''I'll Get You for This'' (released in the US as ''Lucky Nick Cain'') is a 1951 British
thriller film by
Joseph M. Newman starring
George Raft
George Raft (born George Ranft; September 26, 1901 – November 24, 1980) was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. A stylish leading man in dozens of movies, Raft is ...
,
Coleen Gray
Coleen Gray (born Doris Bernice Jensen; October 23, 1922 – August 3, 2015) was an American actress. She was best known for her roles in the films '' Nightmare Alley'' (1947), '' Red River'' (1948), and Stanley Kubrick's '' The Killing'' ...
, and
Enzo Staiola
Enzo Staiola (born 15 November 1939) is an Italian actor best known for playing, at the age of nine, the role of Bruno Ricci in Vittorio De Sica's neorealist 1948 film ''Bicycle Thieves''. He appeared in several other films including, in 1954, ...
. It was made from an adaptation by George Callahan and
William Rose of
James Hadley Chase
James Hadley Chase (24 December 1906 – 6 February 1985) was an English writer. While his birth name was René Lodge Brabazon Raymond, he was well known by his various pseudonyms, including James Hadley Chase, James L. Docherty, Raymond ...
's 1946
book of the same name.
[Everett Aaker, ''The Films of George Raft'', McFarland & Company, 2013 p 146-147] The setting was shifted from
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
in the novel to an Italian gambling resort.
It was one of the first productions by
Romulus Films
Sir John Woolf (15 March 1913, London – 28 June 1999, London) and his brother James Woolf (2 March 1920, London – 30 May 1966, Beverly Hills, California) were British film producers. John and James founded the production companies Romulus Fil ...
. Production was completed in 1950 but the film was not released until the following year.
The sets were designed by the
art director
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...
Ralph W. Brinton. Established actresses
Greta Gynt
Greta Gynt (born Margrethe Woxholt; 15 November 1916 – 2 April 2000) was a Norwegian dancer and actress. She is remembered for her starring roles in the British classic films '' The Dark Eyes of London'', ''Mr. Emmanuel'', ''Take My Life'', ''D ...
and
Margot Grahame
Margot Grahame (born Margaret Clark; 20 February 1911 – 1 January 1982) was an English actress most noted for starring in '' The Informer'' (1935) and ''The Three Musketeers'' (1935). She started acting in 1930 and made her last screen app ...
and future Irish star
Constance Smith
Constance Smith (7 February 1929 – 30 June 2003) was an Irish film actress, and contract player of 20th Century Fox in the 1950s.
Early life
Smith was born into a family as the first of 11 children.'' The Oakland Tribune'', 18 March 1962, O ...
all make brief appearances.
Plot
American gambler Nick Cain (Raft) arrives at the town of San Paola, and befriends shoe-shine boy Toni (Staiola). He discovers he has been framed for the murder of an American Treasury agent. He escapes with Kay Wonderly (Gray) to an abandoned village, leaving her to hide out. Cain gets help from Massine (Goldner), whom he does not trust. He uncovers an international counterfeiting ring, members of which are responsible for the murder.
Cast
*
George Raft
George Raft (born George Ranft; September 26, 1901 – November 24, 1980) was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. A stylish leading man in dozens of movies, Raft is ...
as Nick Cain
*
Coleen Gray
Coleen Gray (born Doris Bernice Jensen; October 23, 1922 – August 3, 2015) was an American actress. She was best known for her roles in the films '' Nightmare Alley'' (1947), '' Red River'' (1948), and Stanley Kubrick's '' The Killing'' ...
as Kay Wonderly
*
Enzo Staiola
Enzo Staiola (born 15 November 1939) is an Italian actor best known for playing, at the age of nine, the role of Bruno Ricci in Vittorio De Sica's neorealist 1948 film ''Bicycle Thieves''. He appeared in several other films including, in 1954, ...
as Toni
*
Charles Goldner
Charles Goldner was an Austrian-born actor who appeared in a number of British films during the 1940s and 1950s. Born in Vienna, Austria, on 7 December 1900, he made his screen debut in the 1940 film '' Room for Two'' and went on to appear in '' ...
as Massine
*
Walter Rilla
Walter Rilla (22 August 1894 – 21 November 1980) was a German film actor of Jewish descent. Siegbert Salomon Prawer, ''Between Two Worlds: The Jewish Presence in German and Austrian Film, 1910-1933'', Berghahn Books (2007), pg. 213 He appe ...
as Müller
*
Martin Benson as Frankie Sperazza
*
Peter Illing
Peter Illing (4 March 1899 – 29 October 1966) was an Austrian-born British film and television actor.
Selected TV series
* ''Deadline Midnight'' (1961) as Captain Dnieprovsky
* ''The Saint'' (1962) as Inspector Buono
Filmography
* ''The Silv ...
as Armando Ceralde
* Hugh French as Miles Travers
*
Peter Bull
Peter Cecil Bull, (21 March 1912 – 20 May 1984) was a British character actor who appeared in supporting roles in such films as '' The African Queen'', '' Tom Jones'', and ''Dr. Strangelove''.
Biography
He was the fourth and youngest son ...
as Hans
*
Elwyn Brook-Jones
Elwyn Brook-Jones (11 December 1911 – 4 September 1962) was a British theatre, film and television actor.
Life
Brook-Jones was born in Kuching, Sarawak, on the island of Borneo. After a private education, he attended Jesus College, Oxford.
Hi ...
as the Fence
*
Constance Smith
Constance Smith (7 February 1929 – 30 June 2003) was an Irish film actress, and contract player of 20th Century Fox in the 1950s.
Early life
Smith was born into a family as the first of 11 children.'' The Oakland Tribune'', 18 March 1962, O ...
as Nina
*
Greta Gynt
Greta Gynt (born Margrethe Woxholt; 15 November 1916 – 2 April 2000) was a Norwegian dancer and actress. She is remembered for her starring roles in the British classic films '' The Dark Eyes of London'', ''Mr. Emmanuel'', ''Take My Life'', ''D ...
as Claudette Ambling
*
Margot Grahame
Margot Grahame (born Margaret Clark; 20 February 1911 – 1 January 1982) was an English actress most noted for starring in '' The Informer'' (1935) and ''The Three Musketeers'' (1935). She started acting in 1930 and made her last screen app ...
as Mrs Langley
*
Donald Stewart as Kennedy
Production
Raft's signing was announced in November 1949.
William Bowers
William Bowers (January 17, 1916 – March 27, 1987) was an American reporter, playwright, and screenwriter. He worked as a reporter in Long Beach, California and for ''Life'' magazine, and specialized in writing comedy-westerns. He also turn ...
was adapting James Hadley Chase's novel and filming was to take place in San Remo (Italy) and London. John and James Woolf of Romulus Films were to be co-producers. (Raft would go on to make several films in Europe.)
When Raft left for London in December it was announced that he would also make a second film for Kaufman, ''Montmare'', about a Paris night club owner.
Joseph Newman sailed for London on January 12, 1950. Nadia Gray, Pat Roc and Joanne Dru were those offered the female lead before Coleen Gray took the role. Grey left for England i March 1950.
The film was made at
Teddington Studios
Teddington Studios was a large British television studio in Teddington, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, providing studio facilities for programmes airing on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky1 and others. The complex also provide ...
in London and
on location around
San Remo on the Mediterranean coast in
northern Italy
Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. It consists of eight administrative regions ...
.
Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, first in Europe and later in the United States. He began his stage career in Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before movin ...
was initially intended to appear as Massine, but the role eventually went to
Charles Goldner
Charles Goldner was an Austrian-born actor who appeared in a number of British films during the 1940s and 1950s. Born in Vienna, Austria, on 7 December 1900, he made his screen debut in the 1940 film '' Room for Two'' and went on to appear in '' ...
.
Filming started in San Remo on April 24, 1950. Grey later said the trip to make the film "was the highlight of my life."
Editing was finished by September.
In January 1951 Kaufman signed a deal with 20th Century Fox for the latter to distribute.
References
Sources
* Youngkin, Stephen. ''The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre''. University Press of Kentucky, 2005.
External links
*
Review of filmat
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
Review of filmat Variety
{{Joseph M. Newman
1951 films
1950s English-language films
British black-and-white films
1951 crime drama films
Films set in Italy
Films based on works by James Hadley Chase
Films based on British novels
Films directed by Joseph M. Newman
Films shot in Italy
Films shot at Teddington Studios
British crime drama films
20th Century Fox films
Films scored by Walter Goehr
1950s British films