A Life in the Balance ***½ (1955, Ricardo Montalban, Anne Bancroft, Lee Marvin, José Perez, Rodolfo Acosta) – Classic Movie Review 12,146

Lee Marvin stars as a religious-fanatic serial killer terrorizing young women in Mexico City, where the police are chasing the wrong man and his son’s life is in the balance.

Director Harry Horner’s intriguing, involving cheap-cost 1955 American-Mexican crime mystery thriller film A Life in the Balance, stars Ricardo Montalban, Anne Bancroft and Lee Marvin.

Based on a story by Georges Simenon (Sept petites croix dans un carnet), it focuses on the 24-hour hunt for the religious-fanatic serial killer (Lee Marvin) menacing girls in Mexico City, where it was all made on location. An eleven-year old boy, Paco (José Perez), finds his life in the balance when he tries to track the killer at carnival time, after his poor musician widower dad Antonio Gomez (Ricardo Montalban) is falsely accused of the murders.

After Gomez argues with an ex-girlfriend (Eva Calvo) over money she owes him, she is murdered by the serial killer and the police conclude they are onto the killer. Gomez goes out to a pawnshop to buy his son a guitar and meets a young woman (Anne Bancroft) who helps him look for his son. But Gomez does not know the police are after him or that Paco witnessed this murder and is trailing the killer, who then kidnaps him.

The film perhaps never moves with quite the pace and energy it should, but there is a very well-plotted script, and stars Montalban, Bancroft and Marvin lend a certain considerable depth and pedigree to the proceedings. The atmospheric location filming gives it added texture and semblance of reality.

Also in the cast are José Perez, Rodolfo Acosta, Carlos Múzquiz, Jorge Treviño, José Torvay, Eva Calvo, Fanny Schiller, Tamara Garina, Pascual García Peña and Antonio Carbajal.

A Life in the Balance is directed by Harry Horner, runs 74 minutes, is made by Tele-Voz SA and Panoramic Productions, is released by 20th Century Fox, is written by Robert Presnell Jr and Leo Townsend, based on a story by Georges Simenon, is shot in black and white by J Gomez Urquiza, is produced by Leonard Goldstein, and is scored by Raúl Lavista. The sets are designed by Gunther Gerszo.

The cast are Ricardo Montalban as Antonio Gómez, Anne Bancroft as María Ibinia, Lee Marvin as The Killer, José Pérez as Paco Gómez, Rodolfo Acosta as Lt. Fernando, Carlos Múzquiz as Capt. Saldana, Jorge Treviño as Sergeant, José Torvay as Andrés Martínez, Eva Calvo as Carla Arlota, Fanny Schiller as Carmen Martínez, Tamara Garina as Doña Lucrecia, Pascual García Peña as Porter, and Antonio Carbajal as Pedro.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,146

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