World for Ransom

World for Ransom
World for Ransom movie poster
Directed by	Robert Aldrich (uncredited)
Produced by	Bernard Tabakin Robert Aldrich
Written by	Lindsay Hardy
Starring	Dan Duryea Gene Lockhart
Music by	Frank De Vol
Cinematography	Joseph Biroc
Distributed by	Allied Artists
Release date(s)	January 31, 1954 (U.S.)
Running time	82 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$90,000 (estimate)

World for Ransom (1954) is an American film directed by Robert Aldrich, who was uncredited for his work.

Many of the actors and sets used in the film were from the Dan Duryea television show China Smith. Duryea, Patric Knowles, Gene Lockhart, Reginald Denny, and Nigel Bruce starred in the film. Aldrich and cinematographer Joseph Biroc also worked on the series.

Plot

Mike Callahan (Duryea) is an Irish émigré and war veteran working in Singapore as a private detective. He takes on a case from a former flame, now a nightclub singer. She thinks her husband Julian March (Knowles) is involved in criminal activities and asks him to help out.

Callahan learns that a man named Alexis Pederas (Lockhart) has involved Julian in a plot to kidnap a prominent nuclear scientist Sean O'Connor and hold him for ransom to the highest bidder. O'Connor is one of the only men in the world that knows how to detonate the H-Bomb.

Production background

The film was shot in 10 days, on a budget of $90,000, with director Aldrich halting production to shoot TV commercials in order to raise money for the film's post-production.

The film is similar to another film noir with a nuclear theme by Aldrich, Kiss Me Deadly, the difference being that Callahan is trying to get an old girlfriend back, while Mike Hammer in Kiss Me Deadly was in it for the money.

Cast

• Dan Duryea as Mike Callahan aka Corrigan
• Gene Lockhart as Alexis Pederas
• Patric Knowles as Julian March
• Reginald Denny as Major Ian Bone
• Nigel Bruce as Governor Sir Charles Coutts
• Keye Luke as Wong

External links

• World for Ransom at the Internet Movie Database