World for Ransom *** (1954, Dan Duryea, Gene Lockhart, Patric Knowles, Reginald Denny, Nigel Bruce, Marian Carr) – Classic Movie Review 12,243

Director Robert Aldrich’s 1954 American film noir thriller World for Ransom stars Dan Duryea, Gene Lockhart, Patric Knowles, Reginald Denny, Nigel Bruce, Marian Carr, Douglass Dumbrille and Keye Luke.

World for Ransom is a big-screen cousin of, or extension of Duryea’s 50s TV series China Smith. Duryea’s character here has a different name – Mike Callahan – but he is still the same kind of snarling adventurer in the Far East who gets mixed up with a kidnapping, treachery and romance with a femme fatale.

Duryea plays Irish soldier of fortune Mike Callahan working in Singapore where he discovers that Alexis Pederas (Lockhart) has involved his ex-flame’s husband Julian March (Knowles) in a plot to kidnap nuclear scientist Sean O’Connor (Arthur Shields) to sell him to the highest bidder.

Duryea is excellent in this lively, pacy, action-filled film-noir thriller curiosity from on-form cult director Aldrich.

Nigel Bruce appears in his final film role as Governor Sir Charles Crotts.

Many of the actors, crew and sets in the film were from the 30-minute American syndicated TV adventure series China Smith, which stars Dan Duryea as a soldier of fortune and is set in Singapore. The first 26 episodes were filmed in Mexico in 1952, and the second 26 episodes were shot in 1954-1955 in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Robert Aldrich directed two 1952 episodes: Shanghai Clipper and Straight Settlement, and World for Ransom’s cinematographer Joseph Biroc also worked on the series.

Aldrich recalled: ‘The film first embedded what I wanted to say in films. It was mainly about two men with good and bad points. Both men believed in individual liberty but the belief of one man was weaker than the other because he had no respect for humanity.’

Aldrich said he got the idea to make the film while directing the China Smith episodes. When production was on hiatus he wrote a story with a colleague. Bernard Tabakin, who produced the TV show, agreed to produce the film with him.

Aldrich said the script was almost entirely written by Hugo Butler but he was blacklisted and uncredited. Aldrich recalled: ‘He wrote World for Ransom and I put my name on it to try and get him the credit. And it went into arbitration with the Writer’s Guild, and another guy, Lindsay Hardy, got total screen credit on it. It was a joke. He no more wrote that script than walk on the water. Butler made that total screenplay.’

The cast are Dan Duryea as Mike Callahan aka Corrigan, Gene Lockhart as Alexis Pederas, Patric Knowles as Julian March, Reginald Denny as Major Ian Bone, Nigel Bruce as Governor Sir Charles Crotts, Marian Carr as Frenessey March, Arthur Shields as Sean O’Connor, Douglass Dumbrille as Inspector McCollum, Carmen D’Antonio as Dancer, Keye Luke as Wong, Clarence Lung as Johnny Chan, Lou Nova as Guzik, Beal Wong as bartender Wu, Strother Martin as Corporal, Patrick Allen as Soldier, Spencer Chan as Club Patron, and Herschel Graham as Club Patron.

Filming started 13 April 1953 at the Motion Picture Center Studio, on a budget of $90,000 to $100,000. It was shot over six days, then Aldrich halted production to shoot TV commercials to raise money for the film’s post-production, and then there was a five-day shoot to finish it.

It runs 82 minutes.

Aldrich recalled: ‘It was a strange and very enjoyable experience and – except for the end result – a marvellous collaboration. It really had no sets and thanks to Joe Biroc we had reflections in the water where there was no water and all sorts of silly things. I’ve always looked back on World for Ransom with a kind of wistful happy feeling.’

It led to Harold Hecht hiring Aldrich to direct Burt Lancaster in Apache in July 1953.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,243

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