I was too old for it when it was a thing, but I remember Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego? was big thing with kids at one time. 1957’s Pickup Alley is like Where In the World Is Trevor Howard?, which I doubt would be as popular. Also, Howard plays an international narcotics trafficker, which I don’t think was the same deal as Sandiego, but I’m not sure. After all, I wasn’t ever into that show.
Victor Mature plays a New York City detective in pursuit of Howard. For roughly the first half of the film, he goes from New York to London to Lison to Rome to Napoli (and momentarily back to Rome) and, finally, to Athens. Alas, these “locations” are often little than a combination of sets, stock footage and exteriors that could have been shot anywhere. In particular, we have too much footage of the characters leaving planes in what are supposed to be airports in these various locations, though I suspect all those scenes were shot in the same place. I have seen entirely set-bound films which better conveyed the sensation of being in a foreign land.
The film mixes in more location footage when it gets to Rome, though I suspect parts of Rome also stood in for Napoli and Athens. I could be wrong but, honestly, what we are shown in those locations is so generic that it could have been shot in any old European city. It’s “Europe” to be sure, but nothing specifically says what area of Europe. Alas, this is basically what Yankees like myself imagine the continent to be, as if it was like the states, only much older.
Tagging along with Howard on this cross-continent jaunt is Anita Ekberg, whose participation is only because he is blackmailing her. You see, she thought she had shot dead scumbag Alec Mango dead when he tried to rape her. What Howard knows, but withholds from her, is she only wounded him in the arm.
That scene between Ekberg and Mango has an odd aftermath, in that the police somehow show up. I spent the rest of the movie still obsessed with this relatively unimportant aspect: just who called the police? Ekberg didn’t, because she fled, thinking she had killed the man. Since the “body” is missing, the people who know Mango is still alive wouldn’t have called, either. Such questions likely wouldn’t have been dogging me if the rest of the film had been more engaging.
Still, the film improves a bit when it settles down in Italy and Greece. There still isn’t much character development, but at least there’s more of a resemblance of a plot. Mature and Ekberg finally have a couple of scenes together. A somewhat amusing character is introduced when Bonar Colleano gets involved, as a conniving quick-buck artist who sees Mature as an opportunity to sell some information. He enters the plot in a scene taking place in the catacombs of Rome, though those are represented here as a set that isn’t very convincing.
I suspect the filmmakers thought an underground scene in a European city, combined with the casting of Howard, would have viewers thinking of The Third Man. Note to filmmakers: never remind your viewers they could instead be watching a better movie.
Dir: John Gilling
Starring Victor Mature, Anita Ekberg, Victor Mature
Watched as part of Mill Creek’s blu-ray box set Film Noir Archive Volume 3: 1957-1960