| Three Crooked Men | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Ernest Morris |
| Written by |
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| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | James Wilson (as Jimmy Wilson) |
| Edited by | Maurice Rootes |
| Music by | |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Paramount British Pictures (UK) |
Release date |
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Running time | 71 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Three Crooked Men is a 1958 British 'B' [1] crime film directed by Ernest Morris and starring Gordon Jackson and Warren Mitchell. [2] [3] It was written by Brian Clemens and Eldon Howard.
Three crooks break into a shop, planning to gain access to the bank next door. The shopkeeper has remained in the rear of the store after a drunken argument with his wife, and the men take him hostage. A passer-by, a bank employee, hears him shout, knocks on the front door, tries to help, but he too is captured. The two kidnapped men are dumped in the countryside, eventually getting free, and are recognised and arrested as the "wanted men" described in news reports. Under questioning the police do not believe their account, and decide the shopkeeper and bank employee have committed the crime. While awaiting court the two men return to the shop and find a photo which had been dropped by one of the thieves during the break-in. They decide their best chance is to track down the thieves themselves.
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This film falls between two stools: it builds up some suspense as a crime melodrama; it is occasionally interesting as a character study of two men, Wescot and Prinn, who imagine themselves to be failures, but, as a result of the events in the story, recover their sense of purpose. But the two halves are awkwardly joined, and despite good performances from Gordon Jackson and Warren Mitchell, the long arm of coincidences is sometimes violently wrenched." [4]
Picturegoer wrote: "Convincingly acted by Jackson the film achieves some smart suspense." [5]
In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Mixture of suspense-drama and character studies; not too bad." [6]