World for Ransom (1954)

Simply Perfect

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Too many characters, too many nonsensical plot-twists and an ugly view of post-war political intrigue, this seems forced and too perplexing to enjoy. Certainly a predecessor to the many cold war adventures of the 60's, this one isn't among the list of the classics of that genre. Surrounding lead Dan Duryea are some great character performers, but frankly there are way too many of them which made me lose interest after I recognized them.Steamy, foggy photography takes the Shanghai setting to mysterious places and if its attractive to look at, its forced at best. Surrounding the kidnapping of a nuclear scientist, this has good intentions but never really gets off the ground. There's of course a seductive femme fatal, Asian girls who speak very Americanized English and enough seedy characters to fill a dozen film noir. Duryea looks much aged and his anti-hero is a bit sleazy. Standing out is veteran villain Douglas Dumbrille and even Dr. Watson himself, Nigel Bruce, in his last film. Among the Asian actors is veteran Keye Luke. Gene Lockhart is typecast as his typical amoral businessman on the the side of the bad guys. As an early work of director Robert Aldrich, this shows his potential as a filmmaker but lacks in what made him so great later on: complex intrigue and mystery with a touch of the new wave. This lacks even the status of being an interesting failure.

Despite having seen him mentioned in a number of posts on IMDb's Film Noir board,I have somehow never got round to seeing a title by director Robert Aldrich.Taking a look at Film Noir movies released in 1954 recently,I was happy to spot a near-forgotten Aldrich film,which led to me excitingly getting ready to see the world being held for ransom.The plot:Singapore-Heading to a bar, Mike Callahan is gripped by Singapore leading racketeering gangster Johnny Chan.Planning to control the entire rubber industry in the city by keeping his stock hidden in a near by jungle,Chan reveals that he suspects Callahan is up to some dirty tricks,due to Callahan's friend Julian March and psychotic thug Guzik having recently taken over the location.Explaining to Chan that he has not seen his friend for ages,Callahan gets Chan to give him some time to find out what his friend has gotten involved in.Hoping to find info by meeting Marchs wife (and his former sweetheart) Frennessey March Callahan is shocked to find that Julian has completely disappeared from sight.As Callahan starts to search round the city for Julian,Julian sets his sights on kidnapping one of the world's leading nuclear scientist.View on the film:Filmed for 10 days, (with Aldrich taking the odd day off so that he could film some adverts in order to pay for post-production!) on a $90,000 budget and using most of the cast and sets from the TV series China Smith/Captain China,director Robert Aldrich gives the movie a tremendous Asia atmosphere,thanks to Aldrich using stark lights which transform the TV set into a boiling hot Singapore.Along with the heated atmosphere,Aldrich and cinematographer Joseph F. Biroc expertly use mirror shot angles to show the non-ruthless Film Noir world which Callahan desires to be in.Whilst the screenplay did sadly suffer some cuts from the ratings board, (which included an important lesbian subplot)Lindsay Hardy and Hugo Butler (who was uncredited,due to being blacklisted) is still able to include some sly satirical nods to the Allied occupation of the far East during WWII,and also show themselves to be rather ahead of their time,by keeping away from featuring clichés associated with titles set in Asia at the time.Along with the satirical shots,the writers also create an excellent Film Noir world where Callahan soon discovers that friendships can turn into dusts in mere seconds.Looking round the smoke filled streets of Singapore, Dan Duryea gives a strong performance as Callahan,with Duryea showing Callahan's war scars to run deep in his murky relationship with Julian.Being Julian and Callahan's object of affection,the very pretty Marian Carr gives a wonderfully icy performance as femme fatale Frennessey March,whilst Patric Knowles gives an extremely charming,brash performance as Julian,with Knowles showing Julian to slowly lose his sanity,as he prepares to hold the world for ransom.

For some reason, the actors in this film, particularly Dan Duryea, found it necessary to speak as if they were in an amphitheater in "World for Ransom," a 1954 film directed by Robert Aldrich. If I had to describe this film in one word, I'd say "loud."Mike Callahan (Dan Duryea) is a good friend of Julian Marsh (Patric Knowles), and is also in love with Julian's wife Frennessy (Marian Carr), who met Julian while boyfriend Mike was away in the service. Julian is up to something no good, and Mike promises Frennessy that he'll get him out of it and bring him home. Frennessy admits that she's unhappy with Julian, but that she won't be able to leave him and go off with Mike while he's in trouble. Turns out Julian has involved himself with a man named Alex Pederas (Gene Lockhart), a bad guy, and is part of the kidnapping of a nuclear scientist, one of the three men in the world who know how to detonate the H bomb. They're planning on making some big money. Julian has made a mistake in driving a route where he is well known, and he's been photographed by a street photographer. So there's a panic to get the photo and the negative to cover his mistake.Others on the board have said this is a template for "Kiss Me, Deadly" and that it also is reminiscent of "The Third Man." I see similar plot elements but that's about it. Comparing this to either film is a stretch.A good start for Aldrich, who was still in his early career and uncredited for this film. I think he did the best he could given the material.

I taped World For Ransom when BBC2 screened it during the early hours recently. This is the time when they usually show these sort of movies and I found this one quite good.Set in Singapore, a group of people plot to kidnap a nuclear scientist who is one of only three people in the whole world who knows how to detonate the H-Bomb. We get to see plenty of people being killed, especially during the final scenes. There is also blackmail, double crossing and punch-ups.The cast includes Dan Duryea, Patric Knowles (How Green Was My Valley, The Wolf Man), Gene Lockhart (Lost In Space star June's dad) and Nigel Bruce (Dr Watson from the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies) in his last movie.World For Ransom is quite good and is worth checking out.Rating: 3 stars out of 5.