The Gambler and the Lady (1952)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Directors:

Patrick Jenkins
Terence Fisher
(more)

Writer:

Sam Newfield (writer)

Release Date:

26 December 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

A greedy but successful professional gambler wants to join the British Establishment when he falls in love with a blue-blooded lady...

Plot Keywords:

Gambling

Cast

Dane Clark	...	Jim Forster
Kathleen Byron	...	Pat
Naomi Chance	...	Lady Susan Willens
Meredith Edwards	...	Dave Davies
Anthony Forwood	...	Lord Peter Willens
Eric Pohlmann	...	Arturo Colonna
Enzo Coticchia	...	Angelo Colonna
Julian Somers	...	Licasi, club manager
Anthony Ireland	...	Richard Farning
Thomas Gallagher	...	Sam
Max Bacon	...	Maxie
Mona Washbourne	...	Miss Minter
Jane Griffiths	...	Lady Jane Greer
Richard Shaw	...	Louis
George Pastell	...	Jacko Spina
Martin Benson	...	Tony, Pat's dance partner
Eric Boon	...	The Boxer (scenes deleted)
Felix Felton	...	Boxing Promoter (scenes deleted)
Hal Osmond	...	Fred, stable groom
Percy Marmont	...	Lord Willens-Hortland
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Adair	...	Engles (uncredited)
Robert Brown	...	John, waiter at Max's dive (uncredited)
Irissa Cooper	...	The Tart (uncredited)
Peter Hutton	...	Roger Bowen (uncredited)
David Keir	...	The Gambler (uncredited)
André Mikhelson	...	El Greco (uncredited)
Prince Monolulu	...	Himself (uncredited)
Paul Sheridan	...	The Croupier (uncredited)
Mark Singleton	...	Waiter at Jack of Spades (uncredited)
Larry Taylor	...	Shadow (uncredited)

Directed by
Patrick Jenkins
Terence Fisher		(unconfirmed)
Sam Newfield		(footage added for US release)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Sam Newfield		writer

Produced by
Anthony Hinds	....	producer

Original Music by
Ivor Slaney

Cinematography by
Walter J. Harvey		(as Walter Harvey)

Film Editing by
Maurice Rootes

Casting by
Michael Carreras

Art Direction by
J. Elder Wills

Makeup Department
Philip Leakey	....	makeup artist (as Phil Leakey)
Pauline Trent	....	hair stylist

Production Management
John 'Pinky' Green	....	production manager (as Pinky Green)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ted Holliday	....	assistant director
Bill Herlihy	....	second assistant director (uncredited)
Phil Rigal	....	first assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Bill Salter	....	sound recordist
Percy Britten	....	boom operator (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Moray Grant	....	camera operator
Tom Friswell	....	clapper loader (uncredited)
John Jay	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Manny Yospa	....	focus puller (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Bill Lenny	....	assembly cutter (uncredited)

Music Department
Marcus Dods	....	conductor

Other crew
Renée Glynne	....	continuity

Production Companies

• Hammer Film Productions (in association with)
• Lippert Films

Distributors

• Exclusive Films (1952) (UK) (theatrical)
• Lippert Pictures (1952) (USA) (theatrical)
• Kit Parker Films (2004) (USA) (all media) (copyright owner)

Runtime:

72 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England, UK

Company:

Hammer Film Productions

Elements of film noir in a melodrama

There's plenty of crime in this Lippert picture. It opens with a well shot killing that is not clear till well into the movie. Dane Clark is the star. He was a staple of film noir. Here, we also see him in a top hat!

Yes, the subject is more class than crime. Clark is the gambler of the tile. (The female title character doesn't appear till almost half an hour into the movie.) He's an American but he wants to fit in in England. He's taking lessons in deportment from a caricature of a British lady.

He has a Scottish pal (Meredith Edwards) who is put forward as his butler. He longs to become accepted by nobility.

The supporting cast is good. The woman he falls for is not particularly charismatic but she's attractive. The more conventionally low-life types are plausible.

The dialog contains a lot of blatant exposition: "It's hard to believe that X years ago I was in Y with Z and while A B were ..."

It's well shot and holds the attention. But it's nothing to write (back) home about.