The Good Die Young (1954)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Lewis Gilbert

Writers:

Vernon Harris (screenplay) and
Lewis Gilbert (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

1 November 1954 (Sweden)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Three good men - a broken boxer, an American veteran trying to win back his mother-dominated wife, and...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Based On Novel

Cast

Laurence Harvey	...	Miles 'Rave' Ravenscourt
Gloria Grahame	...	Denise Blaine
Richard Basehart	...	Joe Halsey
Joan Collins	...	Mary Halsey
John Ireland	...	Eddie Blaine
René Ray	...	Angela Morgan (as Rene Ray)
Stanley Baker	...	Mike Morgan
Margaret Leighton	...	Eve Ravenscourt
Robert Morley	...	Sir Francis Ravenscourt
Freda Jackson	...	Mrs. Freeman
James Kenney	...	Dave, Angela's Brother
Susan Shaw	...	Doris, Girl in the Pub
Lee Patterson	...	Tod Maslin
Sandra Dorne	...	Pretty Girl
Leslie Dwyer	...	Stookey

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (2001) | USA:Approved (PCA #16841)

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Remus

A crime thriller wannabe that doesn't quite make it.

A cast of very good actors giving less than stellar performances in a "terribly English" crime drama about four losers banding together to rob a post office van. Contrived situations and sledgehammer dialogue doom this movie to sub-B status. What this project really needed was a scriptwriter with a sense of pace and an ear for dialogue and a strong director - neither of which it has, even though director Lewis Gilbert would indeed go on to better things. One wonders how American director Jules Dassin, who was active in this period and excelled at this kind of movie, would have handled the material - much faster, slicker and entertaining, no doubt. Joan Collins in one of her early roles - her breasts thrusting into the spotlight at every opportunity. Thank God she subsequently got her act together and took herself less seriously. A dreadful performance by the great Gloria Grahame, who played similar roles in other movies to much greater effect. Competent performances by John Ireland and Richard Basehart, despite their klunky dialogue. A showy, slimy performance by matinée idol Laurence Harvey that is waaaay too English to be convincing or believable. The one knockout performance comes from forgotten Welsh actor Stanley Baker as a washed up boxer. Vibrant, passionate, quietly effective when needed. A major talent cut short in his prime. A quality act. Overall the movie suffers from an artificial style of acting that disappeared from the British cinema in the early 60's with the emergence of the working class actors like Finney, Courtenay, O'Toole and Harris - and not a moment too soon. An interesting curiosity of a movie but could have been much better.