The Counterfeit Plan

Despite his mostly unremarkable cast, extensive use of day-for-night filming, and other signs of budget restrictions, director Montgomery Tully, who rarely had more than a pittance available for his films, gave The Counterfeit Plan a more lavish feel largely by setting it primarily in a private castle on a vast country estate. Such an opulent home belongs (inexplicably) to Louie Bernard (Mervyn Johns), who had worked for the British government making counterfeit foreign currency during the war. His counterfeiting skills are put to use again, this time for criminal purposes, when his home is invaded by sociopathic gangster, murderer, and fugitive Max Brant (Zachary Scott), along with his colleagues Duke (Lee Patterson) and Flint (Sydney Tafler), who blackmails him into creating the plates and turning his cellar into a counterfeiting operation. Peggie Castle plays Bernard’s daughter Carole whom Brant attempts to use as a sexual plaything. Visually, Tully goes light on the high-contrast noir style, but directs the camera creatively, contrasting the open air of the estate with the underground environment of the basement counterfeit lab (consistently shot from above), a smoky billiards room (featuring Australian professional Horace Lindrum), etc.