The Man in the Back Seat | |
---|---|
Directed by | Vernon Sewell |
Written by | Malcolm Hulke Eric Paice Edgar Wallace (story) |
Produced by | Leslie Parkyn Julian Wintle |
Starring | Derren Nesbitt Keith Faulkner |
Cinematography | Reginald Wyer |
Edited by | John Trumper |
Music by | Stanley Black |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Anglo-Amalgamated |
Release date |
|
Running time | 57 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
The Man in the Back Seat is a 1961 British second feature [1] crime film, directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Derren Nesbitt and Keith Faulkner. [2] The film is based on an Edgar Wallace story.
Cold and vicious Tony and his more pleasant-natured but easily influenced partner-in-crime Frank hatch a plan to rob bookmaker Joe Carter of his takings as he leaves the local dog track. They attack him brutally, then realise that the case containing the cash is chained to Joe's wrist. They bundle him unconscious into the back seat of his car and they drive around trying to figure out a way to release the case. They come up with various possible solutions, but nothing works and they end up at Frank's flat, to the horror of Frank's wife Jean, who does not want their criminal activities to be brought to her doorstep.
They manage to free the case after Tony administers another severe beating to Joe, and decide to get rid of him by dousing him in alcohol and dumping him near the local hospital, where they assume a passer-by will find him and think he has suffered a drunken fall. As they are about to leave the scene, Frank realises that Tony has left behind incriminating fingerprints on the whisky bottle, so they have no other option but to return to the crime scene to retrieve it. Again they are disturbed, so they go back to Tony's flat and contact a former male nurse who, after looking at Joe a while, says he will soon be dead. As a last resort, Tony and Frank decide to dump the body outside the dog track where the robbery took place and where there will be nothing to connect the crime to them. After Tony tricks Frank into reversing the car over Carter's still-living body upon leaving in order to blame him for the death, and exonerate himself from a capital crime, they drive through the night to Birmingham.
Frank then believes that they are being followed. Further, increasingly paranoic, and barely out of London, he looks in the rear view mirror, and feels the terror of seeing Carter's ghostly, glaring face, reproaching him from the back seat right behind him. In total panic, Frank drives the car off the road and down an embankment. The crash kills Tony instantly, but Frank, seriously injured yet alive, is pulled clear by a passing police patrol. The police confirm Tony's death. As Frank lays dying, he gasps Tony's name, but the car explodes before anything more can be done.
Only four name-credited actors appear, and one of whom remains silent through most of the film. Much of the action taking place in a cramped flat and the claustrophobic confines of a car at night. [3]
This was the last of Abraham (Abe) Barker's twelve films, who died in the year of its release (25 April, 1961).
Sewell called it a "good picture". [4]
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The taut plot stays on course, unfolding for the most part on broad municipal highways and narrow back streets at night, the shadows cast by the roadside lights accentuating the macabre, especially in the Mabuse-like finale. Previously, the suspense is a shade overstretched: as the two boys cruise around in their victim's car trying to rid themselves of the body in the back, some of the nerve-wracking crises – flat tyre, helpful A.A. man, inquisitive policeman – are less credible than others. Similarly, it takes a little while before the two well contrasted and acted boys crystallise into fully believable characters; and the scenes in Frank's home are weak. Vernon Sewell's direction is unambitious but gripping. On balance, the best British crime feature for some little time." [5]
In the Radio Times , David Parkinson wrote, "the phrase 'quota quickie' was synonymous with cheaply made, under-plotted films notable only for the ineptitude of the acting. It's a rare treat, therefore, to stumble across a British B with an intriguing idea that's been ingeniously executed. Director Vernon Sewell, who was responsible for some of the very worst quickies, outdoes himself with this haunting story." [6]
Room at the Top is a 1959 British drama film based on the 1957 novel of the same name by John Braine. It was adapted by Neil Paterson, directed by Jack Clayton, and produced by John and James Woolf. The film stars Laurence Harvey, Simone Signoret, Heather Sears, Donald Wolfit, Donald Houston, and Hermione Baddeley.
Get Carter is a 1971 British gangster film, written and directed by Mike Hodges in his directorial debut and starring Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, John Osborne, Britt Ekland and Bryan Mosley. Based on Ted Lewis's 1970 novel Jack's Return Home, the film follows the eponymous Jack Carter (Caine), a London gangster who returns to his hometown in North East England to learn about his brother's supposedly accidental death. Suspecting foul play, and with vengeance on his mind, he investigates and interrogates, regaining a feel for the city and its hardened-criminal element.
Christopher Moltisanti, portrayed by Michael Imperioli, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. He is Tony Soprano's protégé and a member of the DiMeo crime family, rising from associate to captain over the course of the series.
George Sewell was an English actor, best known for his television roles, but also active on stage and in films.
Derren Nesbitt is a British actor. Nesbitt's film career began in the late 1950s, and he appeared in many popular British television series throughout the 1960s and 1970s. He is perhaps best known for his role as Major von Hapen in the 1968 film Where Eagles Dare.
Special Branch is a British television series made by Thames Television for ITV and shown between 1969-1970 and 1973-1974. A police drama series, the action was centred on members of the Special Branch counterintelligence and counterterrorism department of the London Metropolitan Police. The first two series starred Derren Nesbitt, before the programme went through an overhaul, with George Sewell taking over as the new lead.
Oh! Heavenly Dog is a 1980 American fantasy comedy film written by Rod Browning and stars Benjean, billed here as Benji, Chevy Chase, Jane Seymour, and Omar Sharif. The film was directed by Joe Camp and released by 20th Century Fox.
Ooh... You Are Awful is a 1972 British comedy film directed by Cliff Owen and starring Dick Emery, Derren Nesbitt, Ronald Fraser and Cheryl Kennedy. It is a feature-length adaptation of The Dick Emery Show It was Emery's sole starring film.
The Threat is a 1949 American film noir starring Michael O'Shea, Virginia Grey and Charles McGraw, and directed by Felix E. Feist.
The Informers is a 1963 British crime film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Nigel Patrick, Margaret Whiting, Harry Andrews, Derren Nesbitt and Colin Blakely. It was produced by William MacQuitty, with screenplay by Paul Durst and Alun Falconer from the novel Death of a Snout by Douglas Warner. Cinematography was by Reginald H. Wyer. It was distributed in the UK by The Rank Organisation and the U.S. by Continental Film Distributors.
Strongroom is a 1962 British 'B' crime drama film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Derren Nesbitt, Colin Gordon and Ann Lynn. A group of criminals lock two bank employees in a safe during a robbery.
Vernon Campbell Sewell was a British film director, writer, producer and, briefly, an actor.
Burke & Hare is a 1972 horror film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Derren Nesbitt, Harry Andrews, and Glynn Edwards. It is based on the true story of the Burke and Hare murders, and was the last film to be directed by Sewell.
Give Us Tomorrow is a 1978 British crime film directed by Donovan Winter and starring Sylvia Syms, Derren Nesbitt and James Kerry.
Funny Money is a 1983 British crime film directed by James Kenelm Clarke and starring Gregg Henry, Elizabeth Daily and Derren Nesbitt. The Film was distributed by Cannon Films. The film's sets were designed by the art director Harry Pottle.
Strictly for the Birds is a 1964 British second feature comedy film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Tony Tanner, Joan Sims and Graham Stark. Terry Blessing seems to be having a lucky day, winning at gambling, until a woman with whom he'd had an assignation six years previously phones him and claims her child is his son.
Alimony is a 1949 American film noir crime film directed by Alfred Zeisler and starring Martha Vickers.
A Matter of Choice is a 1963 British black and white drama film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Malcolm Gerard, Michael Davis, Anthony Steel, Jeanne Moody and Ballard Berkeley. The screenplay was by Paul Ryder based on an original story by Sewell and Derren Nesbitt.
Knights for a Day is a 1937 British comedy film directed by Norman Lee and starring Nelson Keys, John Garrick and Nancy Burne. It was made as a quota quickie at Welwyn Studios.
Dangerous Voyage is a 1954 British crime thriller B film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring William Lundigan, Naomi Chance and Vincent Ball. It was distributed by Anglo-Amalgamated in the UK, and in the United States by Lippert Pictures.