The Counterfeit Plan (1957)

Escaping from the French police on his way to prison, a convicted murderer (Zachary Scott) flees across the English channel and seeks out a former expert forger (Mervyn Johns). The ex-forger is leading a respectable country life now but the murderer blackmails him into helping him flood the country with counterfeit money. Directed by Montgomery Tully. Despite the presence of its two American stars (Scott and Peggie Castle as Johns' daughter), this is a British programmer that was quite popular in the United Kingdom. It's moderately enjoyable but it's held back by some poor choices made by its characters which don't ring true. The actions they do seem to be written in to move the story forward rather than organic to their characters. I mean that the characters appear to be fairly intelligent people yet they behave in dubious ways and act foolishly. Scott perfected the slimy cad during his tenure at Warners in the 1940s but he outdoes himself here. He positively makes your skin crawl. The ending is too convenient and implausible as if the writers got tired and just wanted to end the story. With Lee Patterson, Robert Arden (MR. ARKADIN) and Eric Pohlmann.