Street of Shadows [Shadow Man] *** (1953, Cesar Romero, Kay Kendall, Edward Underdown, Victor Maddern, Simone Silva, Bill Travers) – Classic Movie Review 13,519

The 1953 British film noir thriller film Street of Shadows [Shadow Man] stars Cesar Romero, Kay Kendall, Edward Underdown, and Victor Maddern, plus the notorious actress who posed topless with Robert Mitchum for photographers at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival.

Writer/ director Richard Vernon’s 1953 British film noir thriller film Street of Shadows [Shadow Man] is based on the 1951 novel The Creaking Chair by prolific British novelist Laurence Meynell., and stars Cesar Romero, Kay Kendall, Edward Underdown, Victor Maddern, Simone Silva, and Bill Travers.

Kay Kendall is appealing and stylish as unhappily married socialite Barbara Gale, in this simple and straightforward, if slightly plodding Brit filler thriller of the 1950s, aspiring to be a first feature but more of a B-movie.

Barbara Gale leaves her husband for Luigi (Cesar Romero), the owner of a Soho pin table saloon, who now becomes the police’s number one suspect after his former lover (Simone Silva) is murdered. Barbara Gale (Kendall) pretends to be the young woman to flush out the real killer,

Street of Shadows is perhaps rather ordinary, unexciting mystery stuff, sometimes quite tepidly handled and with fairly poor production values, and probably useless for careers. However, the hard-working cast is very solid, and plays gamely, with the character actors given decent little roles to play. Victor Maddern scores particularly well as Romero’s incapacitated helper Limpy, with his own theme music, ‘The Limping Man’, and Edward Underdown makes the most of a good part as Detective Inspector Johnstone.

Despite its downsides, Street of Shadows nevertheless has some style, thanks to Eric Spear’s score, Tommy Reilly’s harmonica solos, and Phil Grindrod’s noir cinematography. And, after a slow start with too much exposition and character drawing, Richard Vernon eventually manages some pace and suspense, and there’s atmosphere and period charm with the location filming in London’s West End. The 26-year-old Kendall and the 46-year-old Romero seem an unlikely couple, but both are charming in their own very different ways.

It is shot at Merton Park Studios, South London. and on location in London’s West End. 

It is produced by William Nassour Productions and Merton Park Studios, and released by Anglo-Amalgamated in the UK in April 1953, and then by Lippert Pictures in the US. Shadow Man is the US title,

Street of Shadows [Shadow Man] is directed by Richard Vernon, runs 84 minutes, is made by William Nassour Productions and Merton Park Studios, is released by Anglo-Amalgamated (UK) and Lippert Pictures (US), is written by Richard Vernon, is shot in black and white by Phil Grindrod, is produced by William H Williams, William Nassour, Nat Cohen and Stuart Levy, is scored by Eric Spear, and is designed by George Haslam.

The cast are Cesar Romero, Victor Maddern, Kay Kendall, Simone Silva, Edward Underdown, Bill Travers, John Penrose, Eileen Way, Liam Gaffney, Robert Cawdron, Rose McLaren, Michael Kelly, Paul Hardtmuth, Molly Hamley-Clifford, Tony Sympson as Nikki, Fred Griffiths as cab driver, Harry Purvis as Darrell, and Lionel King as cardsharp.

Unusually for a Hollywood star of his era, Romero never married and had no children. If this this was a more expensive film than usual for Anglo-Amalgamated, much of the budget must have gone to the imported star. It was a first for them.

Simone Silva became famous for a notorious incident at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival where she posed topless with Robert Mitchum for photographers. Nowadays at Cannes that is frowned upon.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,519

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