been appearing in them for the best part of a decade already, making Patterson something of a novice by comparison.

Turns out the remaining nightclub, featuring a band fronted by singer Glen Mason, as well as leggy showgirls, is being targeted by gangsters involved with Le Mesurier's convicted younger brother (Harold Lang) and led by a shadowy figure whose identity is a mystery. At least Patterson's boss can furnish him with a friendly contact at Scotland Yard to back him up, something that often seems to happen in this kind of film. The script is notable as the work of the twenty year old Michael Winner, who no doubt recalled some of the dozens of similar Hollywood movies that he had viewed and reviewed up until then. So a no frills production, but enjoyable, with a good cast and tautly directed by veteran Montgomery Tully.

Lee Patterson plays an insurance investigator probing a fire at a nightclub owned by a London businessman (John Le Mesurier). Le Mesurier owns another nightclub, the Stardust Club, and that is where Patterson starts his investigation. The insurance company believes Le Mesurier may have burned down his other nightclub for the insurance money. However that theory is soon abandoned when it is learnt that a Southampton gang is trying to take over Le Mesurier's London club. The gang is led by mystery man, named Ferlarno. This gang is violent and soon resort to beatings and destruction to get their hands on the Stardust Club. The suspense comes from the police (and the viewer) trying to uncover who Ferlarno really is.

The film has it's moments but plays out a little flat. The cast tries hard, Le Mesurier is good as the nightclub owner, Patterson tries his best Bogart impersonation and doesn't quite pull it off. The script is just a little too predictable. It's a good little film, but it never manages to make you forget it's low budget origin.

A £20,000 insurance claim is lodged by nightclub owner Harry Drayson (John Le Mesurier) after one of his premises is destroyed by fire. Claims investigator Mike Davies (Lee Paterson) is sent to make sure everything is above board before his company will pay out. However, Davies soon learns that Drayson is being targeted by a Southampton crime lord known as Furlono who wants to buy the Stardust Club from Drayton so that he can muscle in on London's crime scene. Davies dates his niece, Stella Rogers (Rona Anderson), who confides in him that she has suspected this for a long time. Taking a liking to Stella and her uncle, Davies agrees to hunt the mysterious Furlono down - nobody, it seems has ever seen him and his identity is a closely guarded secret. Drayton is attacked at his home, his club broken up by a gang of hoods lead by Max (Marne Maitland) and his safe opened and £200 stolen from it: all in a bid to force him to sell up. Davies visits Drayson's brother John in Wandsworth prison where he is doing time for robbery with violence and was a member of the Furlono gang. But, Davies has no luck in getting him to reveal anything about his boss and seems unmoved by his brother's plight. Yet, soon after Davies's visit, John escapes and the claims investigator succeeds in persuading Supt. Woods (Cyril Chamberlain) to let John lead them to Furlono. But, John is later shot by an unseen assailant outside the Stardust Club meaning that Furlono is somebody close to the venue. But who? Drayson's club manager Carlo? The singer Steve Riley (Glen Mason) or his manager Joe Harris (Bill Nagy)? Or, perhaps the lovely Stella whom Davies has proposed to in order to get married is really a ruthless crime boss?

This resolutely uninspired British b-pic crime drama from Merton Park Studios is chiefly notable as the first feature length screen writing credit of Michael Winner. The title says it all, really. Montgomery Tully directs with pace but there are none of the imaginative touches that occasionally surfaced in his better films. He seems disinterested in his material here and the same has to be said of his cast with Lee Paterson and Rona Anderson (both 'B' picture stars) simply going through the motions and the burgeoning romance between them is worked out in the blandest and most uninteresting way. There is very little action and what there is such as a climatic shootout between Paterson and the villain in the club bar at the climax is so clumsily executed that the suspense aspect is nil. In the best 'B' picture tradition, we get two club numbers, 'I Don't Know' and 'Fall In Love', sung by Glen Mason. And, no, they are most certainly not hit parade material.