''One Jump Ahead'' is a 1955 British

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by Charles Saunders and starring Paul Carpenter,

Diane Hart Diane Lavinia Hart (20 July 1926 – 7 February 2002) was an English actress in both films and the theatre in the West End Theatre of London, political campaigner, and inventor. Born in 1926, Hart was educated at various convents and then at ...

Jill Adams Jill Adams (22 July 1930 – 13 May 2008) was an English actress, artist and fashion model. She featured or starred in over 25 films during the 1950s and 1960s. Life Jill Adams was born Jill Siggins in London in 1930, the daughter of the sil ...

and

Freddie Mills Frederick Percival Mills (26 June 1919 – 25 July 1965) was an English boxer, and the world light heavyweight champion from 1948 to 1950. Mills was tall and did not have a sophisticated boxing style; he relied on two-fisted aggression, relent ...

. The film was based on a novel by American crime novelist Robert H. Chapman. The screenplay concerns a journalist who helps police track down the killer of a female blackmailer. The title refers to the reporter's attempts to keep "one jump ahead" of the police in solving the crime.

Plot

Reporter Paul Banner, a Canadian "noozeman", works at the ''Daily Comet'' in England. When a young boy witnesses a murder, the killer mistakenly tracks down the boy's friend and kills who he thinks is the only witness to the crime. Banner becomes interested in getting to the bottom of the murders but complications arise when Judy (

), his ex-love, becomes involved. Banner sets out to find the killer, and has the help of Maxine (

), a reporter with whom he works at the paper; the two have also been involved in a relationship. Together, they ferret out who the mystery killer is, keeping "one jump ahead" of the police.

Cast

* Paul Carpenter as Paul Banner *

as Maxine *

as Judy *

as Bert Tarrant * Peter Sinclair as Old Tarrant *

Arnold Bell Arnold Bell (23 May 1901 – 12 March 1988) was a British actor. Selected filmography * ''Convict 99'' (1919) - Warder Gannawy * '' Doctor Josser K.C.'' (1931) * '' Josser in the Army'' (1932) - Becker * ''Doss House'' (1933) - Reporter * '' ...

as Superintendent Faro * David Hannaford as Brian *

Roddy Hughes Rhodri Henry Hughes (19 June 1891 – 22 February 1970) was a Welsh theatre, film and television actor, who appeared in over 80 films between 1932 and 1961. Selected filmography * ''Mr. Bill the Conqueror'' (1932) * ''Reunion'' (1932) * '' Say ...

as Mac * Edward French as Jimmy Mumby * June Ashley as Betty West * Rose Howlett as Mrs. Mumby * Mary Jones as Mrs. Snell *

Charles Lamb Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his ''Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book ''Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764–18 ...

as Mr. Snell * Arthur Gross as Arthur Walker

Production

Director Charles Saunders also made '' Behind the Headlines'' (1956), the second of three crime thrillers based on the works of American novelist Robert Chapman. In 1958, he also directed ''Murder Reported''. All three films had many similarities; the stories all revolved around a news reporter investigating a murder, each lead role played by Paul Carpenter, with different supporting casts. Saunders specialized in the

B movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

at the Kenilworth Films Production house which turned out 11 mainly crime thrillers between 1948 and 1956.

Critical reception

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' gave ''One Jump Ahead'' two out of five stars and wrote, "... occasionally witty dialog enhances this B-bracket programmer." In a recent review, ''SkyChannel TV'' noted, "Not at all bad for a British co-feature of its time, with some good crackles of humour in the dialogue and a lively tempo. Ex-boxing champion Freddie Mills appears in one of several roles he played in British films of the 50s.""Review: 'One Jump Ahead'."
''Sky.com'', 2016. Retrieved: 25 August 2016.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Chibnall, Steve and Brian McFarlane. ''The British 'B' Film''. London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2009. . * Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. London: Walter de Gruyter, 1999. .

External links

* {{Portalbar, 1950s, Film, London 1955 films 1955 crime films Films directed by Charles Saunders British crime films 1950s English-language films 1950s British films British black-and-white films