Better Late Then Never

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

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

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The real value of films like this is the glimpse of London as it was. Somebody always lives in an attic flat with a sloping glass wall. John Desmond is an American journalist for "Worldwide News", sent to London to give "the British point of view". He has a plushy office and a secretary, and never - as far as we can tell - files any copy. Surely that's no way to run a business?He goes to a nightclub, where there's a beautiful woman sitting alone at the bar. He picks her up and they begin a passionate affair. Would a woman really go to such a place on her own in the 50s? Or in any decade? But then she's really a crook, so maybe she had her own reasons for being there. It all could have been scarier than it was, though there's a good chase across a railway line. But why did Jane walk straight out of the hospital with the McGuffin in her bag? She could at least have borrowed a white coat and gone out the back way...

I thought TIGER BY THE TAIL was one of the better Tempean Films movies I've watched, something which has a kind of Hitchcockian 'wronged man' thriller flavour to it. It stars the Kansas-born imported American star Larry Parks as a journalist who arrives in London and immediately falls for the charms of a femme fatale, played well by Lisa Daniely. Unfortunately she's also involved with a criminal gang, who soon have Parks in their sights.This is a short and snappy chase thriller with plenty of tension to recommend it. There's also a surprising amount of atmosphere and funny moments, like when Parks visits Thora Hird's house which is straight out of a Hitchcock movie like SABOTEUR. Parks and Constance Smith aren't the most exciting of leads but they're not bad and you get supporting players like Alexander Gauge and Ronald Leigh-Hunt who can be relied upon to give professional performances. The interlude in the hospital is very well done. John Gilling once again directed, from his own script.

Writing in the second edition of his seminal book on the history of crime fiction "Bloody Murder " the esteemed British critic Julian Symons bestowed strong praise on the novel "Newer Look Back " by John Mair saying it was well in advance of its era in terms of psychological insight and morality . This movie is based on the novel and signally fails to do it justice .It's not actively bad -just very pedestrian and predictable .It opens vividly with the figure of US London based journalist John Desmomd staggering through the deserted streets severely wounded ,and being taken into custody by the police .The tale then unfolds in flashback .Desmond has accidentally killed a woman with whom he is embroiled in an affair .She was a member of a counterfeiting gang whose diary ,which is in his possession ,contains a code which is the key to the continuing operation of the gang .His life is in danger from the gang and he goes on the run aided by his secretary .He is captured ,escapes and feigns amnesia before the conclusion of the tale Poorly acted and perfunctorily directed this is not a movie that ever rises above the mediocre and those wanting a version of the novel should seek out copies of the BBC TV version from the mid 1990's .

An American journalist called John Desmond (Larry Parks) flies to London on an assignment for his newspaper. He begins dating the attractive but secretive Anna Ray (Lisa Daniely) whom is prone to breaking off their dates on the pretext of going to an appointment. Curious about his girlfriend's strange behaviour, he follows her and she gets into a chauffeur driven Rolls Royce with another man. Assuming that he has been stood up, Desmond decides to return to his work and try and the forget the whole thing. However, later that day, Anna phones him annoyed that he attempted to follow her and says that she never wants to see him again. But he attempts to contact her by sending her a telegram and making numerous phone calls to no avail. He finally decides to confront her in her flat. When he attempts to read her diary, she pulls a gun on him and they struggle and Anna ends up being shot dead. Desmond flees taking the diary with him and mysteriously, there is no report of any murder in the newspapers. Desmond then realises that the telegram he sent must still be in the flat and fearing that the police will eventually trace it back to him, he breaks into the flat to remove it. However, what has actually happened is that a gang of counterfeiters ran by the ruthless Foster (Cyril Chamberlain) whom Anna was working for have covered up the killing and traced the telegram back to Desmond. They abduct and interrogate him and it transpires that the diary is a contact list of all the gang's European contacts. They mistake Desmond for an American spy and demand to know where he has hidden the diary. He manages to escape, but finds himself being pursued across London and the Home Counties by the gang. In addition, his secretary Jane Claymore (Constance Smith) whom is aware of Desmond's plight, tries to stall their boss by informing him that Desmond has been taken ill with amnesia. This was foolish as Desmond is now being hunted by the police who think he's ill and want to take him into care and also the crooks who are bent on retrieving the diary and silencing Desmond because he knows too much.Tiger By The Tail was adapted from John Mair's acclaimed thriller novel, "Never Come Back", by prolific quota-quickie writer-director John Gilling. It comes across as a failed attempt to do a chase thriller very much in the Hitchcock vein as the script uses one of Hitch's favourite devices of pulling an ordinary working class man out of his mundane nine-to-five life into the world of crime and intrigue. Alas, Gilling's film isn't anywhere in the same league and fails to generate little action, suspense or tension and the result is a run-of-the-mill b-feature that only serves as a routine way of passing the time. The film's main point of interest lies in its imported American star, Larry Parks, whom had come to prominence as Al Jolson in The Jolson Story. John Gilling would go on to do much better things in the British cinema at the Hammer studio with such classic horror offerings as The Plague Of The Zombies and The Reptile.