NIGEL PATRICK IN 'UNDERWORLD INFORMERS' AKA 'THE INFORMERS'

Year: 1963 Rating: ***1/2

No matter what title's used, UNDERWORLD INFORMERS or simply THE INFORMERS, it's right up front about those shady characters desperate enough to run to the law and name names: Only here it's Scotland Yard's Nigel Patrick who takes foot after them... actually one particular snitch/snout in a newly-slain informer's ex-con brother Colin Blakely, so intensely energetic he needed far more screen time...

But it's pretty boy criminal Derren Nesbitt on the freewheeling forefront, strutting his wealth as he and more cautious partner Frank Finlay hang out in a crowded nightclub while their planned bank/safe heist (after several previous knockoffs) happens simultaneously elsewhere...

And so Nigel Patrick's Chief Inspector John Edward Johnnoe... vulnerable to strict chief Harry Andrews since he cuts corners to begin with... dives into a dog-eat-dog plot saturated enough for three crime flicks while curbed by two dames that, like any Noir, has one naive the other wicked. Unfortunately the gorgeous Katherine Woodville is benign and underused as the cop's wife, leaving the good stuff to bad girl/moll Margaret Whiting who, despite framing our hero, is equally sympathetic as a single mom mentally and physically abused by that rich pompous crime lord Nesbitt... And yet he really has the most fun since, unlike everyone else... dizzy from all the complicated bedlam... he's grinning till the end, and with an unapologetic villainy that — possibly inspired by the likes of Robinson and Cagney — becomes downright infectious.

Katherine Woodville in UNDERGROUND INFORMERS

Darren Nesbitt and Frank Finley in UNDERGROUND INFORMERS

Michael Coles and Colin Blakely in UNDERGROUND INFORMERS

Nigel Patrick in UNDERGROUND INFORMERS

Margaret Whiting and Darren Nesbitt in UNDERGROUND INFORMERS

Frank Finley in UNDERGROUND INFORMERS

Colin Blakely in UNDERGROUND INFORMERS

Katherine Woodville in UNDERGROUND INFORMERS

Allan Cuthbertson and Nigel Patrick in THE INFORMERS

Michael Coles and Colin Blakely in UNDERGROUND INFORMERS

Michael Coles in UNDERGROUND INFORMERS

Katherine Woodville in UNDERGROUND INFORMERS

Margaret Whiting and Derrin Nesbitt in UNDERGROUND INFORMERS

 Faye Craig from Jungle Street Girls here in THE INFORMERS

And here's Faye Craig in JUNGLE STREET aka JUNGLE STREET GIRLS

Faye Craig in JUNGLE STREET aka JUNGLE STREET GIRLS and...

Back to THE INFORMERS with Faye Craig and Derren Nesbitt

Derren Nesbitt and Nigel Patrick in UNDERWORLD INFORMERS

Katherine Woodville in UNDERGROUND INFORMERS with Nigel Patrick

Katherine Woodville in UNDERGROUND INFORMERS with Ronald Hines

Margaret Whiting and Darren Nesbitt in UNDERGROUND INFORMERS

Margaret Whiting and Darren Nesbitt in UNDERGROUND INFORMERS

Katherine Woodville in UNDERGROUND INFORMERS

Ken Richmond (Night and the City) as the RANK Films gong guy

The actual title then for THE INFORMERS is THE INFORMERS

Based on the short story DEATH OF A SNOUT

Katherine Woodville in UNDERGROUND INFORMERS with Nigel Patrick

Frank Finlay in UNDERWORLD INFORMERS

Margaret Whiting and Nigel Patrick in UNDERWORLD INFORMERS

Future The Party's Over beauty Katherine Woodville in THE INFORMERS

Police Chief Harry Anders with Katherine Woodville in THE INFORMERS

Michael Coles with Margaret Whiting in UNDERWORLD INFORMERS

Frank Finlay in UNDERWORLD INFORMERS with Derren Nesbitt