Man with a Gun ** (1958, Lee Patterson, Rona Anderson, John Le Mesurier) – Classic Movie Review 12,462

The 1958 British black and white crime film Man with a Gun from Merton Park Studios stars Lee Patterson, Rona Anderson and John Le Mesurier. It is notable as having Michael Winner’s first feature film screenplay and the first film score of Ron Goodwin. 

‘He Had a Nose for Trouble – But This Time He Was Playing With Fire…’

Director Montgomery Tully’s low-budget 1958 British black and white crime British second feature B film Man with a Gun from humble Merton Park Studios stars Lee Patterson, Rona Anderson and John Le Mesurier. It is notable as having Michael Winner’s first feature film screenplay and the first film score of Ron Goodwin.

Lee Patterson stars as insurance company detective Mike Davies, who investigates a suspicious fire that burned down a nightclub. He suspects the club owner/ manager Harry Drayson (John Le Mesurier) of arson, but Drayson’s niece Stella (Rona Anderson) helps him uncover the mob protection scheme responsible.

Man with a Gun is nothing exceptional or out of the ordinary for a quickie Brit thriller of the era, but it moves quickly in its short running time of 60 minutes, and it is entertaining enough. The interesting, solid old-time cast help add interest, with Patterson sympathetic and Anderson especially appealing. These humble old movies such as this one are quite enjoyable when they play on TV.

It is filmed in the studio at Merton Park Studios, Merton, London.

The cast are Lee Patterson as Mike Davies, Rona Anderson as Stella, John Le Mesurier as Harry Drayson, Bill Nagy as Joe Harris, Marne Maitland as Max, Glen Mason as Steve Riley, Carlo Borelli as Carlo, Harold Lang as John Drayson, Cyril Chamberlain as Superintendent Wood, and Dorinda Stevens as Club Receptionist.

Man with a Gun is directed by Montgomery Tully, runs 60 minutes, is made by Merton Park Studios, is distributed by Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors (UK), is written by Michael Winner, is produced by Jack Greenwood, is shot in black and white by John Wiles, and is scored by Ron Goodwin.

Release date: August 1958 (UK).

Rona Anderson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 3 August 1926 and brought up there, but she had an English accent, probably as a result of her training for the stage at the Glover Turner-Robertson School in Edinburgh. Her actor husband, Gordon Jackson, was born in Glasgow in 1923. They met while appearing together in Floodtide (1949). Her first major film was Sleeping Car to Trieste (1948), she played Alice in Scrooge (1951), and appeared in Man with a Gun (1958), but The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) was her last major film appearance.

Canadian film and TV actor Lee Patterson was born Beverly Frankels Atherly Patterson on March 31, 1929 and died on February 14, 2007. He moved from Vancouver to the UK, where he specialised in playing virile Americans in British films.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,462

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