THE SCARLET WEB (1954)

James Warren is released from six months in prison and is picked up by a Mrs. Dexter. She says he looks like the kind of man who is not afraid of a spot of danger and wants to hire him to get a letter of her husband's away from a blackmailer. She sets up a rendezvous that evening with her and her husband Charles to discuss the matter. What she doesn’t know is that he’s actually Jake Winter, an insurance investigator who was in prison working undercover to discover the location of some stolen jewels. He reports to his main office only to find that his boss, a gruff guy with whiskers, has been replaced by Susan Honeywell, a lovely young woman. He’s a bit patronizing to her, but then he starts trying to charm her and she shows signs of responding. But that night at his rendezvous, Mrs. Dexter drugs his drink and he passes out. When he wakes up, he has a knife in his hand, Mrs. Dexter is gone, and a dead woman is present in the apartment. He goes to get help from Susan. His fingerprints were found on the knife so she agrees to hide him and help him clear his name. It turns out that the dead woman is the real Mrs. Dexter, and the woman who drugged him is Charles Dexter's mistress. Dexter's secretary is protective of her boss, but Simpson, Dexter's clerk, is more forthcoming and Jake learns that the mistress's name is Laura Vane. More interestingly, Susan finds out that Dexter had taken out a big life insurance policy on his wife just a few months ago. They figure out that Laura killed Mrs. Dexter and is planning on heading to Buenos Aires with Dexter when the insurance money comes through. Then Susan discovers that Dexter is planning on making the trip alone. Can Jake and Susan clear Jake's name before Dexter gets away?

This hour-long British B-film has two good performances to anchor it. Griffith Jones is fairly dashing and charismatic as Jake, and Hazel Court is sexy and sly as Susan. Their relationship, a little adversarial at the beginning, becomes one of trust and respect and, eventually, romance. Neither actor was a big box-office name but both are usually standouts as supporting players. Here they're the leads and they're quite good. Zena Marshall is fine as the attractive and dangerous Laura; Molly Raynor is the cranky secretary, and Ronald Stevens has a couple nice scenes as Simpson. It's a talky movie with lots of information passed along as expository dialogue. But there is a little effective action, and one fun scene in a salon where Jake finds that Susan is sprucing up her looks to impress him. Her gay comic relief hairdresser (David Stoll) promises not to make her "too fluffy," which amuses Jake. I always like Jones and he and Court have a good chemistry, and the film's tone remains light—it's too bad this didn't become a series. Pictured are Court and Jones. [YouTube]