albert r.n. (1953)

aka Break For Freedom. The Spare Man.
"Poor old Albert."
Albert R. N. is a dummy used to fool the German prison guards, when a prisoner of war escapes, but is there an informer in the camp, and will they reveal their plans?
Classic escape film, mirroring real life events.

the good die young (1954)

"That's my money you're hanging on to, and I want it blast it."
Four men come to a cross roads in life for various reasons. One, Miles Ravenscourt (Laurence Harvey), a playboy whose source of money has cut him off, comes up with a scheme to rob a bank. To do so he corrupts the other three. Mike Morgan (Stanley Baker) is an ex-boxer trying to get used to life out of the ring, and minus a hand. Joe Halsey (Richard Basehart) is an American struggling to take his wife (Joan Collins) away from a domineering mother. Finally we have Eddie Blaine (John Ireland) an American air force sergeant on furlow, whose actress wife (Gloria Grahame) prefers to go out with her co-star, than her husband.
A strong cast and more than a touch of the kitchen-sink makes this a fascinating drama as it slowly works through to its inevitable end.

cosh boy (1953)

aka The Tough Guy. The Slasher.
Post war South London and the little old ladies of Battersea are the prey of Roy Walsh (James Kenney) and his gang of teenage thugs. We meet Walshy as he's caught after coshing an old lady and put on probation. Loose and out of control, with no parental restrictions his bad attitude and criminal activity only escalates. Especially after he learns his all to lenient widowed mother is going out with someone. It can only end in trouble for all concerned.
Joan Collins has an early starring role as a led astray teenager who gets pregnant, in this post war example of morale panic. Where children with no father figures are left to run amok in the ruins of bombed out London. The newly identified problem of juvenile delinquency is examined in this simplistic and moral story of damnation and the slippery slope of crime. Basically it breaks down to 'spare the rod and ruin the child'. An interesting look at the attitudes and ideas of the time.