Nice, tight little British B film which deservedly gave a filip to the career of Lewis Gilbert who directed and co wrote it. There's a really solid central idea - a 5 year old girl is going to die, and she has a rare blood type. Doctor Anthony Steel and cop Jack Warden follow up leads: a boxer who is meant to throw a game, a black man who is reluctant to give blood to whites, a criminal.
The film stumbles at time - there should be more prominent women (Steel should have been a female, the mother of the girl just hangs around) and worked on its relationships (Steel and the mother, Steel and Warden). Also the movie makers weren't up to the black character subplot - Earl Cameron doesn't want to give blood because a German rejected it during the war... which seems cheating (why not have a British person reject it?)
But it moves fast, there's an in-built ticking clock, and the film is populated with delightful character actors: Earl Cameron, Sidney Talfer, Sid James.
I liked this movie. Warner goes through the motions but he's fine. Steel is limited but he is ideally cast as a doctor. There are enough lively actors around them.
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