User Reviews

ITV often used to show these short, British B movies during the early hours but have not done so for some time. Naked Fury was one of these I taped and found it quite good, despite reading bad reviews in TV listings. Most of these got bad reviews and are rather underrated.

A gang of burglars steal a load of money and knock out the night watchman in the process and he later dies in hospital of his injuries, which now also makes them murderers. They also kidnap his daughter as she seen them rob the place. They take her back to their hideout in a derelict and unsafe building and hold her there along with the stolen money. After several unsuccessful attempts to escape and one of the burglars attempt to rape her, the building collapses and all the burglars are killed and the young woman is rescued by fireman at the end.

Naked Fury is shot well in black and white despite the low budget and is quite atmospheric at times.

The cast includes Kenneth Cope (Carry On Matron, Night of the Big Heat), Leigh Madison (The Giant Behemoth) and former EastEnder Tommy Eytle (he played Jules Tavernier in the soap).

Though not brilliant, Naked Fury is a good way to spend an hour one evening. Quite enjoyable.

Rating: 2 and a half stars out of 5.

NAKED FURY – 1959 - UK Second time I've seen this low budget quickie from the U.K. The first time was a rather poor VHS copy, but this time I watched the very nice DVD copy put out by VCI. It is part of a UK Double bill feature.

Four men, Reed De Rouen, Ken Cope, Alex Field and Tommy Eytle have planned a break and enter at a factory warehouse. The night watchman, Eric Woodburn, is given a cosh on the head while they hit the safe and lift the contents.

A hitch in the plan happens as the crew makes their getaway. The watchman's daughter, Leigh Madison, arrives to visit her father. The boys grab Madison and bring her along to the hideout. The hideout is a ruined dockside warehouse. There they join the fifth member of the group, Arthur Lovegrove. Lovegrove is the lookout man in case anyone comes looking.

The leader of the group, Reed De Rouen, drags Madison to one of the top floor rooms and shoves her inside. The gang then goes over the take. The take ends up to be 50,000 pounds! This of course makes for a most happy group of crooks. De Rouen has made arrangements for transport out of the country on a freighter, which is leaving the next night. They just need to get through the next day.

That will give them time to decide what to do with the girl. De Rouen and Lovegrove stay at the warehouse while the others head back to their homes. They will meet the next night and board the freighter at midnight.

Of course the plan immediately starts to come apart. Field, a safe-cracker from the old days, is paid a visit the next morning by the Police. It is the old, "usual suspects" call whenever a robbery happens. Field's wife, Ann Lynn, gives the Police an alibi for her husband and they leave.

After the Police have left, Lynn turns to Field and demands half the take he will get from the job. Field agrees to the deal since he knows he is leaving the country that night. Then news that the night watchman has died from the injuries he received in the hold up. Now Lynn wants her cash today. Field again agrees and sets out to get the cash.

Field runs into fellow gang member Eytle, who also now needs his end of the robbery. His son is very ill and he needs the cash. The two talk and decide that Eytle will explain to De Rouen their need for the cash. Eytle is to get his own, as well as Field's end from De Rouen. Field returns home in-order to keep a close eye on wife, Lynn.

When Eytle reaches the warehouse, De Rouen leaves before Eytle can explain what he needs. De Rouen is in a hurry to make the final arrangements with the ship's captain, for their transport out of the country. Eytle sits and waits for the return of De Rouen.

As for the girl, Madison, De Rouen has told her she will not be harmed if she just agrees to say nothing. That of course changes, when they hear the news over the radio of Madison's father's death. Now De Rouen has to consider whether or not to kill Madison.

Now several more flies in the ointment appear. Arthur Gross, a prison buddy of Cope, talks him into taking the whole take just for them. With the use of a handy pistol that is. De Rouen is also having a problem with the ship Captain. He has upped his price to 20,000 pounds. He also heard about the death of the watchman. De Rouen agrees and returns to the hideout.

Back at Field's apartment, wife Lynn has decided that Field intends to split without giving her any cash, She gets on the blower and calls the Police. Field responds to this by beating her to death with a handy blunt object. Field just has no luck and gets pinched by the Law, as he exits the apartment.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Err, I mean, warehouse. There is a major beef developing. Cope and his "new" partner, Arthur Gross, are at the hideout to lift all the cash. De Rouen interrupts this move, which results in Gross being killed from a 4 story fall. The rotted wooden stairway to the upper floor has given out. Now everyone is trapped on the top floor with no way out.

And of course the whole building now decides to start collapsing. Eytle and Cope soon join Gross as the floor gives out under them. De Rouen helps the girl, Madison onto a concrete window ledge just as the floor under him also gives way.

A local cop, hearing the noise of the collapsing building, calls the fire brigade. They arrive and rescue Madison before the building completely folds in on itself. Arthur Lovegrove, the only one beside Madison to get out, is grabbed up as he tries to leave the scene. "A word if you please." The Bobbie says to him.

Excuse the somewhat disjointed write up. All this action happens in a 57 minute runtime. This one never slows down. Not a bad low budget time waster IMO. This quickie feature some very nice night time photography..

The director was UK film veteran, Charles Saunders. He worked mostly in bottom rung productions that include the likes of, DANGER BY MY SIDE, DEATH OF AN ANGEL, BLACK ORCHID, THE SCARLET WEB, ONE JUMP AHEAD, A TIME TO KILL, THE NARROWING CIRCLE, MURDER REPORTED, JUNGLE STREET, THE END OF THE LINE and the very good, MEET MR. CALLAGHAN and KILL HER GENTLY. (b/w)

Four men rob a factory, stealing £50000, coshing the nightwatchman unconscious before he can see them but kidnapping his daughter who turned up at the wrong time, taking her back to their hideout on the top floor o0f a derelict house. Three of them go back to their usual lives until the boss has arranged safe passage abroad. However complications arise when the wife of one crook wants her husbands share or she will rat him to the police, another wants his share immediately when he learns his son is very ill, and the third is persuaded by a pal to grab all the loot for themselves. They then learn that the nightwatchman has died, and the ships' captain drives a hard bargain to smuggle the gang abroad. And all the time the derelict house is crumbling.... Every now and then the British B-movie makers produced B-films that weren't risible, and this is one of them because it is so fast paced.At 65 minutes, the makers had no time to spare for extraneous stuff, and if it is no more than a time-filler, it is an extremely agreeable one. But where did they get the title ? Nobody gets naked. Nobody even gets furious....

A gang led by Eddie (Reed de Rouen) pulls off a heist worth £50,000, but things are complicated after one of the thieves, Johnny (Kenneth Cope), kills a night watchman and they are forced to take his daughter Carol (Leigh Madison) hostage. They hide her and the money in an abandoned warehouse, which is awaiting demolition and in a very dangerous condition. The staircase and floors could collapse at any moment. The gang plan to flee to South America by sea using false passports. Yet, even the best laid plans can go awry as they are about to discover. Syd (Arthur Lovegrove), a small time crook, is stuck in a loveless marriage with Stella (Ann Lynn) who is his alibi; but she plans to leave him and threatens to shop him unless he cuts her in with half his share of the money. The pair quarrel and Syd accidentally kills her when he hits her with a candlestick. Steve (Tommy Eytle) receives some bad news when he is told that his son is very ill and needs the money to pay for his treatment. Vic (Alexander Field), the elderly watchman at the old warehouse, simply wants to go to the country and buy himself a little pub. He has no desire to make the long trip to South America; but fears that Carol will have to be killed in order to prevent her spilling the beans and Eddie objects to the idea of murdering her since he has developed quite a friendship with her whilst hiding out at the warehouse. Meanwhile, Johnny, her father's killer, has run into a former criminal accomplice, Tom Parker (Arthur Gross), who feels his old mate owes him something considering he spent time in prison for a robbery they both committed. Johnny agrees that they should double cross Eddie and the others and take the money for themselves. Johnny has taken a fancy to Carol and wants to take her away with him. At the warehouse, Johnny attempts to force himself on Carol as he goes to steal the money, but Steve appears and punches him out. Meanwhile, Eddie has spotted Parker in Johnny's car and senses a double cross. Parker goes to shoot Eddie but he is too quick for him and it is he who dies. Eddie confronts Johnny over his betrayal and prepares to shoot him too telling him that there will be one less on the getaway boat. However, before he can fire, the staircase and the floors in the derelict building start to give out...

A remarkably effective low budget crime drama (in its small scale way) from b-pic specialists Butcher's. We don't see the actual raid and the murder here; the action focuses on what happens to the crooks in its aftermath. I was a little disappointed, but maybe the budget didn't allow for the director to do it. In perhaps his best directorial offering, Charles Saunders succeeds in creating some mild tension from the situations in Brandon Fleming's screenplay, which is based on a story by the movie's producer Guido Coen. He certainly motivates his criminals better than one would normally expect of a 'B' movie giving them much more character and there are at least two sympathetic characters whom the audience can actually care about (de Rouen and Madison). At the climax as De Rouen goes to shoot Cope for his double cross, he signals that he is inviting Madison to accompany him to South America to begin a new life together with the money. As to whether she would have accepted his offer or not, we never find out and that adds to the suspense. Uncharacteristically for a Butcher's production, the film opts for a downbeat ending as opposed to the cop out "they all lived happily ever after" one, which adds to the production's impact as there is an emotional element for once. The cast, with the exception of Kenneth Cope, are largely unknowns but they all play their roles competently. One of the things that I always liked about the best Butcher's films when I first saw them about twenty years ago was the fact that the characters and main protagonists all came from normal, humble working class backgrounds. Like you and I they had ordinary aspirations, but were forced into crime due to the lack of opportunity and the toughness of life in late 1950's Britain. Naked Fury is available on DVD paired with Butcher's own Mark Of The Phoenix along with several others that used to be shown on ITV in the early hours as time fillers. I never thought that two decades later there would be sufficient interest in them to demand their release on home video.

This is the plot where thieves fall out after a robbery and they are eliminated one by one.Credit has to go to the art director for the collapsing house.The stairs give way in a very convincing manner even if the beams are made from balsa wood.The collapsing floor on the top floor is quite spectacular,even though you can see the hinges on the floorboards which allows them to be quickly reset.

The mistitled Naked Fury aka The Pleasure Lovers is worth seeking if you're a fan of 50s and 60s British crime thrillers, both B programmers and TV shows like The Edgar Wallace Theater. A more descriptive title would have been The Kidnappers or Hot Money Gang. Most of the cast worked steadily after this film, mostly in TV. The opener skips the gang's heist and starts with the crooks driving to their decrepit hideout with a kidnapped Carol (Leigh Madison) in the backseat. Ensuing exposition tells us that Carol walked in on a robbery while visiting her nightwatchman dad so they abducted her. Most of the film centers around her captivity. 25 years old at the time, Leigh Madison is supposed to be 19 and she manages to pull it off despite the movie makeup. Dressed in a tight white top and pointed bra that emphasizes her large bustline, a tight skirt and spike heels, she manages to run out of the apartment not once but twice, getting caught both times on the crumbling stairs and dragged back. No one thinks of tying her up, making her undress or drugging her to prevent her escaping or grabbing a kitchen knife off their food laden table. Both the leader Eddy and one of his accomplices, Johnny, behave like they want to seduce, if not rape Carol but escaping with the cash takes precedence for Eddy. As the story progresses, Carol seems to be adapting to her situation in a kind of Stockholm Syndrome way but retains a resistant streak. Meanwhile, about to make lunch, Carol hears on Eddy's radio that her dad has succumbed to his injuries and faints. Eddy carries the unconscious Carol back to the bedroom and leaves to meet the boat captain who puts the squeeze on him for more cash. While all this is going on, Syd and Steve want their share now. The cops have visited pro safecracker Syd and his younger and leggy but nagging wife Stella (Ann Lynn) at home. This was the era in movies when cops and criminals called each other sir. Learning of the robbery, Stella demands money and that doesn't end well. Johnny is tricked by a buxom bar-hostess into walking into a trap and forced by another criminal into ripping off the boodle. That doesn't go well either. All of the loose ends are neatly wrapped up when the building literally falls apart under the remaining gangsters. Not a minute of footage is wasted in this tightly edited movie that moves at a brisk, taut pace, a perfect example of the kind of movie released by Butcher's and perfected by director Charles Saunders and producer Guido Cohen.