The Abductors (1957)
5/10
An unusual plot, but unevenly paced and directed.
4 November 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Victor McLaglen (Tom Muldoon), Gavin Muir (Evans), George Macready (Langley), Fay Spain (Sue Ellen), Carl Thayler (Jed), John Morley (F. Winters), Carlyle Mitchell (Chief Becker), George Cisar (Hansen), and James Logan, Pat Lawless, Jason Johnson, Fintan Meyler, Joe Hamilton, Nolan Leary, Gene Walker, Calvin Booth, Cliff Lyons.

Director: ANDREW V. McLAGLEN. Original screenplay: Ray Wander. Photographed in RegalScope by Joseph LaShelle. Film editor: Betty Steinberg. Art director: Rudi Feld. Set decorators: Walter M. Scott, Bert Granger. Music composed by Paul Glass, conducted by Ingolf Dahl. Costumes: Jerry Bos. Make-up: Louis Hippe. Hairdresser: Hollis G. Barnes. Property master: Frank Sullivan. Set continuity: Catarina Lawrence. Music editor: Lee Osborne. Technical adviser: Bert Brown. Assistant director: Howard Joslin. Sound recording: James Brock. Westrex Sound System. Producer: Ray Wander. A RegalScope Picture in association with the Griffin Company.

Copyright 1957 by Regal Films, Inc. Released through 20th Century- Fox Film Corp. U.S. release: July 1957. U.K. release: November 1957. Australian release: No official release date. Sydney opening at the Regent on the lower half a double bill. 7,192 feet. 80 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: See below.

NOTE: Andrew V. (for Victor) McLaglen is the son of actor Victor McLaglen.

Despite its novel plot (part of which remains unexplained at the film's close, viz., the purpose of kidnapping the preacher woman), this is a sluggishly-paced second feature with an extremely pedestrian music score.

OTHER VIEWS: One of the pre-McClintock "B" films, director Andrew V. McLaglen made when he was just the long-running director of "Gunsmoke" on TV. Most of the Regal black and white 'scope features are routine or worse, but this one has an odd plot (about a conspiracy to steal Lincoln's body) and a no-dialogue silhouette finale, both of which are out of the rut. In other respects, however, the love scenes are sexless, the plot without tension, and they drive through that same bit of studio foliage three times. — Barrie Pattison.
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