You Pay Your Money

You Pay Your Money is a 1957 British crime drama film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring Hugh McDermott, Jane Hylton and Honor Blackman.[1] The thriller was one of the Butcher's Film Service's 1950s B film genre.[2]

You Pay Your Money
Lobby card
Directed byMaclean Rogers
Written by
  • Michael Cronin
  • Maclean Rogers
Produced byW.G. Chalmers
Starring
CinematographyWalter J. Harvey
Edited byBen Hipkins
Music byWilfred Burns
Production
company
Distributed byButcher's Film Service
Release date
February 1957 (UK)
Running time
68 min.
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Plot

On a visit to Belgium, married couple Bob (Hugh McDermott ) and Susie Westlake (Honor Blackman) become involved with wealthy financier, Steve Mordaunt (Ivan Samson), in the sale and transfer of a collection of rare books. In an attempted burglary at Mordaunt's home, his love interest, Mrs. Rosemary Delgado (Jane Hylton), is suspected. She was once romantically linked to a gangster and she leads the Westlakes in a search for Achemd's writings, a middle eastern 14th Century seer which has inspired an extreme political group, and thought to be in the collection of rare books that Mourdaunt now owns.

The Westlakes become embroiled in a struggle over the valuable Arabic manuscripts, and when Susie is kidnapped by extremists, Bob works as an assistant to Tom Cookson, a manuscript smuggler (Hugh Moxey) who is importing the rare texts the gang are seeking. The extremists demand Mourdaunt turn over his collection of rare books, and plot to incite a revolution across the Middle East but can the Westlakes prevent a serious international situation?

Cast

Production

Principal photography on You Pay Your Money took place in the Nettlefold Studios, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England.[2]

Critical reception

In a review of You Pay Your Money, the Radio Times wrote, "The much maligned Butcher's Film Service holds an unenviable place in the history of British cinema. By sponsoring dozens of low-budget programmers, it enabled young talent on both sides of the camera to gain an industry foothold. Yet it mostly churned out dismal offerings such as this tale of kidnap and rare book smuggling, which is given only the merest modicum of respectability by the presence of Hugh McDermott and Honor Blackman."[3]

A review of You Pay Your Money in TV Guide, noted, "... the execution is top notch, but the witlessness of the story rankles."[4]

References

Notes

  1. "Film details: 'You Pay Your Money' (1957)." British Film Institute. Retrieved: 30 August 2016.
  2. Chibnall and McFarlane 2009, p. 67.
  3. Parkinson, David. "Review: 'You Pay Your Money' (1957)." Radio Times, 16 June 2016. Retrieved: 30 August 2016.
  4. "Review: 'You Pay Your Money'." TV Guide. Retrieved: 30 August 2016.

Bibliography

  • Chibnall, Steve and Brian McFarlane. The British 'B' Film. London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2009. ISBN 978-1-8445-7320-2.
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