The Man in the Back Seat **** (1961, Derren Nesbitt, Carol White, Keith Faulkner, Harry Locke) – Classic Movie Review 12,347

Derren Nesbitt and Keith Faulkner star as thieving thugs, in the gripping, superior 1961 British crime thriller B-movie The Man in the Back Seat.

Director Vernon Sewell’s 1961 British B-movie crime thriller film The Man in the Back Seat is a creepy, gripping, superior and significant second feature work, ingeniously and satisfyingly written by Malcolm Hulke and Eric Paice. Sewell was right when he called it ‘a good picture’. Even the advertising on the poster is right: ‘One of the finest features of its type’.

It is supposedly based on an uncredited Edgar Wallace original story about two nasty London petty crook hoodlums Tony and Frank (Derren Nesbitt and Keith Faulkner) trying to separate a greyhound racing stadium bookmaker Joe Carter (Harry Locke) from his bag containing his night’s takings.

The bag is secured by handcuff and chain, so they bundle the brutally beaten and unconscious Carter into his car and take him to Frank’s house to find a hammer and chisel, but are discovered by Frank’s furious wife Jean (Carol White).

Tony is the cold and vicious one, giving Derren Nesbitt a good time, showing his mettle as a great bad guy, and Frank is his easily influenced, much less vicious partner-in-crime.

Derren Nesbitt and Keith Faulkner form an excellent double act, and are entirely credible as petty crooks and long-term buddies, suddenly finding themselves way out of their depth. It is all about them, but the young Carol White is first rate too as the not unnaturally strident wife, who is beginning to wonder why her husband Frank married her instead of Tony. These three performances are extremely classy, involved and involving, and quite subtle too, especially give the circumstances.

With the acting agreeable and the production pleasing, this decent little tale is tightly directed by Sewell, with a fine eye for mood, tension and low-key frights. And, complete with a good, ironic ending, it is tremendously good and entertaining of its humble support-movie kind.

It is economically made and shot with only four credited actors, one of whom is silent through most of the film (poor Harry Locke in a truly thankless role, but he did get credited!). Much of the action happens in a cramped flat and the claustrophobic confines of a car at night. But nevertheless, there are plenty of other characters and actors (including Abe Barker as Charlie, Anthony Bate as the AA patrolman and Roy Purcell as the petrol station manager), and considerable location shots. Despite the lengthy dialogue scenes, the film moves, it is cinematic. It is a delicate balance, and it gets the balance right.

The idea that it is based on an Edgar Wallace short story is in dispute since there is no on‑screen credit for Edgar Wallace, and the precise Wallace story that it might be based on has never been positively identified, though the most commonly suggested possibilities are The Winning Ticket or The Kidnapped Man.

The Winning Ticket ( 1930s short story) involves a bookie’s winnings being stolen at a racetrack,  the same set‑piece that drives the film’s action. The Kidnapped Man (early‑1930s short story) centres on a robbery gone wrong and a hostage taken in the back seat of a car, mirroring the film’s claustrophobic car‑interior drama.

The Man in the Back Seat is directed by Vernon Sewell, runs 57 minutes, is made by Independent Artists, is released by Anglo Amalgamated, is written by Malcolm Hulke and Eric Paice, is shot by Reg Wyer, is produced by Julian Wintle and Leslie Parkyn, and is scored by Stanley Black.

Derren Nesbitt and Keith Faulkner also appear in Vernon Sewell’s Strongroom (1962).

British actor Derren Nesbitt was born Derren Michael Horwitz on 19 June 1935. His film career began in the late 1950s, often playing villains in roles such as a blackmailer of gay men in Victim (1961), a murderous pimp in The Informers (1963), a slimy assassin in Nobody Runs Forever, and the suspicious Gestapo officer in Where Eagles Dare (1968). He played the lead role of a drag queen in the 2018 British independent film Tucked.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,347

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