Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

MY BROTHER'S KEEPER is one of the earlier 'handcuffed together' type thrillers in which a couple of convicts elude the police and struggle to overcome their situation. This scenario has been done to death in the cinema with De Niro's MIDNIGHT RUN perhaps the best known of its type, but this low budget production is worth a look as the plot is an interesting and appropriately suspenseful one.The story boasts Jack Warner in a rare villainous turn as a murderer who finds himself handcuffed to a youthful George Cole, a simpleton whose performance reminds one of John Hurt in 10 RILLINGTON PLACE. The story plays out as you'd expect, but there are some memorable set-pieces dotted throughout, such as the hide-out in the wood or the fine climax. Alfred Roome was something of an inexperienced director but he acquits himself well here; he was better known as an old-hand editor who worked hard on the CARRY ON franchise in the 1960s.The cast is generally interesting, with Cole and Warner given the most screen time and thus coming off the best. David Tomlinson and Yvonne Owen play a newlywed couple whose spousal humour feels staged and shoe-horned into the story, so their presence is a detraction. Elsewhere, you get an unrecognisable Bill Owen alongside the likes of Maurice Denham, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Reginald Beckwith, and even Valentine Dyall in a cameo.

This is a low budgeted British film about two handcuffed prisoners who escape and are tracked throughout the film. One of the guys is a smart and amoral older crook. The other is a complete idiot who should have just stayed put instead of hopping off the police truck transporting them. Thrown into the mix is a guy on his honeymoon (David Tomlinson), as his editor insists he stop his canoodling and get the story!The film is an interesting portrait of the older prisoner. The younger guy is just too stupid to make him worth watching. But if you think about it, the plot is so much like the better American film "The Defiant Ones"--so why not just watch that instead? Especially since this British film is amazingly flat and dull at times considering the subject matter.

In so many ways this is a fine all round film, which is only let down somewhat by the unnecessary comedic element of the young newspaper reporter (David Tomlinson) accompanied by his new bride (Yvonne Owen), on their honeymoon, covering the man hunt for the two escaped prisoners. The inclusion of this improbable and forced attempt at humour simply jars within the context of the whole film. That great character actor, Jack Warner, is excellent in the lead role, playing against type. He is ably supported by a young George Cole, and the ever dependable Jane Hylton. The film also has a lively pace about it, and is well staged, with the outdoor locations lending a good balance to the proceedings. It's a film that doesn't seem to be widely available, but is certainly well worth tracking down, despite the inappropriate light-hearted interludes.

An interesting piece of casting, having Jack Warner playing the bad guy, but he is a good enough actor to pull it off. He plays a war hero George Martin, who with another convict, Willie Stannard, (George Cole) break loose from police custody, while handcuffed together. David Tomlinson as the young reporter, who is called in to work on the story. A film from another era, that is well worth watching.