Scarlet Thread
1951 film by Lewis Gilbert
title: "Scarlet Thread" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1951-films", "films-directed-by-lewis-gilbert", "films-set-in-london", "films-set-in-cambridge", "british-crime-drama-films", "1951-crime-drama-films", "films-produced-by-ernest-g.-roy", "british-black-and-white-films", "films-shot-in-cambridgeshire", "1950s-english-language-films", "1951-british-films", "english-language-crime-drama-films"] description: "1951 film by Lewis Gilbert" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlet_Thread" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary 1951 film by Lewis Gilbert ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox film"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Scarlet Thread |
| image | Scarlet_Thread_film_Theatrical_release_poster_(1951-2).jpg |
| caption | Theatrical release poster |
| director | Lewis Gilbert |
| producer | Ernest G. Roy |
| writer | Moie Charles |
| A.R. Rawlinson | |
| starring | Kathleen Byron |
| Laurence Harvey | |
| music | Kenneth D. Morrison |
| cinematography | Geoffrey Faithfull |
| distributor | Butcher's Film Service (UK) |
| Realart Pictures (US) | |
| released | |
| runtime | 85 mins. |
| country | United Kingdom |
| language | English |
| :: |
| name = Scarlet Thread | image = Scarlet_Thread_film_Theatrical_release_poster_(1951-2).jpg | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = Lewis Gilbert | producer = Ernest G. Roy | writer = Moie Charles A.R. Rawlinson | starring = Kathleen Byron Laurence Harvey | music = Kenneth D. Morrison | cinematography = Geoffrey Faithfull | editing = | distributor = Butcher's Film Service (UK) Realart Pictures (US) | released = | runtime = 85 mins. | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = | gross =
Scarlet Thread is a 1951 British second feature ('B') crime drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert and produced by Ernest G. Roy. It was written by Moie Charles and A.R. Rawlinson.
Plot
Two criminals plan a jewellery robbery. The robbery goes wrong and an innocent man is shot.
Cast
- Kathleen Byron as Josephine
- Laurence Harvey as Freddie
- Sydney Tafler as Marcon
- Arthur Hill as Shaw
- Dora Bryan as Maggie
- Eliot Makeham as Jason
- Harry Fowler as Sam
- Cyril Chamberlain as Mason
- Renee Kelly as Eleanor
- Hylton Allen as the Dean
Production
The film was made at Nettlefold Studios, Walton-on-Thames in Surrey, England, and on location.
Reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Sydney Tafler and Laurence Harvey do well as the unattractive pair of gangsters, and the characterisation and dialogue are as a whole more effective than the improbable story."
Kine Weekly wrote: "Well-made, if slightly far-fetched romantic melodrama ... Unusual and intriguing story, exciting climax, feminine angle, and quota."
In The Radio Times Guide to Films Allen Eyles gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "In one of his early leading roles, Laurence Harvey working with Alfie director Lewis Gilbert gives this downbeat British crime drama some modest interest. Harvey is convincingly unpleasant as the skirt-chasing spiv and petty criminal with a sleazy charm, who panics and kills a bystander during a jewel robbery. But the twist in the tale is more implausible than ironic."
References
References
- (2009). "''The British 'B' Film''". [[BFI]]/[[Bloomsbury Publishing.
- "Scarlet Thread".
- (1 January 1951). "Scarlet Thread".
- (22 October 1953). "Scarlet Thread".
- (2017). "Radio Times Guide to Films". [[Immediate Media Company]].
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