ASSIGNMENT REDHEAD

Carole Mathews and Richard Denning

ASSIGNMENT REDHEAD (aka Million Dollar Manhunt/1956). Director: Maclean Rogers. 

Major Gregory Keen (Richard Denning) of Army Intelligence (temporarily attached to MI-5), is assigned to look for a mysterious man known only as Dumetrius (Ronald Adam) who murdered a man and took his place on a flight from Berlin to London. Keen questions the other people on the flight, trying to get a description, but they either wind up murdered themselves or don't recall what the man looked like. In the latter category is Viennese-born Hedy (Carole Mathews), whom Keen rather rapidly falls in love with. Does she feel the same about him or she is hiding something -- or both? 

Alex Gallier and Ronald Adam

The most memorable scenes in Assignment Redhead don't have to do with the star-crossed lovers or even the manhunt but focus on the interplay between the two main villains of the piece, Dumetrius and Max Rubenstein (Alex Gallier), who was formerly the Nazi collaborator Armand Yannis. Dumetrius has discovered that Yannis has in his possession 12 million dollars of counterfeit American money and he wants it, hoping to strike a deal with the reinvented Rubenstein. Watching these two try to outwit and outfox each other is a delight, and both actors play the roles with restrained zeal. As for the others, Denning and Mathews are professional enough, although Denning "underplays" the more emotional moments which are outside his range. The supporting actors -- Brian Worth as Captain Ridgeway, Jan Holden as a helpful cigarette girl -- are a bit more flavorful in their interpretations. Mclean Rogers also directed Calling Paul Temple.

Verdict: British suspense flick holds the attention. **3/4.