The Gilded Cage (1955)
Directors
The Gilded Cage
Overview
Steve and Harry become involved in an art theft. Harry is framed by the crooks, and arrested by the police. Steve has to prove his brother's innocence.
The Gilded Cage Film Details
Overview: Steve and Harry become involved in an art theft. Harry is framed by the crooks, and arrested by the police. Steve has to prove his brother’s innocence.
Tagline: Murder! for an art treasure!
Review: The best bits are the views of the Thames and the docks in the days before shipping containers. I thought the briefly glimpsed femme fatale looked familiar – she turned up a couple of decades later in A Murder is Announced. She was no match for Miss Marple! Talking Pictures warns against “racial attitudes that are of their time”. A black couple do a caricatured apache dance, and the two actresses share a flat waited on by a small Javanese man speaking pidgin English in a high squeaky voice. He turns out to have the heart of a lion, however. But his presence makes me wonder if the script, too, was borrowed from America, where comic Oriental houseboys were once a staple. How did they run that luxurious flat on their salaries? Another oddity about films of this era – when girls are not pin-ups, they are permanently dressed for the Queen’s garden party. It was a frumpy fashion moment! Ursula Howells gets bumped off, and her place is taken by a girl with a permanent worried frown. British noir, however bad, is usually redeemed by black and white photography and artistic lighting. The opposite is true here – the lights sometimes almost white out the actors’ features.
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English
Duration: 77 min
Genre: Crime, Drama
Also known as: Treffpunkt Palette,The Gilded Cage