Stolen Assignment ** (1955, John Bentley, Hy Hazell, Eddie Byrne) – Classic Movie Review 11,134

‘He Had a Cast-Iron Alibi for Murder… But these Reporters Had Other Ideas!’

Director Terence Fisher’s routine, light-weight, light-hearted 1955 British black and white film noir caper comedy crime film Stolen Assignment stars John Bentley and Hy Hazell.

Bentley returns for the sequel to Fisher’s 1954 Final Appointment, featuring sleuthing journalists Mike Billings and Jenny Drew, who compete to solve the murder of artist Henry Crossley (Patrick Holt)’s wife and win a scoop. But Hy Hazell replaces Eleanor Summerfield as Jenny Drew, and Eddie Byrne replaces Liam Redmond as Inspector Corcoran.

It is again written by Kenneth Hayles, but this time it is based on an original story called Involuntary Confession by Maurice Harrison and Sidney Nelson, who wrote the BBC radio play that was the basis of Final Appointment. There is a full cargo of crime caper movie clichés and there are some weak performances, but Hy Hazell and Eddie Byrne are good, and much of the dialogue is entertaining, more so maybe than the mystery.

It is produced by Francis Searle for ACT Films (the Association of Cinematograph Television and Allied Technicians). Though it is filmed at Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England, and by Hammer stalwart Fisher, it is not a Hammer film. It is made by Unit Productions and released by British Lion Film Corporation (1955) (UK). Hammer were going through a lean period because of the fall in cinema attendance and the rise of TV, with commercial television starting, and renting out studio space.

The main cast are John Bentley as Mike Billings, Hy Hazell as Jenny Drew, Eddie Byrne as Inspector Corcoran, Patrick Holt as Henry Crossley, Joyce Carey as Ida Garnett, Kay Callard as Stella Watson, Violet Gould as Mrs Hudson, Jessica Cairns as Marilyn Dawn, Charles Farrell as Percy Simpson, Michael Ellison as Danny Hudson, Desmond Rayner as John Smith, Graham Stuart as Coroner, Frank Forsyth as Dr Roberts, Clement Hamelin as Seth Makepeace, John Watson as Plain Clothes Detective Sergeant, and Raymond Rollett as Desk Sergeant.

It is the second of a series of films featuring the Sunday Star investigative crime reporter Mike Billings and his reporter girlfriend Jenny Drew, followed by The Diplomatic Corpse (directed by Montgomery Tully, 1958) and Dead Lucky (also Montgomery Tully, 1960).

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,134

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