Pickup Alley itself is only so-so. It offers a lot of production value for what was almost certainly a modest budget, likely somewhere in the $600,000-800,000 range, but the screenplay by the usually good John Paxton is uninvolving. (His credits include Murder My Sweet, Crossfire, and On the Beach; maybe he was better with adaptations.) Trevor Howard delivers an interesting and offbeat performance as the main villain, however.

A "Sony Screen Classics by Request" title on DVD-R format, Pickup Alley looks wonderful, and its terrific black and white, Cinemascope cinematography is properly 16:9 enhanced.

A pre-credits sequence has the sister of FBI narcotics agent Charles Sturgis (Victor Mature), herself a former agent, frantically telephoning the Bureau with news that she has a line on Frank McNally (Trevor Howard), the leader of an international smuggling ring. However, McNally slips into her room unnoticed, brutally strangling her instead. The opening titles follow, over an incredible (at least for movie buffs) shot taken from the back of a car heading up Broadway, past all the big theaters, showing such movies as Seven Wonders of the World, The Ten Commandments, and Love Me Tender.

Sturgis, already "fighting a one-man war" against the "dope peddlers and needle-pushers," is shattered by news of his sister's death, but a matchbook found in her dead hand leads him to the Bear Den nightclub. From there he follows an addicted showgirl (for no clear reason) back to her apartment where he sees her getting a fix. Sturgis then gets approval to head to London, where agents at New Scotland Yard, led by Commissioner Breckner (André Morell), have spotted McNally's lieutenant, Salko (Alec Mango). Meanwhile gorgeous Gina Borger (Anita Ekberg), a mule for McNally's drugs and smuggled jewels (a sideline, perhaps?), makes a drop at Salko's but when he assaults her she shoots him and flees the scene just as Sturgis and Interpol arrive.

From here the action hops, skips, and jumps all over Europe, from London to Lisbon, then on to Rome and Genoa, and finally ending up in Athens. It appears that with the exception of the opening New York scenes, the principal actors shot exteriors on location, while almost all the interiors were done on soundstages in London, at Elstree Studios. The travelogue look is generally effective though the opening scenes in Manhattan not only ring false they're distractingly odd. Character actors like Danny Green (The Ladykillers) and Sid James (Carry On Camping), both of whom play bartenders, speak with okay but still-a-bit-off American accents. The look is also askew, much like the cheap Jerry Cotton spy films set in New York but actually filmed in front of process screens in West Germany.

The best thing about the movie is Trevor Howard's ruthless villain, a coded homosexual psychopath. He's like a cross between his usual screen persona mixed with a bit of Noël Coward most of the time, but capable of violent, unforgiving outbursts. There's no doubt he means business. Also good is Bonar Colleano as a stranded American working as a pitchman near the Roman catacombs. He was in a number of '50s British films, very likable in wise guy-Yankee type parts and might have had a significant movie career had he not died in a car accident a year after this was released.

Elements anticipating the Bond movies abound: the violent pre-credits sequence, the nation-hopping to glamorous locales, the brassy, ahead-of-the-curve approach to sex and violence. McNally's henchmen all have physical deformities or eccentricities: Salko has scars all over his face, Etienne Fayala (Eric Pohlmann) coughs incessantly, another limps. Martin Benson, as a corrupt government official, later played Solo in Goldfinger; Pohlmann was the voice of Blofeld in From Russia with Love and Thunderball; Marne Maitland is in The Man with the Golden Gun, etc. Cinematographer Ted Moore shot all of the early Bond pictures, while (assistant) art director Syd Cain later did Dr. No, From Russia with Love, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Video & Audio

Filmed in black and white CinemaScope, Pickup Alley looks very good, with a crisp transfer of the American version, which is missing a short prologue from the British version apparently intended to explain the film's title in that country, Interpol. Otherwise, it's an excellent transfer of an above-average production, especially considering its presumably modest budget. There are no menu screens or other options; insert the movie and you're off and running. The region-free DVD-R disc's mono audio (English only, with no subtitle options) is acceptable. There are the usual chapter stops every ten minutes but no Extra Features at all.

Parting Thoughts

On its own terms, Pickup Alley is reasonably diverting. It's nothing too special but it is a bit more explicit and sophisticated than the usual late-fifties British export. And in terms of it anticipating the future career of some of the people behind the world-famous James Bond movies, Pickup Alley is worth a look. Recommended.

Stuart Galbraith IV's audio commentary for AnimEigo's Tora-san, a DVD boxed set, is on sale now.