The Gilded Cage (1955)

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