Never Back Losers
{{Short description|1961 British film by Robert Tronson}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2014}}
{{italic title}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Never Back Losers
| image = "Never_Back_Losers"_(1961).jpg
| caption =
| director = Robert Tronson
| producer = Jack Greenwood
| writer = Lukas Heller
| based_on = novel The Green Ribbon by Edgar Wallace
| starring = Jack Hedley
Jacqueline Ellis
Patrick Magee
| music = Bernard Ebbinghouse
Ron Goodwin (composer: additional music – uncredited)
| cinematography = Bert Mason
| editing = Derek Holding
| studio = Merton Park Studios
| distributor = Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors (UK)
| released = {{Film date|1961}}
| runtime = 61 mins
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
}}
Never Back Losers is a 1961 British 'B'{{Cite book |last1=Chibnall |first1=Steve |title=The British 'B' Film |last2=McFarlane |first2=Brian |publisher=BFI/Bloomsbury |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-8445-7319-6 |location=London |pages=237}} crime film directed by Robert Tronson and starring Jack Hedley, Jacqueline Ellis and Patrick Magee.{{Cite web |title=Never Back Losers |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150044554 |access-date=27 November 2023 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}} It was written by Lucas Heller based on the 1929 novel The Green Ribbon by Edgar Wallace.{{Cite book |last=Goble |first=Alan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yyqc0Qa6b60C&dq=never+back+losers+wallace&pg=PA884 |title=The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film |year=2011 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-095194-3 |language=en}} It was one of the Edgar Wallace Mysteries series, produced at Merton Park Studios in the early 1960s.{{Cite web |title=BFI Screenonline: Never Back Losers (1961) |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1381123/index.html |access-date=2024-04-26 |website=www.screenonline.org.uk}}
Plot
Horse racing jockey Wally Sanders loses a race, crashes his car, and a claim is made on his insurance. Jim Matthews, a shrewd insurance investigator, follows up the company's suspicion of foul play and finds himself deep in a web of gambling and corruption surrounding the racetrack.
Cast
- Jack Hedley as Jim Matthews
- Jacqueline Ellis as Marion Parker
- Patrick Magee as Ben Black
- Richard Warner as Crabtree
- Derek Francis as R. R. Harris
- Austin Trevor as Colonel Warburton
- Harry Locke as Burnside
- Larry Martyn as Clive Parker
- Howard Pays as Freddie
- Hilda Barry as Mrs Sanders
- George Tovey as Wally Sanders
- Larry Taylor as Reilly
- Harold Goodwin as Floyd
- Douglas Bradley-Smith as Carter
- Tenniel Evans as the doctor
- Stanley Morgan as police sergeant
Critical reception
Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The first of the Edgar Wallace series to employ one of his crime-and-Turf formats, this unpretentious little film makes good use of Jack Hedley's engagingly diffident personality. Racing scenes occur only at the start and close of the story, which is otherwise unfolded with quiet slickness within betting circles and night-clubs."{{Cite journal |date=1962 |title=Never Back Losers |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305823546 |journal=Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=29 |issue=336 |pages=12 |id={{ProQuest|1305823546}} }}
Kine Weekly said "The picture revolves around the racecourse, but is a 'who-dunnit' rather than a romance of the Turf. Jack Hedley has quite a way with him as Jim, Jacqueline Ellis is a pert Marion, and Patrick Magee and Harry Locke keep one guessing as Lucky Ben and Burnside. The supporting types, too, ring true. Night clubs scenes relieve the tension, the horse races exhilarate and what few loose strings there are are firmly tied at the finish."{{Cite journal |date=7 December 1961 |title=Never Back Losers |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2859070831 |journal=Kine Weekly |volume=535 |issue=2827 |pages=25 |id={{ProQuest|2859070831}}}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|1728172|Never Back Losers}}
- [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1381123/ Never Back Losers at BFI Screenonline]
{{Edgar Wallace}}
Category:Edgar Wallace Mysteries
Category:Films scored by Ron Goodwin
Category:British black-and-white films
Category:Merton Park Studios films
Category:1960s English-language films