Lawrence Harvey plays a jumpy, would-be womanising, failed pickpocket, Freddy, who falls in with a jewel thief played by Sydney Tafler. Their first joint assignment takes them out of London, and takes Freddy out of the reluctant and unimpressed arms of Dora Bryan, and to Cambridge. There they bungle the robbery when someone gets in the way of them and the getaway car (driven by Harry Fowler). In his panic, Freddy pulls his gun and shoots the person in the way. Harry Fowler drives off with the body dangling out of the door.
The two crooks are chased and take refuge in a college house where Josephine (played by Kathleen Byron), who has just said goodbye to her ageing lecturer of a father, is bored with life. These two strange men seem interesting.
Both of them fall in love with her and then argue amongst themselves. But the game is up when the getaway car, which Harry Fowler has abandoned, is found and the body of the bystander who got shot for being in the way is identified as Josephine's father.
Although an original screenplay, the film reads like a stage play with the prelude in London tagged on. The outside location shots in London seem particularly poorly filmed and the sudden jump to Cambridge is, well, sudden. Much of the dialogue is muffled and much of the editing is not handled very well. Curiously, a number of actors seem to step over something that isn't there and Tafler's breast pocket has a mind of it's own, even changing sides on his jacket!
The main problem with the film is that it is too short to breathe or to be in a position to build up tension. In fact, the ending is over so quickly that no one is given any time to laugh.
One thing I've never mentioned may seem trivial, but how many British houses in the 50s and 60s had rooms with arches, let alone indoor steps, for no apparent reason? Was this a tradition or a trademark amongst set designers and builders?
The two crooks are chased and take refuge in a college house where Josephine (played by Kathleen Byron), who has just said goodbye to her ageing lecturer of a father, is bored with life. These two strange men seem interesting.
Both of them fall in love with her and then argue amongst themselves. But the game is up when the getaway car, which Harry Fowler has abandoned, is found and the body of the bystander who got shot for being in the way is identified as Josephine's father.
Although an original screenplay, the film reads like a stage play with the prelude in London tagged on. The outside location shots in London seem particularly poorly filmed and the sudden jump to Cambridge is, well, sudden. Much of the dialogue is muffled and much of the editing is not handled very well. Curiously, a number of actors seem to step over something that isn't there and Tafler's breast pocket has a mind of it's own, even changing sides on his jacket!
The main problem with the film is that it is too short to breathe or to be in a position to build up tension. In fact, the ending is over so quickly that no one is given any time to laugh.
One thing I've never mentioned may seem trivial, but how many British houses in the 50s and 60s had rooms with arches, let alone indoor steps, for no apparent reason? Was this a tradition or a trademark amongst set designers and builders?