Naked Fury ** (1959, Reed de Rouen, Kenneth Cope, Leigh Madison) – Classic Movie Review 13,268

The 1959 black and white thriller film Naked Fury starring Reed De Rouen, Kenneth Cope and Leigh Madison is a typical British Fifties crime filler about a safe heist on a factory warehouse that goes wrong.

Director Charles Saunders’s 1959 British crime thriller film Naked Fury stars Reed De Rouen, Kenneth Cope, and Leigh Madison. The screenplay is written by Brock Williams, based on a story by the film’s producer Guido Coen.

Naked Fury is a typical British Fifties crime filler about a safe heist on a factory warehouse that goes wrong when the four-member gang (Reed De Rouen, Kenneth Cope, Alexander Field and Tommy Eytle) kill the night watchman and have to take his grown-up daughter Carol (Leigh Madison) as a hostage, keeping her in their hideout on the top floor of a derelict and unsafe dockside building. Nice-seeming young gang member Johnny (Kenneth Cope) then falls for the young woman, leading the crooks to fall out.

Naked Fury is static, modestly performed and cheaply made, but nevertheless rather niftily done, quite engrossing and above par for this humble kind of movie. The story, pace, atmosphere and even the production are all quite good. Performing well, Cope and Ann Lynn (as Stella, the wife of one of the robbers) are the best-known names among a largely unfamiliar cast. However Tommy Eytle as Steve, Redmond Phillips as Inspector Stevens, Eric Woodburn as Frank Hawking, Denis Shaw as Captain Horst will be also be known to aficionados.

They changed the great title Naked Fury in the US to The Pleasure Lovers.

It is shot at Associated British Picture Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.

Naked Fury is directed by Charles Saunders, runs 64 minutes, is made by Coenda Films, is released by Butcher’s Film Service, is written by Brock Williams, based on a story by Guido Coen, is shot in black and white by Walter J Harvey (billed as Jimmy W Harvey), is produced by Guido Coen, is scored by Edwin T Astley (conductor), and is designed by Duncan Sutherland.

The cast are Reed De Rouen as Eddy, Kenneth Cope as Johnny, Leigh Madison as Carol, Arthur Lovegrove as Syd, Alexander Field as Vic, Tommy Eytle as Steve, Ann Lynn as Stella, Marianne Brauns as Joy, Arthur Gross as Tom Parker, Redmond Phillips as Inspector Stevens, Eric Woodburn as Frank Hawking, Denis Shaw as Captain Horst, Sheree Winton as Bargirl, Michael Collins as Detective Sergeant, Anne Sharp as Nurse, Eric Corrie as Policeman #1, Geoffrey Denton as Policeman #2, Vicky Gray as Dancer, Julie Cavell as Dancer, Eve Eden as Hostess at Pheasant Club, Jill Burrows as Hostess at Pheasant Club, Eddie Boyce as Nightclub Patron, and Norma Parnell as Hostess.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,268

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