Passport to Treason 

{{Infobox film

| name = Passport to Treason

| image = Passport_to_Treason.jpg

| caption =

| director = {{ubl|Robert S. Baker|Lance Comfort (original director)}}

| producer = Robert S. Baker

| screenplay = {{ubl|Kenneth Hayles|Norman Hudis}}

| based_on = novel by Paddy Manning O'Brine

| starring = {{ubl|Rod Cameron|Lois Maxwell|Clifford Evans}}

| music = Stanley Black

| cinematography = Monty Berman

| editing = Henry Richardson

| studio = Mid-Century Film Productions

| distributor = Eros Films (UK)

| released = {{Film date|df=y|1956|06||UK}}

| runtime = 80 minutes

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| budget =

| gross =

}}

Passport to Treason is a 1956 British second feature{{Cite book |last=Chibnall |first=Steve |title=The British 'B' Film |last2=McFarlane |first2=Brian |publisher=BFI/Bloomsbury |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-8445-7319-6 |location=London |pages=89}} mystery thriller directed by Robert S. Baker and starring Rod Cameron, Lois Maxwell, and Clifford Evans.{{Cite web |title=Passport to Treason |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150041020 |access-date=24 November 2023 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}} It was written by Kenneth R. Hayles and Norman Hudis, based on the Manning O'Brine novel of the same name.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/passport-to-treason-v105705/cast-crew|title=Passport to Treason (1955) - Robert S. Baker | Cast and Crew | AllMovie|via=www.allmovie.com}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yyqc0Qa6b60C&q=passport+to+treason+1955+literary+sources+in+film&pg=PA349|title=The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film|first=Alan|last=Goble|date=September 8, 2011|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=9783110951943|via=Google Books}}

Plot

After the death of a friend, private investigator Mike O'Kelly investigates an organisation that claims to be working for world peace, but turns out to be a front for a crime syndicate.

Cast

Rod Cameron as Mike O'Kelly
Lois Maxwell as Diane Boyd
Clifford Evans as Orlando Syms
Peter Illing as Giorgio Sacchi
Marianne Stone as Miss 'Jonesy' Jones
Douglas Wilmer as Dr. Randolph
John Colicos as Pietro
Ballard Berkeley as Inspector Thredgold
Andrew Faulds as Barrett
Barbara Burke as Katrina
Derek Sydney as Amedeo Sacchi
Trevor Reid as McCombe
Neil Wilson as Sergeant Benson
Peter Swanwick as cafe proprietor
Hal Osmond as club barman
Salvin Stewart as travel agency manager
Anthony Baird as nursing home orderly
Tom Bowan as bargee

Critical reception

Monthly Film Bulletin said "Opening with the private detective wandering through a London fog, this thriller goes on to introduce the corpse (stabbed) clutching the book with a vital clue, the private nursing home equipped with a good stock of "truth drug," the equivocally placed heroine, and the gun battle in a dockside warehouse. Such classic situations, here presented earnestly but humourlessly, make up a fairly routine melodrama."{{Cite journal |date=1956 |title=Passport to Treason |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305827838/3DA1DADBA58B42C1PQ/1 |journal=Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=23 |issue=264 |pages=118 |via=ProQuest}}

Kine Weekly wrote: "Hearty espionage melodrama ... Vigorously portrayed and realistically staged, it'll keep the crowd on the qui vive. Cast- iron British thick ear."{{Cite journal |date=26 July 1956 |title=Passport to Treason |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2738582186 |journal=Kine Weekly |volume=471 |issue=2554 |pages=16 |url-access=subscription |via=ProQuest}}

Picturegoer wrote: "Rod Cameron, fhe Western he-man, made the trip to England to star in this espionage melodrama, set in London. Was his journey necessary? Yes!"{{Cite journal |date=6 September 1956 |title=Passport to Treason |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1771139624 |journal=Picturegoer |volume=32 |issue= |pages=17 |url-access=subscription |via=ProQuest}}

Variety wrote: "Passport to Treason is a run-of-the-mill British whodunit with little to recommend it for the American market ... story line is blurry and frequently burdened by incomprehensible English dialog. ... Baker's direction doesn't help."{{Cite journal |date=19 September 1956 |title=Passport to Treason |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1017023913 |journal=Variety |volume=204 |issue=3 |pages=22 |url-access=subscription |via=ProQuest}}

Leslie Halliwell said: "Stock melodramatic situations straightforwardly presented make this a watchable support."{{Cite book |last=Halliwell |first=Leslie |title=Halliwell's Film Guide |publisher=Paladin |year=1989 |isbn=0586088946 |edition=7th |location=London |pages=784}}

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Resolute thriller reminiscent of the late 1930s."{{Cite book |last=Quinlan |first=David |title=British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 |publisher=B.T. Batsford Ltd. |year=1984 |isbn=0-7134-1874-5 |location=London |pages=360}}

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "Western star Rod Cameron should never have packed his passport to play the private eye in this dire British B-feature with its sub-Hitchcockian plot about neo-fascists in London concealing their activities within an organisation for world peace. A better actor than granite-jawed Cameron might have breathed some life into the line-up of hackneyed situations."{{Cite book |title=Radio Times Guide to Films |publisher=Immediate Media Company |year=2017 |isbn=9780992936440 |edition=18th |location=London |pages=707}}