Break in the Circle

Break in the Circle is a 1955 British crime film directed by Val Guest and starring Forrest Tucker, Eva Bartok, Marius Goring, Arnold Marle and Guy Middleton.^[2] It was written by Guest based on the 1951 novel Break in The Circle by Robin Estridge (as Philip Loraine), and produced by Michael Carreras for Hammer Films. This was Hammer's second color film, following Men of Sherwood Forest and James Carreras had high hopes for its success, but the film did not perform up to his expectations at the box office. Doreen Carwithen composed the score for the film, Jimmy Sangster was Production Manager, J. Elder Wills was Production Designer and Phil Leakey handled Makeup. Filming began Aug. 22, 1954, and it was trade shown on Feb. 10, 1955 and released in the UK on Feb. 28, 1955. It was only released much later in the US in 1957. Val Guest later directed Forrest Tucker again in Hammer's later sci-fi epic The Abominable Snowman.^[3]

Break in the Circle
British quad poster
Directed by	Val Guest
Written by	Val Guest
Based on	the novel by Robin Estridge (writing as Philip Loraine)
Produced by	Michael Carreras
Starring	Forrest Tucker Eva Bartok Marius Goring Eric Pohlmann Arnold Marle
Cinematography	Walter J. Harvey Len Harris
Edited by	Bill Lenny
Music by	Doreen Carwithen John Hollingsworth
Production company	Hammer Film Productions
Distributed by	Exclusive Films (UK) 20th Century-Fox (US)
Release date	28 February 1955 (1955-02-28) (UK)
Running time	91 minutes (UK) 69 minutes (US)[1]
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Plot

An adventurer Skip Morgan (Forrest Tucker) and his friend Dusty hire out their boat (The Bonaventure) to do smuggling runs. A German millionaire named Baron Keller (Marius Goring) hires them to sneak a Polish scientist named Pal Kudnic (Arnold Marle) out of Communist Europe to the West. Morgan learns that Keller is after a valuable fuel formula that Kudnic has developed, and he tells Keller he wants more money. Keller forces Morgan to take the boat out to sea where he intends to kill Morgan, but Morgan knocks Keller overboard to his death instead.

Cast

• Forrest Tucker as Captain Skip Morgan
• Eva Bartok as Lisa, a British spy
• Marius Goring as Baron Keller
• Guy Middleton as Major Hobart
• Eric Pohlmann as Emile
• Arnold Marlé as Professor Pal Kudnic
• Fred Johnson as Chief Agent Farquarson
• David King-Wood as Colonel Patchway
• Reginald Beckwith as Dusty
• Guido Lorraine as Franz
• André Mikhelson as Russian Thug
• Stanley Zevic as Russian Thug
• Marne Maitland as The Phony Kudnic
• Arthur Lovegrove as Bert

Production

It was the first feature produced by Michael Carreras and was shot on location in Polperro,^[4] London, and Hamburg.^[5]

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Break in the Circle is a schoolboy adventure yarn, moving quite fast along heavily American-influenced lines. Occasionally, however, the profusion of bullets, fights and escapes strains the credibility necessary even to this type of entertainment. The characters are stock inventions and are played as such, and the dialogue (notably that of the hero) deals too freely in a stale wisecracking idiom. Efficient use is made of the location backgrounds, and the quality of the colour is good. A rousing romp for the unsophisticated."^[6]

Picturegoer wrote: "Eva Bartok is delightfully provocative as the heroine and Forrest Tucker is first-rate. But why wasn't Marius Goring, who plays the financier, given more scope."^[7]

Picture Show wrote: "Exciting drama of the rescue of an elderly scientist from Germany by a young man who lets nothing stand in' his way. Well acted and told."^[8]

Leslie Halliwell said: "Routine action yarn of cross and double-cross."^[9]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "This is an efficient and energetic British thriller, not without the odd moment of humour."^[10]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "good", writing: "Robust thriller with a vein of humour."^[11]