Breakaway
Breakaway
| 16 July 1956 (USA)
Breakaway Trailers

When Johnny Matlock whisks away a cold war secret from under the noses of Berlin's top secret agents, his every move is followed when he returns to England. His girlfriend Paula is kidnapped but her handbag is discovered at the scene of the crime by the aristocratic private eye, Duke Martin. Inside it he discovers the secret formula that the agents are searching for and tracks down her sister Paula. As Johnny grows frantic for the safe return of his girlfriend, Duke Martin plays a deadly game of double bluff with the enemy agents.

Reviews
TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...
Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.
Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
aboyce-77407 This is a lot of fun, but only if seen before or after BARBADOS QUEST. Both productions have Tom Conway and Michael Balfour playing the same characters while another 4 or 5 actors appear in both films playing different roles including John Colicos, who should forever be distinguished as the 1st Klingon seen on STAR TREK. In addition, both films were released within a few months of each other suggesting the possibility of interchangeable film shooting which would be the envy of Roger Corman, or Orson Welles.All credit to Berman and Baker for not only making full use of their alloted time and money, but probably also using the Tom Conway character as a dry run for THE SAINT tv series which they produced a few years later.After all this the quality of this film's plot and performances is almost incidental.
malcolmgsw Tom Conway had of course starred as The Falcon.That series ,though only B features look positively stylish when compared with this truly lame effort.Conway looks as if he couldn't punch his way out of a paper bag.Michael Balfour has the silliest wig going,and his lines are almost as inept.There is also ex boxer Fredie Mills in the part of a barmen.He couldn't act for toffees.Honor Blackman is totally wasted.the plot is complex but totally uninvolving.It is the standard plot for the mid 1950s,relating to commercial espionage.there are many familiar faces but little inspiration.Incidentally watch closely when Seton comes out of his club ,gets into a car and drives away.If you look in the reflection in the boot of the car you will see a member of the crew signalling to Mills to make his entrance.
Bernard-Dunne This isn't that bad, Maybe because I've seen Russian born Tom Conway in worse films. It's the usual type of Baker/Berman thrillers, which they continued to do on television years later with Roger Moore as 'The Saint' This starts in Berlin with Johnny Matlock going from east to west. In West Berlin he meets Frida and her dying brother Professor Dohlman, who gives him a formula for his brother to help reduce metal fatigue. After some trouble in his hotel room he flies back to England with private investigator 'Duke' Martin in the passenger seat beside him. At the airport in London Johnny meets his girlfriend Diane (pronounced Dee-Ann!)who is also his brother Michael's secretary. 'Duke' meets his friend Barney (Michael Balfour). Tom Conway plays 'Duke' in exactly the same character he played earlier in 'The Falcon' series of films from 1942-1946 when he took over from his elder brother George Sanders. After Matlock and Diane drive away from the airport they stop for the usual broken down car in the middle of the road. They are then set upon by two kidnappers who disappear with his girlfriend. After the fight 'Duke' goes to the nightclub 'The Crystal Jug Club' to meet Diane, instead he meets her sister Paula Grant (Honor Blackman) who tells 'Duke' that her name is Paula Jackson. Being the suave gentleman 'Duke' offers to take her home. After dropping her off he follows her by car to Diane's home. After this 'Duke' goes home where he meets the two kidnappers who have guns, which they then use to rob him of Diane's handbag. The next morning Webb (the owner of 'The Crystal Jug Club') visits 'Duke' and tries to buy the formula from him. When Webb leaves, 'Duke' visits Michael Matlock who is Johnny's older brother. After more trouble from Webb and the Kidnappers 'Duke' visits his friend (ex-boxer and barman at the club) Pat. While there they meet Johnny Matlock who throws Barney into the Thames river. An odd thing then happens as 'Duke' gets a phone call to meet Paula at Diane's but no one else has been there from the time before but it's totally cleaned up even though the place was turned over by the kidnappers looking for the formula. 'Duke' investigates further and finds out that MaCallister is involved and that the man behind Webb and the kidnappers is Johnny Matlock's brother Michael. He then goes and saves Diane from Webb. In the last five minutes they find the formula hidden in the middle of Diane's Lipstick. Webb escapes but the police turn up and chase Webb until he crashes and they arrest him. It's one of the usual 'quota quickies' which were turned out at that time and it's like most of Baker/Berman films in that there's punch ups and car chases around London. It's a great time waster at just over an hour, you would only get bored if it was twice the length like a modern film.
robert-temple-1 This is a modest British B thriller of the mid-fifties, which contains no remarkable performance. Its chief interest is historical, in that it shows some interesting shots of London at the time, and gives an extended view of what London's airport was like in 1955, including inside the hangars. The urbane and suave Tom Conway plays yet another gentleman detective, but he seems to have no zest for it this time, and his flirtations with women have lost their zing entirely, as he is getting on a bit and showing it. The plot concerns commercial espionage. Everyone wants to get hold of a new chemical formula to combat metal fatigue in aircraft and sell it for a fortune. Various chaps wave guns unconvincingly, someone gets shot in the shoulder, several unscrupulous people ooze greed enough to make us believe them, a girl is kidnapped without looking particularly frightened, and the plot is complex enough not to be boring. Honor Blackman has a major role, looking glamorous and intense, but has no magic. Arthur Lowe, later popular on television, does well in a cameo. Michael Balfour is silly as Conway's sidekick. This is no classic, but it is not hopeless.