StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

mark.waltz Too many characters, too many nonsensical plot-twists and an ugly view of post-war political intrigue, this seems forced and too perplexing to enjoy. Certainly a predecessor to the many cold war adventures of the 60's, this one isn't among the list of the classics of that genre. Surrounding lead Dan Duryea are some great character performers, but frankly there are way too many of them which made me lose interest after I recognized them.Steamy, foggy photography takes the Shanghai setting to mysterious places and if its attractive to look at, its forced at best. Surrounding the kidnapping of a nuclear scientist, this has good intentions but never really gets off the ground. There's of course a seductive femme fatal, Asian girls who speak very Americanized English and enough seedy characters to fill a dozen film noir. Duryea looks much aged and his anti-hero is a bit sleazy. Standing out is veteran villain Douglas Dumbrille and even Dr. Watson himself, Nigel Bruce, in his last film. Among the Asian actors is veteran Keye Luke. Gene Lockhart is typecast as his typical amoral businessman on the the side of the bad guys. As an early work of director Robert Aldrich, this shows his potential as a filmmaker but lacks in what made him so great later on: complex intrigue and mystery with a touch of the new wave. This lacks even the status of being an interesting failure.

secondtake World for Ransom (1954)This movie is a Robert Aldrich strain. It's not quite raw enough or exotic enough to rise above its low budget, but it's not for lack of trying. One problem is several so-so actors. But the great asset is the one actor who's pushing his limits, not as a film noir lead, but as a guy lost in the shuffle around him and a little at a loss. Dan Duryea. If you don't know him, this isn't the best place to get a sense of his unique, slightly languid, nice boy, sarcastic style. He's wonderful in his own way. And he's the core of the movie.We are in Singapore. There is an impossibly convoluted plot about hydrogen bomb secrets and a group of thugs out to steal either the secrets or the bomb itself. The chief bad guy is a little improbable, the great character actor Gene Lockhart (the judge in the classic "Miracle on 34th Street"). He's just not bad enough, or interesting enough. One of the good guys is another character actor, the peculiar and wonderful Nigel Bruce (who you might remember in Hitchcock's "Suspicion" with Cary Grant).. The lead female (Marian Carr) isn't quite a femme fatale or a steamy love interest. She's blonde, of course, and good, overall, but she isn't given much to do.It doesn't mean much to us to know this but this is basically an extension of a television series along the same lines (same sets, same characters) starring Duryea. It has better production values, I hear (probably due to Aldrich) but it's still hampered by its formulaic television roots, for sure.Oddly for Aldrich the camera-work is often very stable. Everything looks good, great sets and light, but it's static. And the plot keeps barreling along, adding new minor characters from the administration toward the end (just when we've had enough minor characters). There is drama, and the whole affair is slightly raw and slightly exotic. And there are steamy smokey nights and impersonations and cheesy nightclub acts and of course, the bomb, looming every so subtly.So it's not half bad, Duryea making the most of his role. Could have been great, but a lot of little pieces are not falling into place.

writers_reign It may be just as well that Robert Aldrich is uncredited as director here because it would add little to his CV in terms of lustre. It's a ho-hum caper movie in an exotic-on-paper location, in this case a Singapore that makes no mention of Raffles hotel and was possibly inspired by and remains a poor-man's Macao, which was shot by Joe Von Sternberg around the same time. The slightly bizarre cast - Dan Duryea, Patrick Holt, Gene Hersholt, Reginald Denny, Arthur Shields, Nigel Bruce - contrive to seem as if they're acting in different films and the 'topical' theme of Atomic power now seems terribly dated. Just about watchable as a Late, Late Show offering but that's about the best you can give it, unless, of course, you're a Strother Martin completist for he turns up yet again in an uncredited 'bit'.

marquis de cinema World For Ransom(1954) is an odd item from filmography of Robert Aldrich as it is not as well known as some of his other movies. This is an overlooked movie that would provide a sketch for Kiss Me Deadly(1955). Dan Duryea gives a very good performance as well as Patric Knowles and Marian Carr. The plot of the film recalls The Third Man(1949) because its also about a friend of the protagonist who may be villainous and the woman who torn between her husband and her friend. It is well paced and filled with action and intrigue. World For Ransom(1954) is an exciting movie by a man who would later do terrific films like Kiss Me Deadly(1955) and The Dirty Dozen(1967).