The Painted Smile
Thriller
Theatrical Release (US)
Overview:
Jo and Mark are working the "outraged husband" racket when they fall foul of the sinister Kleinie....
Director:
Lance Comfort
Status:
Released
Language:
English
Buget:
$0.00
Revenue:
Key words:
Cast
Liz Fraser
~ as ~
Jo Lake
Kenneth Griffith
Kleinie
Peter Reynolds
Mark
Tony Wickert
Tom
Craig Douglas
Nightclub Singer
Nanette Newman
Mary
Ray Smith
Glynn
David Hemmings
Roy
Harold Berens
Mikhala
Grazina Frame
Lucy
CinemaSerf
Written 2 year(s) ago
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Area of Conflict
I rather enjoyed Kenneth Griffith's performance here as the malevolent "Kleinie". He finds himself caught up in the amateur shenanigans of "Jo" (Liz Fraser) and "Mark" (Peter Reynolds). Now this pair have an habit of using her as a lure for young men whom she invites back to her flat only for her "husband" to arrive and try a little extortion. Well, they hit on the newly flush lad - "Tom" (Tony Wickert) - but when she returns to finish the sting, "Kleinie" calls alerting her to a shocking surprise in the bedroom. The young "Tom" is too drunk to offer much resistance to her rather ill thought-out plan and before he knows it he is being sought by the police for murder. What now ensues is a fairly run-of-the-mill British crime noir as both "Tom" and "Jo" have to stay one step ahead of the pursuing police whilst their nasty nemesis has plans for them of his own. Fraser was a competent enough comedy actress, but here she hasn't really the gravitas to engender much of a sense of danger. Wickert fares slightly better as the not-so-hapless youth - once he sobers up - but there isn't much jeopardy here and as the plot shuttles along we are well aware of how things are going to turn out. It's only an hour long, though, and Lance Comfort doesn't let it hang about - it moves along well enough with a basic but adequate production and a rather hectic score from Martin Slavin to keep it watchable, if forgettable.