The Betrayal (1957) Poster

(1957)

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6/10
The Hunter and the Hunted
boblipton23 June 2017
Philip Friend was a Prisoner of War. During an escape attempt, some one told the Germans, and four of his fellow escapees were killed; Friend was blinded. After working for more than a decade with the War Crimes commission in a failed attempt to track down the traitor, the case is closed and Friend gets a job. One day, while visiting a fashion salon -- his perfumer-employer has worked out a cross-promotion deal with them -- he hears the voice he has been hunting for a decade and a half. With the aid of dress model Diana Decker, he goes searching for the man.

the idea of a blind man hunting an evil doer was popular in this era -- Edward Arnold had played a blind detective for MGM in a few movies in the early 1940s, and 23 PACES TO BAKER STREET, from a novel by Philip MacDonald, had been filmed the previous year. What makes this movie interesting is that fact that while Friend is hunting his man, that man is hunting for him.

It's an engaging movie, if a tad slow-paced, with some interesting camera work by Jimmy Wilson. I think that Miss Decker is not very engaging in her part -- her voice and deferential manner started to annoy me quickly. However, while that may have been the reason her career never hit the heights, it doesn't stop this movie.
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7/10
Diana Decker the Archetypal 1950s Fashion Model
howardmorley24 June 2017
Another tight little low budget British produced 1950s B&W thriller from the Danziger Brothers.In the principal roles Philip Friend and Californian Diana Decker perform competently, although I thought Diana was more suited to being a fashion model than being an actress evidenced by the paucity of her acting credits on IMDb.com as she had a lovely figure which I found myself 'drooling' over.

There is no need to repeat the plot which other reviewers have adequately outlined.I always like to see the female fashions worn in films of the 1950s and the car driven by Diana's character (-a white open topped, snazzy, Ford Zodiac) as Philip's character was blind and therefore could not drive.A tale of justice in 1957 for a war crime set in a prisoner of war camp involving betrayal in 1943, which Philip's character tries to track down after 14 years as the records had been lost by the War Crimes Tribunal.It certainly held my interest 7/10.
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6/10
"Mr. McCall, why after all these years?"
hwg1957-102-26570423 June 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Another production from the Danziger Brothers, notable low budget film producers, 'The Betrayal' is an engrossing thriller. Several soldiers are betrayed when they try to escape a prison camp in Nazi Germany and the sole survivor, blinded in the escape attempt, twelve years later hears a voice that he recognises as the traitor while in London on business. With the help of a fashion model he tracks the betrayer down. Co-writers Brian Clemens and Eldon Howard craft an interesting story that holds well up to and including the climax. Nothing new really but it does holds one's attention for its 72 minutes. It mainly uses sets but there is a bit of location shooting in London. Philip Friend as the blind ex-soldier and Diana Decker as the model make a pleasant team. They get good support from Philip Saville, Harold Lang, Peter Burton and in a minor role the ubiquitous Ferdy Mayne.

It is definitely worth a watch.
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6/10
Decent little British thriller
gnok200223 December 2014
I am adding reviews for all films I've seen that so far lack one, this is a rare opportunity to recommend one such film, review follows... Danziger film - a man who was blinded during an escape attempt from a German P.O.W. camp, having being betrayed by a fellow prisoner, vows revenge, his only clue is the culprits voice, a voice he hears again 10 years later at a gathering in a London fashion-house, so with the assistance of one of the models he is off on the chase, naturally things do not run smooth, at one point he has the police on his trail, this is no masterpiece, but the two leads Philip Frend and Diana Decker are competent as is the script co-written by Brian Clemens, one of the better efforts from Danziger, Good.
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6/10
Familiar Themes But Well Made
malcolmgsw17 January 2015
Warning: Spoilers
This film combines two familiar plot devices that were then in common usage.Firstly there is the blind detective or leading man.Edward Arnold had appeared in a short MGM series as a blind detective in the 1940s.This would often end up,as it does in this film,with the blind man in a darkened room with the villain firing his gun till he runs out of bullets.Also we have the plot device of a war time traitor being sought.The Traitor starring Donald Wolfit was made at about the same time.There are a number of plot contrivances.A big hotel is phoned by the villain and given the room number of a guest.The blind man is then arrested for the murder of a photographer who might hold a lead.Now that is a bit silly.After that the film looses a bit of steam while romance takes a hand for a few minutes but the climax is reasonably gripping.Diana Decker is a lively feminine lead and all told the film moves along briskly.
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