This low-key Btritish film presents an interesting twist on the usual crime drama. An army deserter Rod Fenner (superbly played by Lee Patterson) blackmails a young lady Ann Coltby (Ann Sears) into revealing the whereabouts of some jewels stolen by her father 20 years earlier. The drama doesn't quite live up to the title (it's all cat and no mouse) but there is some good dialogue and Lee Patterson plays his role just this side of psychotic. You're never quite sure what he's going to do next.
However there are a few overplayed hard-to-swallow scenes, most notably the point where Ann first realises she is being held prisoner and is about to smash the window and cry out for help. Rod catches her and stops her by throwing a cushion at her. I have never seen anyone fall to the ground and pass out after being hit by a cushion. also later when Rod ties Ann to a chair he does so in such a way that it would be very easy to escape (all she has to do is raise her legs because he hasn't tied those to the chair). But thankfully these moments don't spoil the drama too much.
A welcome bonus is a superb jazz-like score by Edwin Astley, watch out for the moment in the final scene where a group of street musicians play a specially arranged version of the title theme.
Incidentally the other poster who suggests that there is a scene missing at the end where the policeman (Victor Maddern) fights Rod and gets the broken arm we see him with at the end of the film is wrong. I think this scene is purposely not shown, the director has left it up to us to imagine what happened.
However there are a few overplayed hard-to-swallow scenes, most notably the point where Ann first realises she is being held prisoner and is about to smash the window and cry out for help. Rod catches her and stops her by throwing a cushion at her. I have never seen anyone fall to the ground and pass out after being hit by a cushion. also later when Rod ties Ann to a chair he does so in such a way that it would be very easy to escape (all she has to do is raise her legs because he hasn't tied those to the chair). But thankfully these moments don't spoil the drama too much.
A welcome bonus is a superb jazz-like score by Edwin Astley, watch out for the moment in the final scene where a group of street musicians play a specially arranged version of the title theme.
Incidentally the other poster who suggests that there is a scene missing at the end where the policeman (Victor Maddern) fights Rod and gets the broken arm we see him with at the end of the film is wrong. I think this scene is purposely not shown, the director has left it up to us to imagine what happened.