Dancing With Crime

Some may find the tone (and title) a bit light for noir, but John Paddy Carstairs’ Dancing With Crime is a rock solid example of the cycle, complete with a wrong man character who’s running from gangsters across a nocturnal London where sunlight never makes an appearance but a neon sign reading “Spread a Little Happiness” hangs over a dark alley. The story revolves around a dance hostess club (“Look out feet, here they come,” says a dancer when the doors open) which also serves as headquarters for a gang led by Mr. Gregory (Barry Jones) and his deputy Paul Baker (Barry K. Barnes). When the gang’s latest recruit, Dave Robinson (Bill Owen, whose charm steals the show), is found dead in a taxicab belonging to his childhood friend Ted Peters (Richard Attenborough), Mr. Gregory assumes the cab driver knows of the gang’s activities and targets him for elimination. This prompts Ted to take a low profile while endeavoring to solve the mystery of his friend’s death, including letting his girlfriend Joy Goodall (Sheila Sim) take a dancer job at the club to uncover dirt that might help in Ted’s investigation. (An ethereal Diana Dors plays fellow dancer Annette in one of her first film roles.) Cinematographer Wyer captures plenty of rich, beautiful shots of dark corners, crowded dance halls (from overhead), and chases on foot (often using deep focus); even the subpar fight scenes are nicely shot if unrealistically choreographed. Attenborough’s acting range is especially notable when we compare his naive, baby-faced Ted Peters with the evil, psychotic Pinkie Brown, the polar opposite character he portrayed in the following year’s Brighton Rock.