World for Ransom

Made by the same production set-up on the same lot that was producing the 1953-54 "China Smith/Captain China" TV series that starred Dan Duryea as soldier-of-fortune China Smith, using many of the same players that were regulars on the TV series, including Douglass Dumbrille, as head of the British Intelligence, and the same "Singapore", British Colony colonials and China sets used on the series. In this instance, they had the good grace to actually make a "new" film rather than just paste two of the TV episodes together and sending it out as a "new" movie as many of the TV production companies were doing at the time, i.e., the producers of the "Ramar of the Jungle" and Guy Madison's "Wild Bill Hickok" series. And changed the role names of Duryea and Dumbrille, but the Duryea character is still "China Smith." And hired a good director. This time out China Smith...uh.....Mike Callahan (Dan Duryea), because of his friendship with Julian March (Patric Knowles),becomes involved with a plot to kidnap a nuclear scientist who is one of the three men in the whole wide world who knows how to detonate an H-Bomb and evidently carries most of the makings around with him. March is in league with Alexis Pederas (Gene Lockhart, less lovable than usual)and his henchman Guzik (former boxer Lou Nova and mean as usual), planning to do some blackmailing on a global scale. Lots of killing, kidnappings, crosses and double-crosses, fights and pursuits follow, plus some bit of footsie between March's wife, Frennessy (Marian Carr) and Callahan. Nothing much happens in that area either as she departs Singapore and Callahan both when neither are of further use to her. Better than the TV series because of director Robert Aldrich. And Marian Carr, who Aldrich would use later on.