Story of movie World For Ransom : World for Ransom is a 1954 film noir drama film directed by Robert Aldrich. It was Aldrich's second feature as director.
| World for Ransom | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Robert Aldrich (uncredited) |
| Produced by | Bernard Tabakin Robert Aldrich |
| Screenplay by | Lindsay Hardy Hugo Butler (ucredited) |
| Starring | Dan Duryea Gene Lockhart |
| Music by | Frank De Vol |
| Cinematography | Joseph Biroc |
| Edited by | Michael Luciano |
Production company | Plaza Production |
| Distributed by | Allied Artists Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 82 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $100,000 |
| Box office | 441,946 admissions (France) |
Many of the actors and sets used in the film were from the Dan Duryea television show China Smith. Duryea, Patric Knowles, Gene Lockhart, Reginald Denny, and Nigel Bruce starred in the film. Aldrich and cinematographer Joseph Biroc also worked on the series.
Aldrich later said the movie "first embedded what I wanted to say in films. It was mainly about two men with good and bad points.Both men believed in individual liberty but the belief of one man was weaker than the other because he had no respect for humanity."
It was the last film of Nigel Bruce who died not long after filming completed.
Screenplay
Mike Callahan (Duryea) is an Irish émigré and war veteran working in Singapore as a private detective. He takes on a case from a former flame, now a nightclub singer. She thinks her husband Julian March (Knowles) is involved in criminal activities and asks him to help out.
Callahan learns that a man named Alexis Pederas (Lockhart) has involved Julian in a plot to kidnap a prominent nuclear scientist Sean O'Connor and hold him for ransom to the highest bidder. O'Connor is one of the only men in the world that knows how to detonate the H-Bomb.
- Dan Duryea as Mike Callahan aka Corrigan
- Gene Lockhart as Alexis Pederas
- Patric Knowles as Julian March
- Reginald Denny as Major Ian Bone
- Nigel Bruce as Governor Sir Charles Crotts
- Keye Luke as Wong
- Arthur Shields as O'Connor
- Strother Martin as Corporal
- Marian Carr as Frenessey March
Aldrich said he got the idea to make the film while directing episodes of China Smith. When production was on hiatus he wrote a story with a colleague. Bernard Tabakin, who produced China Smith, agreed to produce the film along with Aldrich.
Aldrich says the script was almost entirely written by Hugo Butler but Butler does not get credit due to being blacklisted. Aldrich said "There are optimists in the society, not many left, who thought that someday those guys would get post-mortem credits for their work. So he wrote World for Ransom and I put my name on it to try and get him the credit. And it went into arbitration with the Writer's Guild, and another guy got total screen credit on it. It was a joke. He no more wrote that script than walk on the water. Butler made that total screenplay."
Filming started 13 April 1953 at the Motion Picture Center Studio.
The film was shot in 11 days, on a budget that has been reported between $90,000 and $100,000. It was shot over 6 days, then Aldrich halted production to shoot TV commercials in order to raise money for the film's post-production. Then there was a five day shoot to finish it.
"It was a strange and very enjoyable experience and - except for the end result - a marvellous collaboration," said Aldrich. "It really had no sets and thanks to Joe Biroc we had reflections in the water where there was no water and all sorts of silly things. I've always looked back on World for Ransom with a kind of wistful happy feeling.."
The film is similar to another film noir with a nuclear theme by Aldrich, Kiss Me Deadly, the difference being that Callahan is trying to get an old girlfriend back, while Mike Hammer in Kiss Me Deadly was in it for the money.
The film had a considerable impact on Aldrich's career - in July 1953 Harold Hecht hired him to direct Burt Lancaster in Apache.
Critical response
When the film was released, film critic Bosley Crowther was negative about the film but appreciated the actors, writing, "Nothing gives it distinction, save possibly the people in its cast ... Robert Aldrich produced and directed. He was trying. Some day he may learn how."
More recently, film critic Dennis Schwartz was positive about the film, and wrote, "This is a marvelously understated film noir that parodies all those big-budget spy/adventure films and in my opinion does a better job than most in getting to the underbelly of that genre. Aldrich was upset with censors for lifting the scene where Duryea learns his love interest is a lesbian. He could forgive her love for other men, but not with other women. The 1950s wasn't ready for such relationships, at least not in films. Nevertheless, this was a compelling film doing a fantastic job exploring the uncertainty of partnerships and the indeterminate nature of trust."
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