Interpol (1957)

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Producers: Irving Allen, Albert R. Broccoli. A Warwick Production, released through Columbia Pictures. Copyright 1957 by Warwick Film Productions. No New York opening. U.S. release: August 1957. U.K. release: 6 May 1957. Australian release: 10 October 1957. The full 94 minutes version was released only in Australia. Elsewhere the film was cut to slightly less than 92 minutes.U.K. release title: INTERPOL. U.S.A. release title: PICKUP ALLEY. Australian release title: INTERNATIONAL POLICE.SYNOPSIS: The United States Anti-Narcotics Squad smashes an international drug ring.VIEWERS' GUIDE: Adults.COMMENT: A superior thriller, "Pickup Alley" challenges the best efforts of Samuel Fuller and other masters of American noir who are still spoken of so reverently today. But John Gilling seems to be forgotten. Yet his reliance on Ted Moore's and Stan Pavey's fantastic camera-work, plus taut editing and his own bravura compositions, signal that he is not only a master of the CinemaScope image but a potent creator. Despite familiar script material, he has directed in such a well-knit yet breathtakingly machine-gun-paced style, everything we see on the screen all seems totally topical.OTHER VIEWS: Despite extensive location shooting in London, Paris, Rome, Athens and New York, and an elaborate, elliptical sub-Welles plot, this film suffers from obvious and unresourceful type-casting, though Trevor Howard plays with jaded relish. – Monthly Film Bulletin.

This is quite an entertaining & energetic crime movie, which rattles along at a fairly brisk pace, but suffers somewhat from lack of character depth, and interaction between the characters. The leads all play their respective roles professionally and with a degree of panache, with the oily and sinister Trevor Howard particularly effective. Bonar Colleano also contributes a likable cameo as a fast-talking, quick-witted exiled American. In the central role, Victor Mature is dour and doesn't really get the opportunity to express more of his character's dual purpose of personal revenge and bringing an arch criminal to justice. Although there are many similar type films to this, I feel that it stands worthy comparison to many of them and is certainly deserving of release on DVD.

This was an interesting film which starred Victor Mature, (Charles Sturgis) who was a US Narcotics Agent working with Interpol in order to catch a large dope smuggling operation. Gina Broger, (Anita Ekberg) played a young gal who was working with a big shot dope king, Frank McNally, (Trevor Howard) and was only working with him because he kept her against her will and would not let her go. There is plenty of travel into Lisbon, Greece and New York and it seemed at times that Charles Sturgis was running around in circles. Trevor Howard gave a great supporting role along with Anita Ekberg, but this film was definitely a low budget film and because this was a 1957 film, the gals all wore skirts down to their ankles.

****SPOILERS**** Having seen everything sleazy and destructive that illegal drugs, like morphine and heroin, can do to people Bureau of Narcotics Agent Charles Sturgis, Victor Mature, never expected that doing his job would hit home like it did at the beginning of the film.With Agent Sturgis finding his sister Helen, Dorothy Alison, strangled to death it turned out from clues found at the murder scene that her killer was the notorious, but faceless, international drug pusher Frank McNally, Trevor Howard. Helen was about to expose McNally to the police but he got to her first strangling Helen with her own scarf.With him now determined to catch Helen's killer Sturgis starts to track the elusive drug dealer down in a world-wind pursuit that covers some five major cities, New York London Lisbon Rome & Athens, in both Europe and the USA. Meanwhile McNally plans to knock off his competition in the drug trafficking business his partner Salko, Alec Mango. McNally getting his personal squeeze the voluptuous Gina Borger, Anita Ekberg, to do the hit on Salko she messes up when Salko, seeing what a dish Gina is, loses control of his emotions and motor movements and ends up getting blasted. It just happened that Salko's unexpected, as if she didn't see it coming, move on Gnia had distracted her aim, that prevented her from hitting a vital organ, in being able to kill the horny and uncontrollable hood. Salko seemed to have survived the shooting but without medical help, which his "good friend" McNally made sure he didn't get, his days on earth were numbered. Sturgis in London, where Salko was shot, now gets some clues to who Salko's attempted assassin is-through fingerprints left on the crime scene-Swedish blond bombshell Gina Broger!Tracking down Gina who's now wanted by the London police, for shooting Salko, Sturgis ends up in Rome. It's there where Gina's to get the cash that's to cement a deal for her boss McNally in shipping a sealed refrigerator back to New York loaded with heroin. Things get a bit sticky for McNally when his henchman Guido, Marne Maitland,screws up when he's distracted by an excited tourist from murdering Sturgis, with a switchblade, in the ancient Roman Catacombs. It's then that Sturgis gets to meet local hawker, he'll sell you anything for a price, Amalio, Bonar Colleano, who in the end leads him straight to McNally and his gang of international drug traffickers.The movie has the distinction of having three different titles at the time of its release besides "Pickup Alley":"Half Past Hell" "Interpol" and "The Most Wanted Woman". Victor Mature as narcotic agent Charles Sturgis had his hands full not only with the McNally gang but even the good guys in the film. Sturgis chasing McNally gets shot and wounded by a watchman, at the New York piers, who mistook him for a saboteur. Anita Ekberg as Gina Broger was anything but convincing as McNally's woman in that she was always getting abused by him, like getting belted in the mouth, and still didn't have a mark on her. In fact you wondered why Gina, until she was blackmailed by him for shooting his partner Salko, would put up with a creep like McNally in the first place. McNally treated her like dirt making Gina do all his dirty work and paid her in peanuts for risking her neck for him.