I admit I love film noir. I would rather watch "Kiss Me Deadly" or "The Big Heat" any night instead of one of the modern Hollywood blockbusters. The good guys didn't always wear white, the bad guys were more then cartoon caricatures, and political correctness wasn't heard of yet. Even so, these films had a strong moral code - the bad guys never won. What makes a film noir so special is the crafting of the picture, from a solid story, to believable acting (most of these films didn't star the "A-list" actors of the day), to a style that became it's own. I doubt you'd find a better-photographed film today.

In 1960, blacklisted American director Joseph Losey filmed a movie in England called THE CRIMINAL; a hard-boiled crime drama set mostly in prison, where everyone was crooked. Although you could say technically this movie is not film noir (there's no mystery to be solved), the style is exactly that.

The film opens inside an English prison, where new inmates are processed into the system. An old orderly sees one of the new men and spreads the word through the cellblock that "Kelly's back." This reaches the ear of block boss Johnny Bannion, who has issues with Kelly. When Kelly is brought into the cellblock, the section warden Mr. Barrows warns Johnny to lay off Kelly or jeopardize his own impending release. Later, without Johnny's knowledge (wink wink nudge nudge), the prisoners cause a commotion to cover the sound of Kelly being beat to all heck, and Barrows gives tacit approval by refusing to let the guards quell the noise. When Johnny is released the next day, he hears that Kelly "fell down the stairs." Outside the walls, Johnny, with a new heist already in mind, gets picked up by his associate Mike Carter. Later, a party is thrown at Johnny's place celebrating his release, but his ex-girlfriend Maggie arrives and spoils the gala. Johnny has her thrown out. Everybody else quickly leaves, everyone, that is, except Maggie's roommate Susan, who winds up in Johnny's bed.

Johnny gets the gang together to go over the next robbery. Meanwhile, Maggie finds out Johnny is shacking up with Susan, and she's not happy. The gang's heist at a horse track goes off almost flawlessly, and Johnny buries the loot in a field until the heat dies down. When he returns home; however, the cops are there. It seems Maggie and "an old friend" tipped them off. Johnny is caught with some of the stolen money, so he's sent back to prison. He meets with block boss Safrin, who tells Johnny the cops really want that money he stole back. Safrin arranges for Johnny to be transferred to his old cellblock, where the Big J takes over again from some upstart punks. Johnny finds out via Safrin theat his pal Mike Carter has 'convinced' the other gang members to give him their shares of the buried loot, and he's taken Susan hostage believing she knows where it's buried. Johnny agrees to give Safrin everything if the boss can get Johnny sprung from the joint. Can Johnny escape before Carter hurts Susan? And how will Johnny deal with the double-crosser?

When it was said this was the "toughest film ever made in Britain", they weren't kidding. The script is lean and mean, and the acting very solid. Stanley Baker gives a fine portrayal of Johnny, adding nuances to his character instead of acting like a standard criminal. Patrick Magee is downright sinister as Barrows, the corrupt guard. The other prisoners are all given their own idiosyncrasies (Paulie's schizophrenic, Clubber's a fun-loving monster, Safrin's the "Godfather") so you really get a sense of the volatile mix of personalities locked away together. Losey included black actors in the prison scenes, an uncommon occurrence in films at that time (although their dialogue is regretfully stereotypical). Losey directs the film at a quick pace, never letting the action get bogged down. Helping to keep things moving is a jazzy soundtrack, with the title ballad sung by Cleo Laine. A twist added by Losey is nudity, seldom seen in 1960. There's a poster of a nude in Johnny's room, and Susan's backside is seen clearly in a bathroom scene.

The DVD is presented in wide screen format, but includes only the original trailer and short talent bios of director Losey and star Baker. The picture quality is outstanding considering the film is over 40 years old. It's like a nice B&W photograph - there's no real graininess to the image. The sound is clean and mixed well; the dialogue and music levels don't conflict with each other. Although it has Dolby, the sound is in mono. A note for late night TV watchers - the film is also known as "The Concrete Jungle", but don't confuse it with the chicks-in-prison film of the same name.

I had just finished watching "Anatomy of a Murder" and "Kiss Me Deadly" when this disc arrived, and it fit right in with those Hollywood classics. So all you film noir and mystery buffs out there should give The Criminal a look because it's a solid, tough film. Quite possibly the toughest film ever made in Britain, still !