Recoil *** (1953, Kieron Moore, Elizabeth Sellars, Edward Underdown) – Classic Movie Review 13,840

John Gilling’s 1953 British crime thriller B-film Recoil stars Elizabeth Sellars as a young woman who resolves to bring her jeweller father’s killer (Kieron Moore) to justice by pretending to be in love with him.

Writer/ director John Gilling’s 1953 British crime thriller B-film Recoil stars Kieron Moore, Elizabeth Sellars and Edward Underdown. Elizabeth Sellars plays a young woman who sees thieves rob and murder her jeweller father, and resolves to bring the killer to justice by pretending to be a criminal and in love with him.

Recoil is a robust and sturdy noir-style thriller, none too credible maybe, a movie concoction, but no worse for that, with a handful of first-rate performances, notably from Elizabeth Sellars as Jean Talbot, the daughter of a robbed and murdered jeweller (Ian Fleming as Talbot), who infiltrates their set-up to bring the killer to justice.

She builds up evidence against her father’s murderer (Kieron Moore as Nicholas Conway) by taking lodgings in the house of the killer’s doctor brother (Edward Underdown as Michael Conway) and pretending to be a criminal herself and in love with the killer, who totally falls for her and her likely stories.

John Horsley is tremendous as Scotland Yard Inspector Trubridge, and Robert Raglan reliably good as his police Sergeant Perkins, both typecast but working hard and truthfully. Martin Benson is thoroughly entertaining as the villainous gang boss Farnborough.

Kieron Moore, though? Well, he is struggling slightly in a very difficult role of absolute 100 per cent rotter (until the very end, so 99 per cent then). But he’s okay, quite effective, even if a bit too smug and sneery, actory and unnaturalistic, and too Irish to have Edward Underdown as his brother (who provides his alibi, and also falls for Sellars of course). On the other hand, their mother Mrs Conway is played by Ethel O’Shea as an Irish woman, so probably it is Underdown who is out of place, though his old smoothie act works ideally here.

It was filmed at Alliance Studios in Twickenham, Middlesex, but also with some fragrant outside shooting. Cinematographer Monty Berman (the film’s producer with Robert S Baker) makes it look nice and noir, with some quite startling shots, and a great flavour of London, mostly by night. Location shooting took place in Kensington and Chelsea. It all looks like an American crime film of the era, and plays like one too, with excellent results. John Gilling’s direction is quite pacy and intense, staging a moody robbery and murder at the start, and several impressive fights throughout, and his plotting and dialogue are involving and entertaining. It gets a bit melodramatic at the climax, with guns and shootouts that always seem out of place in Brit thrillers, but nobody can say it isn’t lively. Its ironic ending is satisfying too.

It is a shame that several first-class favourite characters actors are completely wasted: Ian Fleming as Talbot, Michael Balfour as the crook Parkes, and Sam Kydd as Ticket Collector have nothing to do. On the other hand, though Kieron Moore stars, the film belongs to the stylish and intelligent Elizabeth Sellars, making the most of being the main female lead, when she usually had to be content in secondary roles.

The car chase sequence that leads up to the crash, with the car overturning and catching fire is footage from John Gilling’s Tiger by the Tail. Sellars gets into taxi KGN 624 but gets out of taxi KGN 686. She also jumps into a taxi KGY 520, which seconds later is KGU 933.

The interiors are shot at Alliance Studios, Twickenham, Middlesex, England.

Recoil is directed by John Gilling, runs 79 minutes, is made by Tempean Films, is released by Eros Films, is written by John Gilling, is shot in black and white by Monty Berman, is produced by Robert S Baker and Monty Berman, and is scored by Stanley Black.

Cast: Kieron Moore, Elizabeth Sellars, Edward Underdown, John Horsley, Robert Raglan, Ethel O’Shea, Martin Benson, Michael Kelly, Ian Fleming, Bill Lowe, Michael Balfour, Sam Kydd.

© Derek Winnert 2026 – Classic Movie Review 13,840

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