Booby Trap (1957) Reviews

• This pen will self destruct ,ding dong!

  The-Other-Monkey2005-10-30

  A novel idea of an exploding pen is the flimsy premise of this film. An absent minded professor invents a pen that will detonate when it hears the sound of bells. He leaves the pen in a taxi which is found by Hary Fowler. Harry plays the "go-for" to dodgy nightclub dealer Mr Hunter, played by Sydney Tafler. Tafler, would you believe, sells drugs which are hidden inside pens! The professor, with help from Harry Fowler, alert the police to Sydney Tafler's drug dealing. Tafler escapes with the pen, and whilst driving away he switches on the car radio. When the news comes on the chimes of big Ben set off the pen, blowing up the car and taking Mr Hunter with it. A likable film mainly due to the comic cockney barrow boy, 'aving a larf Harry Fowler!

• One gag makes a film

  Leofwine_draca2015-11-18

  As the other reviewer on this site has noted, BOOBY TRAP has a rather flimsy premise for a movie. After an interesting, scientific jargon-heavy introduction, we follow an eccentric scientist who's created a bomb inside a pen. Unfortunately, he loses the pen, and the police must then hunt it down before it explodes. The thriller-ish premise is an excuse to reveal some of the murkier sides of modern life in a film that is both short and snappy. We're introduced to a cast of ne'er-do-wells and those trying to lift themselves out of the gutter, while all the time mild crime and thriller elements play out. Incredibly, this movie was based on a novel, so we can only imagine what that was like. The cast is rather undistinguished, excluding comedy actor Harry Fowler who brings charm to his role. Director Henry Cass made a number of genre films from the era, some good (BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE) and some bad (THE HAND). This falls into the middle somewhere.