In Singapore, a private detective and the British authorities are on the trail of a crime syndicate that kidnaps a nuclear physicist with the aim of selling him to the highest bidder.

Director Robert Aldrich, one year before his post-modern Noir masterpiece Kiss Me, Deadly (1955), did his best with this atmospheric China Seas melodrama. Should chanteuse Frenesie (Marion Carr) stay glued to her weak-kneed but handsome husband (Patric Knowles) or wise up and take what tough but reliable Irish soldier of fortune Callahan (Dan Duryea) has to offer? The answer comes only after sterling character actors Gene Lockhart (evil mastermind), Nigel Bruce (colonial governor), Douglas Dumbrille (military cop) and once-handsome Reginald Denny (ditto) squabble and planify to restore order. Bonus: lovely brogue-wielding Arthur Shields, younger brother of icon Barry Fitzgerald, as the hydrogen bomb expert whose kidnap fuels the intrigue. Bad guys vs. good with the sublime, sweet-hearted, tough-tongued Duryea playing both ends against the middle. His face like carved rare roast beef, his hair slicked back, eternal glint in his eye, Duryea wriggles through sewers, sprints around enemy strongholds, and handles grenades with the best of 'em.—Ernie Bakeswell

Singapore. Solely in hoping for a future with her, British ex-pat Mike Callahan, who has an unsavory recent past as a soldier of fortune throughout East and Southeast Asia, abides the request of his former girlfriend Frennessey March to discover the activities of her husband and Mike's friend Julian March, a former British military officer and now a tour guide and importer/exporter, in her fear that he is involved in something illegal and thus is in over his head as a somewhat mentally weak man. Julian indeed has gotten himself involved in a plot headed by ruthless criminal Alexis Pederas to kidnap Irish scientist Sean O'Connor, only one of four people in the world who knows how to detonate a hydrogen bomb. On official business, Dr. O'Connor is traveling through Singapore under an alias en route to Australia. Pederas' goal is to "sell" O'Connor back to the British, and if they refuse his demand will instead sell to the Communists, hence Singapore being the perfect geopolitical location for his purpose. Mike has seen and had reports of Julian associating with Pederas and his thug Leo Guzik, Mike unaware of the nature of their association. The British authorities, following this same lead, believe they can use Mike as an unwitting patsy, Mike who may have his own thoughts on the matter as he adds the further goals of saving Dr. O'Connor and Julian with his eyes still firmly on the main prize of Frennessey.—Huggo

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.—Les Adams <[email protected]>