Dancing with Crime

by Bruce R on Fri Aug 11, 2017 1:20 am

The 1947 Brit noir DANCING WITH CRIME is an enjoyable, but ultimately, forgettable little film. Keaney gives it a 2.5, but I'd grade it lower.

It stars Richard Attenborough, Shiela Sim, Garry Marsh, John Warwick, Barry K. Barnes, and Judy Kelly with a brief appearance by Dirk Bogarde as a policeman.

It was directed by John Paddy Carstairs, who also directed THE SAINT IN LONDON, probably my favorite Saint film. Saint creator Leslie Charteris dedicated his 1963 book "The Saint in the Sun" to Carstairs.

As to the film, criminals operating within the shilling-a-dance joint are black marketeers (wartime rationing would be in effect in Britain until the early 1950s). Attenborough gets drawn into the mess when a service buddy is found dead in his taxi. Working with taxi dancer (Shiela Sim) and the law, they work on solving this crime.

Perhaps I expected too much from Carstairs on this one. And, perhaps, I'm watching too many noirs back-to-back.

Bruce R