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Street of Shadows
Shadow Man
UK 1953
produced by William H. Williams for Merton Park Studios
directed by Richard Vernon
starring Cesar Romero, Kay Kendall, Edward Underdown, Victor Maddern, Simone Silva, Bill Travers, Robert Dawdron, John Penrose, Molly Hamley-Clifford, Eileen Way, Paul Hardtmuth, Tony Simpson, Rose McLaren, Michael Kelly, Fred Griffiths, Henry Purvis, Lionel King, Mela White
screenplay by Richard Vernon, based on the novel The Creaking Chair by Laurence Meynell, music by Eric Spear
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Luigi (Cesar Romero) runs a nightclub with a bit of gambling on the
side, but he does his best to remain legit and live an honest life. The
only man he puts his trust in is Limpy (Victor Maddern), his club-footed
waiter whom he defends even against his guests.
Eventually, Luigi meets Barbara Gale (Kay Kendall), a society lady with
a no-good husband (John Penrose), but she sees more in Luigi than just a
seedy nightclub owner, and the two gradually fall in love. Then Angele
(Simone Silva) shows up, Luigi's ex, and he desperately tries to get rid
of her ... and on the next day, she turns up dead in his office, and when
he and Limpy try to hide the corpse, they are apprehended by the police,
and not surprisingly Luigi turns out to be the main suspect, which causes
him to make a daring escape and hide out somewhere in the city. Gradually
he figures though that the only logical suspect in the murder is Limpy,
who always had a crush on Angele and who is suffering from an inferiority
complex due to his club foot - and with the help of Barbara, Luigi makes
Limpy confess.
By and large, this is an ok British film noir wonderfully carried by
Cesar Romero as the honest owner of a seedy nightclub (which is a
contradiction in terms regarding genre clichés), however the film, taken
as a murder mystery, has two problems: 1) Victor Maddern is way too
obviously the murderer, there is scene upon scene dealing with his
inferiority complex and his admiration for the girl, and as good as no red
herring, and 2) the way Romero makes Maddern confess is a bit childish and
somehow derives the film of a real climax.
Still, overall the film is rather enjoyable.
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