Review of Once a Sinner

I saw this picture in the mid-fifties and it has always stayed in my mind, mainly because of the playing of Sydney Tafler as Jim Smart, a small-time crook whose death by stabbing outside a Church reminds me of the climax to one of the great gangster pictures (was it Edward G's death on the steps in Little Caesar or was that Cagney in Public Enemy, I've forgotten which). The notice on the church wall behind Tafler reads 'Repent Ye Sinners, While Ye Can'. Tafler's wife Joy Shelton also has a role and the rest of the cast contains many British stalwarts of the era, Thora Hird, Danny Green and the recently deceased Pat Kirkwood among them. The film also has a character called Creeping Charlie whose speciality is throwing acid, an interestingly sinister, if minor, villain. A lot of the early scenes were rather dialogue-heavy, but there were a few things to like. This was a 'B' picture and not very good, but was one of the early films of director Lewis Gilbert who went on to far better things.