Never Let Go

More Brit Noir, this time a film from 1960, Never Let Go, directed by John Guillermin and probably most notable for starring Peter Sellers in a dramatic role. Not only is he not comedic in this film, he's downright menacing.

Richard Todd also stars as a cosmetic salesman who has just purchased a car to help him in his business. He's horrified to find one night that it has been stolen, and somewhat as in The Bicycle Thief, the loss of the car has dire economic results. Turns out that Sellers, who operates a garage, heads a racket that employs youths to steal cars, which he then alters to match totaled cars, which he can then resell. Todd, who did not purchase theft insurance, is desperate to get it back, and despite being cautioned by the police and his wife (Elizabeth Sellars), doggedly pursues getting it back.

This is a fine, gritty suspenseful picture, well photographed, and with a typical-for-the-era jazzy soundtrack (lots of brush on spare drums). But it's really the pleasure of watching Sellers in full villain mode that makes this interesting. He's a real nasty fellow, even going so far as to squashing a pet turtle with his shoe heel. Though he is villainous, there is a certain humor in watching this criminal mastermind come undone through the interference of a wishy-washy "lipstick peddler."

Also in the cast are Adam Faith, as the young car thief, and Carol White, as his Marilyn Monroe/Diana Dors-type girlfriend, who is exploited by Sellers (for 1960 the sexual implications are pretty frank). I read up on White, who died at the age of 50 in 1991 of alcoholism. As an old newspaperman-stand operator is Mervyn Johns, who is best known as playing Bob Cratchit in the Alistair Sim version of A Christmas Carol.