Three Steps to the Gallows (1953)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Simply A Masterpiece

As Good As It Gets

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

I saw this under the title of "3 Steps to the Gallows". A better title would have been "3 Days to the Gallows," since when American seaman Scott Brady arrives in London and goes in search of his brother he finds the latter is due to be executed in three days' time for murder: he's innocent, of course. The film's scriptwriter plays the brother, and he's definitely a better writer than actor, seeming remarkably calm for someone facing imminent death for something he didn't do. John Gilling made several low-budget crime films in the 50s, and seeing this one made me want to see the others.The plot has some good twists, and there's a lot of interesting location filming. It was common practice to import minor American stars for such films, and Brady made a spirited hero, while Mary Castle, who I'd never seen before, bears a considerable resemblance to Rita Hayworth. She even sings in a nightclub, a la Gilda. The weaknesses are the way Brady wins all his fist fights (even against a professional boxer!) and the climax, in which the police turn up like the 7th Cavalry even though they had no way of knowing where the protagonists were. Very odd.

As some other reviewers have mentioned, THREE STEPS TO THE GALLOWS is a highly superior British film noir which doesn't let up from beginning to end. A twisty turny mystery style plot line throws up some familiar tropes - it seems half of British crime films made during the 1950s consisted of criminal enterprises utilising nightclubs as their lairs - but runs away with them thanks to a fast pacing and a complete refusal to deviate from the thriller aspects of the storyline.American actor Scott Brady plays a sailor who gets some shore leave to visit his brother, only to discover that he's disappeared. He soon uncovers a sinister, conspiracy-style mystery that will lead to his brother's imminent execution, so it's a race against time to prove his innocence. Along the way he tangles with femme fatales, dogged detectives, and various henchmen, often slugging it out with the latter in some engaging fight scenes.Brady is a slightly boring main actor but the supporting cast make up for deficiencies, with Ferdy Mayne and Michael Balfour on particularly strong form. Ballard Berkeley plays a cop and must have been one of the most typecast actors of the era. Director John Gilling, who would later direct the likes of THE REPTILE for Hammer, does a sterling job, but the real star here is Welshman Paul Erickson, whose debut script is never less than compelling.

What starts out as a fairly straightforward thriller seems to become more and more complex as the film wears on.This is born out by the fact that at the end one of the characters had actually to explain the whys and wherefores,by which time I had,as you might say,lost the plot.To me though the most interesting aspect of this film was the considerable amount of location work.The trade fair at Olympia.Some of the crowd seemed quite irritated at being pushed around by the actors ,it makes you wonder if they knew that they were being filmed.Interesting to see that the first shots of the trade fair were on the film projector stands.Those dear machines which went extinct as long ago as 2012.So basically a fairly routine film.

Scott Brady plays a ship's officer. He arrives in England and gets another officer to take his duties for a few days. He wants to spend some time with his brother. He discovers his brother is about to be hanged! Scott Brady then launches his own investigation.This flick has more twists and turns than a mud road in West Virginia!The hero is lied to, thumped on, set up, betrayed, etc.He also falls in love. This is one terrific flick.I gave it a ten.