"Goldfinger" director Guy Hamilton made his director debut with this dandy, little, black & white, British Lion mystery-thriller about a notorious vigilante known as "The Ringer." Herbert Lom, William Hartnell, Donald Wolfit, and Denholm Elliot stand out in a competent cast. Loosely based on Edgar Wallace's stage play, Hamilton and scenarist Leslie Storm and Val Valentine have departed from certain plot points, but they maintain the same characters. The Ringer is an indestructible individual who has eluded the authorities and has apparently returned from the dead. The news claims that the infamous Ringer has died in Australia, but Scotland Yard suspects that the Ringer may not kaput. The Ringer is reportedly a mastermind of disguises, and he proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt in this nimble, witty epic. Slickly helmed by Hamilton, "The Ringer" benefits not only from a strong cast but also solid production values. Hartnell steals the show as a Cockney ex-con who suspicious British solicitor Maurice Meister (Herbert Lom of "The Pink Panther')hires to fortify his palatial residence from The Ringer. The dialogue is good, and the death of Lom character is admirably staged. Meister, it should be noted, died under different circumstances in the novel. Hamilton stages the Ringer's escape with verve. After he sheds his disguise in the nick of time with the clock ticking, this criminal manages to slip out of the attorney's house, past the police, and climbs into an automobile and cruises away. Typically, criminals were always punished in the 1950s but since we haven't seen this dastard actually murder anyway, I suppose the filmmakers felt safe in letting the villain escape. Again, the way that the villain dispatches the evil attorney is neat as a pin! Not only does the eponymous character slip past the police, he deals with the chief investigator on the case-- Inspector Wembury--but also he follows the man's orders. Something else of interest is the number of capable, behind-the-scenes, technicians who received credit from their contribution. First, Bert Bates is the editor; he later worked with Hamilton on the James Bond movies "Diamonds Are Forever," "Live and Let Die,and "The Battle of Britain. "The Dirty Dozen" director of photography Edward Scaife lensed the action with considerable polish. Future "Exorcist" photographer Gerry Fisher worked as the camera assistant, while future "Tarzan the Magnificent" director Robert Day served as the camera operator.
Review of The Ringer
