The Shakedown (1959 film)

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The Shakedown
"The Shakedown" (1959).jpg
Original British poster
Directed by John Lemont
Written by John Lemont
Leigh Vance
Produced by Norman Williams
Starring
Cinematography Brendan J. Stafford
Edited by Bernard Gribble
Music by Philip Green
Production
company
Ethiro-Alliance
Distributed by J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors
Release date
  • January 1960 (1960-01)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Shakedown (also known as The Naked Mirror) is a 1959 black and white British crime-drama film directed by John Lemont, starring Terence Morgan, Hazel Court, and Donald Pleasence. [1] It was written by Lemont and Leigh Vance. A ruthless crook runs a blackmail operation, falls for an undercover cop, and is murdered by one of his victims.

Contents

Plot

Augustus ("Augie") Cortona is released from prison and opens a modelling school and photographic studio that serves as a front for amateurs to take erotic photographs. It's a blackmail set-up: the participants are photographed through a one-way mirror.

Scotland Yard investigate Cortona and send undercover officer Mildred Eyde to enrol as a model. Cortona falls for Eyde.

Eyde's cover is blown when an ex-con recognizes her. Police raid the studio to rescue her. Cortona tries to flee but is shot by one of his blackmail victims. As Cortona lies dying, despite her feelings of disgust, Eyde tries to comfort him. With his last breath, he says "You're a bitch".

Cast

Production

The film was made at Twickenham Film Studios, and on location.[ citation needed ]

The theme song "Shakedown" was sung by Kathy Kirby.

Release

The film was banned in Finland (known there as Häväistyksen kauppiaat).[ citation needed ]

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This tentative and equivocal effort to cash in on the Wolfenden Report remains undistinguished for good or ill. There is enough nudity for an X Certificate, but it is all very prim; enough action to maintain interest, but no tension; routine coshings, but no sadism; cheap settings, but not shoddiness. Except for the error, or possibly box-office stratagem, of giving someone as good-natured and refined of speech as Terence Morgan a vice spiv's role, everything is fairly competently done. Yet the overall attack is so limp that Mildred might finally be revealed as a blackmailer, Mr. Arnold as a policewoman and Augie as a secret bank manager, and who would care?" [2]

Kine Weekly wrote: "Full-blooded sex melodrama, unfolded beneath the shadows of blue and red lamps. It tells how a comely policewoman, aided by the vice squad, busts a nude photography racket, created to circumvent the Street Offences Act, and ends a gang war. The play, vigorously acted, shrewdly directed and lavishly mounted, seldom taxes the imagination, but, apart from one nude picture contains no crude gimmicks." [3]

Leslie Halliwell called the film "A semi-remake set in the squalid London so beloved of film makers at the time, before it became 'swinging'. Of no interest or entertainment value." [4]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "[the film] sets out to shock with sleazy settings and sensationalist suggestions of nudity. However, few of the misdemeanors from this period piece would raise even a blush today. Director John Lemont forgets to concentrate on the storyline, which grinds to its inevitable conclusion." [5]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as “mediocre” and wrote: ''Exploitative tough thriller.'' [6]

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References

  1. ↑ "The Shakedown". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
  2. ↑ "The Naked World of Harrison Marks". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 27 (312): 26. 1 January 1960 – via ProQuest.
  3. ↑ "The Shakedown". Kine Weekly . 512 (2727): 26. 7 January 1960.
  4. ↑ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 906. ISBN   0-586-08894-6.
  5. ↑ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 826. ISBN   9780992936440.
  6. ↑ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 373. ISBN   0-7134-1874-5.


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