Five Days [Paid to Kill] ** (1954, Dane Clark, Cecile Chevreau, Paul Carpenter, Anthony Forwood, Thea Gregory) – Classic Movie Review 10,648

Director Montgomery Tully’s 1954 British black and white film Five Days [Paid to Kill] is a moody, gloomy, and decently plotted crime thriller, with a goodish cast to make it work. This twisty, atmospheric British film noir is produced by Hammer Film Productions.

American character actor Dane Clark stars as James Neville, a financier in trouble, who finds it may be too late to change his mind when his business recovers after he hires a killer, Paul Kirby (Paul Carpenter), to murder himself in order for his wife Andrea (Thea Gregory) to collect the insurance money. But it turns out his wife and business partner, Peter Glanville (Anthony Forwood), are up to no good. Second-billed Cecile Chevreau plays secretary Joan Peterson, interested in her boss.

It is Dirk Bogarde’s partner Forwood’s 11th and last film, apart from a cameo in Bogarde’s 1975 Permission to Kill; he became Bogarde’s manager till his death in 1988.

Also in the cast are Cecile Chevreau, Howard Marion-Crawford, Avis Scott, Peter Gawthorne, Ross Hutchinson, Arnold Diamond, Charles Hawtrey, Geoffrey Sumner, Hugo Schuster, Leslie Wright and Arthur Young.

It is made at Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England.

Five Days [Paid to Kill] is directed by Montgomery Tully, runs 75 minutes, is made by Hammer Films and Lippert Films, is released by Exclusive Films (1954) (UK) and Lippert Pictures (1954) (US), is written by Paul Tabori, is shot in black and white by Walter J Harvey, is produced by Anthony Hinds, is scored by Ivor Slaney and designed by J Elder Wills.

It was released on 25 June 1954 in the US as Paid to Kill.

It was released on DVD in 2006.

Dane Clark, born Bernard Zanville (February 26, 1912 – September 11, 1998), was known for playing ‘Joe Average’ as he called himself.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,648

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