Copyright 1957 by Regalscope Pictures. Released through 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: June 1957. U.K. release: September 1957. Australian release: around November 1957 in a version cut to 66 minutes. 6,620 feet. 74 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: The arrival of gangster James Lister (Willard Parker) in the swamp town of Beeker's Landing, Florida, begins this tense story of greed. Lister hires Simon Lewt (Marshall Thompson), who lives in a cabin near the swamp as a guide, to take him into the marshy terrain. He carries a heavy suitcase and makes Simon wait while he travels into the interior alone. The next day Simon reads that Lister has been killed by a fellow gangster and that the suitcase contained $290,000. Anxious to take his girl, Evie Dee (Joan Lora), away from the swamp, Simon makes up his mind to find the money.
COMMENT: Although Fox publicity claims producer "Sam Hersh took his company to Florida for the authentic background to give the picture excellent pictorial quality", there is little evidence of this on the screen. True the plot — at least in its short version — is moderately suspenseful, even despite the heavy-handed efforts of the second- string principals and Cornfield's disappointingly routine direction.
But the best thing about the movie is its title. A pity some more of that lure wasn't transferred to the theater screen.
SYNOPSIS: The arrival of gangster James Lister (Willard Parker) in the swamp town of Beeker's Landing, Florida, begins this tense story of greed. Lister hires Simon Lewt (Marshall Thompson), who lives in a cabin near the swamp as a guide, to take him into the marshy terrain. He carries a heavy suitcase and makes Simon wait while he travels into the interior alone. The next day Simon reads that Lister has been killed by a fellow gangster and that the suitcase contained $290,000. Anxious to take his girl, Evie Dee (Joan Lora), away from the swamp, Simon makes up his mind to find the money.
COMMENT: Although Fox publicity claims producer "Sam Hersh took his company to Florida for the authentic background to give the picture excellent pictorial quality", there is little evidence of this on the screen. True the plot — at least in its short version — is moderately suspenseful, even despite the heavy-handed efforts of the second- string principals and Cornfield's disappointingly routine direction.
But the best thing about the movie is its title. A pity some more of that lure wasn't transferred to the theater screen.