The parallels with the MGM film Crisis that starred Cary Grant and Jose Ferrer about a South American dictator having an operation are too obvious to ignore in
reviewing Intent To Kill.
The big difference is that while Jose Ferrer had the operation done by a visiting Dr. Cary Grant in Intent To Kill, Herbert Lom comes up from South America and checks into a Montreal hospital to have the operation done by Dr. Richard Todd.
Unfortunately following him are a party of assassins led by American hit man Warren Stevens. They make a couple of tries at Lom.
Unlike Crisis where we go into the type of regime that Ferrer leads and Ferrer is one very thinly disguised portrait of Juan Peron, we never get into why Lom is disliked enough to have assassins trailing him. And for Stevens it's just another contract.
The climax is a real thriller with Todd and nurse Betsy Drake battling the killers. Jack Cardiff made his directorial debut here. We mostly associate Cardiff with bigger budget items and technicolor. But he handled this black and white noir film well indeed.
It would be good to see Intent To Kill and Crisi run back to back.
The big difference is that while Jose Ferrer had the operation done by a visiting Dr. Cary Grant in Intent To Kill, Herbert Lom comes up from South America and checks into a Montreal hospital to have the operation done by Dr. Richard Todd.
Unfortunately following him are a party of assassins led by American hit man Warren Stevens. They make a couple of tries at Lom.
Unlike Crisis where we go into the type of regime that Ferrer leads and Ferrer is one very thinly disguised portrait of Juan Peron, we never get into why Lom is disliked enough to have assassins trailing him. And for Stevens it's just another contract.
The climax is a real thriller with Todd and nurse Betsy Drake battling the killers. Jack Cardiff made his directorial debut here. We mostly associate Cardiff with bigger budget items and technicolor. But he handled this black and white noir film well indeed.
It would be good to see Intent To Kill and Crisi run back to back.