The Switch ** (1963, Anthony Steel, Zena Marshall, Conrad Phillips, Susan Shaw, Jerry Desmonde, Dermot Walsh) – Classic Movie Review 12,125

The Switch (1963) is Susan Shaw’s last film. She ended up living alone and broke in Soho. ‘They say she died of cirrhosis of the liver and she lived next door to prostitutes in Soho. But this is Soho. We all live next door to prostitutes.’ 

Anthony Steel, Zena Marshall, Conrad Phillips, Susan Shaw, Jerry Desmonde and Dermot Walsh star in the lively and flavourful 1963 British support feature crime thriller The Switch, directed by Peter Maxwell. It is written by Colin Fraser, based on an original story by the producer Philip Ridgeway. It runs 69 minutes, is made by Philip Ridgeway Productions, and is released by J Arthur Rank.

Caroline Markham (Zena Marshall) is abducted by a wrist watch smuggling criminal gang who believe she knows too much. The gang smuggle the watches into the country hidden in the petrol tank of a woman’s car. Customs official Bill Craddock (Anthony Steel) sets out to rescue Caroline.

It is Steel’s first film in Britain in a number of years after moving to Rome.

Susan Shaw was born Patsy Sloots in West Norwood, London.

It is Susan Shaw’s last film. In 1954 she married Bonar Colleano, her co-star in Pool of London (1951). Badly affected when Colleano was killed in a road crash in 1958, Shaw began to drink heavily, She ended up living alone and broke in Soho. She died of cirrhosis of the liver on 27 November 1978, aged 49. Her old studio, the Rank Organisation paid for her funeral. Charlie Stevenson, landlord of the Swiss Tavern in Old Compton Street, said: ‘She came in here every day. They say she died of cirrhosis of the liver and she lived next door to prostitutes in Soho. But this is Soho. We all live next door to prostitutes. We loved her.’

The cast are Anthony Steel as Bill Craddock, Zena Marshall as Caroline Markham, Conrad Phillips as John Curry, Dermot Walsh as Inspector Tomlinson, Susan Shaw as Search Officer, Dawn Beret as Janice Lampton, Jerry Desmonde as Customs Chief, Arnold Diamond as Jean Lecraze, Raymond Smith as Mandreos, Tom Bowman as Polovski, Arthur Ludgrove as Harry Lewis, Gordon Boyd as Jack Knighton, Ken Goodlet as Read, Rose Alba as Bill’s Secretary, Anthony Parker as Police Inspector, Desmond Cullum-Jones as Merrall, and Jimmy Hanley as Himself.

Conrad Phillips sits in bed reading the movie tie-in paperback of Ian Fleming’s 007 novel Dr No. The film Dr No was released the previous year with Zena Marshall as Miss Taro. Zena Marshall died of cancer in 2009, aged 83. Her last film was The Terrornauts in 1967.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,125

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