Shoot First (1953) (Rough Shoot) stars Joel McCrea in his only postwar non-Western role. The scenario is set in Cold War England when tensions ran high regarding spying.
Herbert Lom, who's best remembered now for his six Pink Panther pictures, almost steals the picture as Sandorski, "making a completely engaging character out of what's intended as a caricature," to quote Variety.
Shoot First (1953) (Rough Shoot) was filmed on location in England. Some scenes were shot in Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in London.
Starting in the middle 1940s, Joel McCrea headed permanently for the wild West, appearing in dozens of westerns. Considered in this context, Robert Parrish's well-mannered British thriller Shoot First (1953) (Rough Shoot), released in 1953, marked a mild change of pace for the Hollywood veteran. He gets to stomp through underbrush, carry a rifle, and do a little shooting. But the setting is an estate in England and the hero's adversaries are spies, not rustlers or hired guns.
According to the press-book, Geoffrey Household's novel was originally serialized under the title Run from the Hangman; the publication and date have not been determined. The novel was adapted for the screen by Eric Ambler was one of the biggest names in British spy fiction.