The Gentle Trap
The Gentle Trap
| 31 October 1960 (USA)
The Gentle Trap Trailers

A young locksmith becomes involved in crime.

Reviews
Steineded How sad is this?
Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast
Seraherrera The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity
Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
Brucey D As others have already said, this is a pretty average Butcher's B-movie from the time. A thin plot and average production values here, so don't watch it with any high expectations, because you will almost certainly be disappointed.Looking at it now, it is a different (and mostly rather drab) world. Arguably the most exotic thing in the movie is the (most) bad guy's car which is (I think) a (Lincoln) Continental MkIII or MkIV from 1958 or 1959. Coming from the era in American car design when 'bigger was always better' this was one of the largest cars ever built. With the (optional) spare wheel holder at the back it would have been over twenty feet long! Probably it belonged to the producer or something and they used it to add glamour to the film; it needed all the help it could get, but it wasn't enough....
Leofwine_draca A cheapo crime thriller from the prolific Butcher's Film Service. These films were a dime a dozen in the early '60s and THE GENTLE TRAP has a poor title and a plot that could be interchangeable with at least a dozen others. The film has an arresting opening in which a couple of thieves are betrayed by a rival gang but soon descends into tedium with a long-winded, who-can-you-trust style storyline.One of the few good things this has going for it is a very short running time. It clocks in at just 59 minutes in length but you feel every minute of it. Some of the supporting do quite well in their clichéd roles, like the alluring femme fatale and the tough criminal bosses, but even so this is cheap stuff indeed and of interest only to fans of the era.British director Charles Saunders churned out B-movie after B-movie for a period of some twenty years between the early 1940s and early 1960s. He made the occasional nudie film (NUDIST PARADISE) and horror flick (WOMAN EATER) but for the most part delivered second-rate thrillers like this and DANGER BY MY SIDE. I don't know much about leading man Spencer Teakle except he also appeared in COVER GIRL KILLER and FIRST MAN INTO SPACE and had a great name to boot.
Chris Gaskin I taped The Gentle Trap recently when BBC2 screened it during the early hours and despite reading bad reviews, I thought I'd see what it was like.A pair of burglars break into a jewellery shop and pinch some diamonds but as they are making their getaway, some gangsters ambush them. One of the pair goes on the run from the police and gang leader. He stays with two sisters and when one of them reports him, he goes on the run once again with the other sister, with the police on their trail. They catch up with them on a farm and he is caught after a shoot out at the end.The cast is lead by Spencer Teakle and he is joined by Felicity Young and Martin Benson.Though certainly not brilliant, The Gentle Trap is watchable. The UK made quite a few of these low budget crime dramas in the 1950's and 1960's.Rating: 2 stars out of 5.
Boba_Fett1138 Are we sure that Ed Wood somehow didn't directed this? The movie's style and storytelling is just as bad as in an Ed Wood movie sadly.The movie was released in 1960 but I've seen movies that were made 30 years earlier that style had a better and more professional looking visual style. Sadly London, in this movie ain't got such an atmosphere as for instance New York or Chicago do in movies from the same genre. This is really one of those movies that makes you wonder; why did I even watched this in the first place? It's a pointless movie with a pointless literal and figural, black and white story. The acting is bad and the fights are over the top and hilarious to watch for the wrong reason.It's hard to say anything about this movie. It's short and the story is way too weak to say any thing thought-full about.Really not worth your time.3/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/