jamesraeburn2003 US army officer, Captain Dillon (Robert Arden), runs out of fuel on a country lane on his way back to base. He goes to a nearby mansion and meets the glamorous Laura (Anne Heywood). He asks to use the telephone to call for help and takes an immediate liking to Laura who is suffering abuse from her alcoholic husband, Tom Wilton (Basil Dignam), who beats her up. The local army base is about to go on maneuvers and, in order to keep the local people happy, the army decides to hold a party at the base. Dillon sees an opportunity to see Laura again by offering to deliver the invitations, which he does and it is then when Laura persuades him to murder her husband so that they can be together. At the party, Dillon gets Wilton drunk and when he leaves alone in his car Laura is waiting down the road and flags her husband down. Meanwhile, Dillon has slipped away from the party and they knock him out, put him in his car and drive it into the lake to make it look as if he lost control of it in his drunken state and drowned. But is their perfectly planned murder as foolproof as it appears and is Laura the innocent, long suffering wife she claims to be?If ever there was an example of a British film to prove that we could not come anywhere near to doing American film noir then this is certainly it. But, taken on its own merits, this is still an above average crime thriller from quota-quickie specialists The Danziger Brothers. Its tautly directed by the talented Paul Dickson and, despite the shoestring budget, succeeds in creating an engaging little film. The screenplay is by Brian Clemens who would go on to produce and write many classic episodes of the classic spy series The Avengers and here he ensures that the audience gets an unexpected twist at the climax.The Depraved was as the support feature to Richard Widmark's wartime courtroom drama, Time Limit, on the Gaumont-British circuit in 1957.

malcolmgsw As has been stated by another reviewer this is basically "Double Indemnity" in a British setting made cheaply without the genius of Billy Wilder.So everything about this film is fairly predictable.There is a slight flaw in the plot that the writer overlooked.When Robert Arden hits the husband before putting him in the car,he forgets that when the post mortem takes place not only will the bruise show up but also he will not have a significant amount of water in his lungs which will lead to the conclusion that he was dead or near death when he went into the water.Also the fact that the invitation was hand delivered will not go unnoticed.

ihshils-649-173072 Although this is less than a minor "noir", with poor acting, the story has an unsuspected twist (which I won't reveal). It contains some of the elements of "noir", but falls short. The main male character does become involved with a beautiful women who lures him into a fatal situation, but it is poorly done and contains many of the errors described in other reviews. I also noted the odd arm bands worn by the MP's One can always cite this film in a discussion of B (or C) movies. "Body Heat" and "Double Indemnity"(mentioned by others above) are successful. This one is OK for a few minutes while doing some exercise on your stationary bike or treadmill.

MartinHafer Whether the film makers would admit this or not, this film is re-make of the classic film "Double Indemnity" (1944)...a relatively bland one. So, my question is--why not, then, just watch the original film?! The film is set in the United Kingdom. A pretty young lady is married to an older and abusive drunk. He is no prize, so you certainly sympathize for the lady--and so does an American office who is stationed nearby. He sees firsthand what sort of a nasty piece of work the husband is...and that makes him vulnerable to the wife. Why? Well, because she's also pretty horrible..and plans manipulating him into killing the husband. Can they get away with it and how will it all end?! Well, if you've seen the earlier film, you kind of have the idea...I gave this film a 5 simply because although is not at all original, the plot is a good one. Too bad the acting is pretty poor and the production looks so cheap. At its best, it's only pedestrian. My recommendation is this one only if you are a film noir nut or you like poor remakes.