Soho Incident (1956) Online

When this film was made Soho had a rather seedy reputation.Gangs running protection rackets,illegal gambling and drink clubs,prostitution and strip clubs.Soho had it all.Most though not all of this has gone.Nowdays it is full of trendy restaurants and clubs.So the most interesting aspect of this otherwise uninspired and derivative thriller are the location shots.The credit titles,open over the Casino Cinema,now Prince Edward Theatre,showing "This Is Cinerama".I was taken to see this and saw it again a couple of years ago at The National Media Museum in Bradford.Very spectacular.We then follow Patterson around the streets at night.Next we see him coming out of a building in Soho Square which i believe is where the BBFC is now situated.Finally we get shots of Patterson walking through the famous Berwick Street market.The strange thing about the plot is Patterson is supposed to be a boxer,but he suddenly becomes a telephone engineer without explanation.The plot is predictable enlivened only by the oily boss splendidly portrayed by the marvelous Martin Benson,who keeps on complaining about the food he is served.

Lee Patterson is an ex Canadian Army communications engineer hanging around in London. He spends his time working out at a boxing club while looking for work. He runs into army pal, Robert Arden. He offers Patterson some possible work. Arden handles odd jobs for mob type, Martin Benson and his sister, Faith Domergue.

When Patterson is introduced to Benson by Arden, Benson says he has enough thug types already in his employ. Domergue however takes a shine to the handsome lad, and has Benson hire him. They use him to make cash drops and pick-ups. A little bit of folding money in his pockets and the "experienced" Domergue keep Patterson quite happy.

Besides running protection rackets, Benson has a highly successful book making business. This is of course because Benson does what he can to fix the odds etc. He sends one of his thugs, Bernard Fox, out to have a word with a boxing promoter. The promoter, Joss Ambler, just happens to run the club where Patterson works out. Patterson had dated the man's daughter, Rona Anderson a few times.

It seems that Benson had wanted Ambler's boy, Peter Hammond, to take a dive in his last fight. Hammond had won the bout instead. This had cost Benson a pretty penny. Ambler tells Fox that he would never tell one of his boys to throw a fight. Fox starts in on Ambler, slapping him around. Hammond enters, sees the argument, and flattens Fox. Fox bounces up and pulls a heavy blackjack out. He lays this across the back of Hammond's skull, killing him. He then exits.

Benson is not amused when he hears about this turn of events. He sends Patterson with an envelope of cash for Fox. He is to go to ground till Benson can get him out of town.

Patterson is questioned by the Police about the dead boxer. Patterson says he knew the man because he worked out there, but that is all. Patterson does not know about his bosses, Benson and Domergue's involvement.

Benson, on hearing that Patterson is a whiz with fixing phones etc from his army training, has a flash. He wants Patterson to build a device he can use to tap into the race track odds makers telephone lines. Benson can then make last minute bets at good odds and clean up. Patterson gives it a go and soon has a working device.

Benson and his boys give it a go on the next weekend and make a killing. The next day Benson hands Patterson a wad of cash and says good job. Patterson thinks life is good. Cash and a stunner like Domergue, what more could a guy want.

Needless to say the whole thing comes crashing down. Thug Fox is tired of hiding out like a rat. He decides to pay Benson a visit and force Benson to cough up some heavy cash. Then he can split the country. This does not quite happen the way Fox planned, and he is soon on the run with Benson and his mob in close pursuit.

Fox is quickly cornered in a waterfront warehouse. There Fox is tossed for a long fall with Domergue grinning ear to ear as Fox dies. Patterson, who is not adverse to making a bent dollar, wants nothing to do with murder. He beats the feet back to Domergue's flat and starts packing. Domergue though, is not the type of girl to take a break-up lightly. She pulls a gun and Patterson just makes his escape alive. Patterson has also clued into Benson and Domergue's involvement with boxer, Hammond's death.

Benson and Domergue decide it might be time for them to cool their own heels in the south of France for a while. Domergue though wants to finish off Patterson. She knows that Patterson is friends with boxing promoter Ambler's daughter, Rona Anderson. She also knows that Patterson will most likely contact Ambler about Fox killing Hammond.

Benson, Domergue and their crew gobble up Anderson and wait. Sure enough, Patterson shows. Benson and Domergue plan to head for the coast and take a small boat to France. That is, after stopping on the way, and applying several bullets to the back of Patterson and Anderson's heads.

The quick on his feet Patterson manages to crack Benson in the ribs and make a break. Domergue fires her gun and kills her brother, Benson by mistake. The Police arrive and she is hustled into the back of the squad car. At only 76 minutes, this low renter does not outstay its welcome.

Canadian born Patterson started out in British b films and television. He would make a splash on American television with a regular role in the Private Eye series, SURFSIDE SIX during the 1960's.

Faith Domergue is best remembered from the 1950's sci-fi classic, THIS ISLAND EARTH. She was a one-time protégé of Howard Hughes whose career never quite took off.

The director here is the dependable Vernon Sewell. Sewell turned out quite a few of these low end crime and noir quickies. These include, THE DARK LIGHT, THE BLACK WIDOW, GHOST SHIP, COUNTERSPY, TERROR SHIP, RADIO CAB MURDER, URGE TO KILL, UNEASY TERMS, THE MAN IN THE BACK SEAT and STRONGROOM.

A rather good surprise. British thriller are sometimes flat and uninteresting, talkative and boring. Not this one, I must admit. Vernon Sewell, as Montgommery Tully, is a good director for this kind of productions. B movies of course. It tells the story of an American, a prizefighter, who is involved with gangsters in a sort of race track racket. The film points out the techniques, about the betting. I don't know the lead actor, but Faith Domergue is the femme fatale of this movie, the "bad girl". After the boss of the gang has killed one of his partners, our hero wants to quit the gang.

With predictable results. But the ending is foreseeable too.

It looks like an American film noir, from a narrative point of view. That's the reason why I liked it so much. Even no much cockney accent in the dialogues.

A pretty good time waster.

Yet within those strands, there are so many roads that this interesting and atmospheric British film noir the the Innocent fly on during that trek to the middle. The fly here is veteran TV actor Lee Patterson ("Surfside 6", "One Life to Live"), and the spider is Faith Domergue, an Ava Gardner like femme fatale who has all sorts of venom in her kisses. Domergue is the sister of a British mafia don who entraps Patterson in a dangerous game, using her female desirability to get him involved in the organization. But Patterson has a moral Center, unlike the sticky center of Domergue's web, and it is obvious who will end up being trapped in their own sinister plot, especially when Rona Anderson, the sweet girl Home Paterson really loves, ends up as a part of their scheme.

It takes much concentration but once you are in, it's difficult like the web to get out. Domergue is probably the best of the newly discovered femme fatales of the mid 1950's, honey voiced, but that honey can also be sticky and a trap. It's atmospheric and tense, with Patterson smart but appropriately innocent, like any fly drawn into a web should be. The tension builds ferociously as at the plot speeds towards its climax, and by that time I guarantee you will be hooked. That's Bernard Fox of "Bewitched" (Dr. Bombay) who ends up being one of Domergue's victims. This one is worthy of various viewings to get all the elements of the plot understood, although the conclusion left me a bit perplexed as to what really went down with certain elements.