Catching the Cartoon Criminal

When I was young the town newspaper was the primary way that people young and old discovered what was happening around town and around the world. As I write this there are still some daily newspapers around, but they are not the 'go-to' place for information . . . The power of the printing press is no longer able to shape and control the information that we consume, and that is good . . . I guess . . . except that today instead of one voice, there are many voices and not all of them are as honest and unbiased as one might like . . . anyway . . . back in the day when I was young my cops and detectives and crime stories were found on the funny pages - usually near the back of the newspaper. My young mind could laugh with the comedy comic strips and be amazed at the detective and mystery comic strip stories . . . None of the dramas were frightening . . . The most dastardly criminals were brought to justice by Dick Tracy or other crime fighter without ever putting a bit of fear in my young head or causing restless nights. Ahhh, for the good old days . . . . Sorry youngsters, I must say it . . . When I was young I could always tell who the really old people were because they would often yearn for 'the good old days' . . . And now I suddenly find myself in that position. This 1948 story, from before I was born, brings back the days of comic strip criminals and the easy way that the coppers could round them up. Penny is a beautiful blonde model for a comic strip artist and she has a roommate Molly, played by Diana Dors, who is the secretary for Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Carson, played by Ralph Michael. Peggy Evans, as cartoonist's model Penny Justin, loves to read detective novels, and would love to find herself involved in a criminal detective mystery, and that is just what happens. A very young Christopher Lee is the cartoon artist, and Penny doesn't know it but he is the head of a smuggling ring that is getting war criminals out of Europe . . . and the secret signal that he uses to communicate with his henchmen in London and Paris is the comic strip he writes, and the way he draws the heroine Penny. This is a story that the whole family will enjoy . . . The kids will love the pace of adventure, the gals will enjoy the clean-cut Scotland Yard Inspector and even the boyishly handsome Christopher Lee, and us guys . . . Well . . . With eye-candy like Diana Dors and Peggy Evans there is little time to wander to the kitchen for another snack . . . So pop a big bowl of white kernel popcorn with plenty of warm melted butter drizzled over it before you sit down to enjoy the show.

Ralph Michael captures Olaf Pooley	Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee and Ethel Coleridge	Christopher Lee and Olaf Pooley
Christopher Lee and Peggy Evans	Christopher Lee
	Christopher Lee holds Peggy Evans hostage
Christopher Lee	Christopher Lee
Diana Dors and Peggy Evans	Diana Dors and Ralph Michael
John Lorrell and Ralph Michael	Olaf Pooley
Olaf Pooley and Christopher Lee	Olaf Pooley
Peggy Evans as Penny Justin
Peggy Evans and Diana Dors	Peggy Evans
Peter Madren and Ralph Michael	Ralph Michael, Diana Dors and Peggy Evans
Ralph Michael and Diana Dors	Ralph Michael and Peggy Evans
	Ralph Michael
Shaun Noble	Shaun Noble