The Steel Key

The Steel Key is a 1953 British second feature^[1] thriller film directed by Robert S. Baker and starring Terence Morgan, Joan Rice and Raymond Lovell.^[2]

The Steel Key
Original Australian daybill poster
Directed by	Robert S. Baker
Written by	John Gilling & Roy Chanslor
Produced by	Robert S. Baker Monty Berman
Starring	Terence Morgan Joan Rice Raymond Lovell
Cinematography	Gerald Gibbs
Edited by	Peter Taylor
Music by	Frank Cordell
Production company	Tempean Films
Distributed by	Eros Films (U.K.)
Release date	May 1953 (1953-05) (U.K.)
Running time	69 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Plot

Adventurer Johnny O'Flynn attempts to track down thieves who have stolen a secret military formula for producing hardened steel; but ruthless others who will stop at nothing are also on the trail.

Cast

• Terence Morgan as Johnny O'Flynn
• Joan Rice as Doreen Wilson
• Raymond Lovell as Inspector Forsythe
• Dianne Foster as Sylvia Newman
• Hector Ross as Beroni
• Colin Tapley as Doctor Crabtree
• Esmond Knight as Professor Newman
• Arthur Lovegrove as Gilchrist
• Sam Kydd as chauffeur
• Esma Cannon as patient in doctor's waiting room
• Michael Balfour as sailor
• Tom Gill as hotel receptionist
• Cyril Smith as boat owner (uncredited)
• Ben Williams as taxi driver (uncredited)

Critical reception

Monthly Film Bulletin said "An indifferent thriller, whose stock characters and situations fail either to convince or to excite. A humdrum production is scarcely relieved by Raymond Lovell’s performance as a blundering Inspector."^[3]

Kine Weekly wrote "Crowded and ingenuous "cops-and robbers” staged in and around London. ... The plcture occasionally allows its lively sense of humour to remove the edge off some of its thrills, but otherwise it's hearty, actionful and disarmingly ingenuous 'Boys’ Own Paper'."^[4]

TV Guide gave the film two out of five stars, calling it a "Silly spy drama ...The complicated plot doesn't quite work, but audiences should enjoy it anyway."^[5]

Allmovie wrote, "a little-known British melodrama with some potent talent involved, including actors Terence Morgan and Joan Rice and future Saint director Robert Baker".^[6]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Light thriller is quite unconvincing, but so hectic it almost gets away with it."^[7]

References

1. Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. p. 162. ISBN 978-1-8445-7319-6.
2. "The Steel Key". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
3. "The Steel Key". Monthly Film Bulletin. 20 (228): 90. 1953 – via ProQuest.
4. "The Steel Key". Kine Weekly. 433 (2392): 16. 30 April 1953 – via ProQuest.
5. "The Steel Key". TVGuide.com. Archived from the original on 25 December 2016.
6. "The Steel Key (1953) - Robert S. Baker | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie" – via www.allmovie.com.
7. Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 379. ISBN 0-7134-1874-5.

External links

• The Steel Key at IMDb
• The Steel Key at ReelStreets