Ron Foster (who ??) is Detective Harper, gunning for a promotion (get it?) Harper is put on a jewel heist in Los Angeles, and the case kind of starts out like an episode of Dragnet. Keep an eye out for Ted Knight... as one of the cops! Harper tries to cozy up to the suspect's girlfriend (Pat Blair). the girlfriend cozies back, and has some dark, heavy-handed suggestions of her own. Now Harper is in deeper than ever, and he's not sure what to do. All hell breaks loose, and everyone is figuring out their own next step. It's pretty good. rated pretty low, as of today. i liked it more than some of the others. Directed by Ed Cahn.

A handsome Ron Foster is about the only fun thing in this film.The ending is given away at the very beginning by the narrator so forget any suspense. "This was the last crime Scott Harper (Ron Foster) would investigate where did he go wrong...." What a fizzle that is.It is a typical B production crime cop turns bad plot. I am not sure why it is labeled noir it seems a typical crime movie to me---noir I expect the unexpected. This thing was boiler plate.Poor Harper is beset by the worst luck imaginable and makes so many dumb decisions. This movie is for the uninformed audiences. I am sure even in 1960 Mexico had extradition treaties with the US...Harper should have known he could be tailed by the rental car and dumped it off someplace other than the airport like maybe another rental car agency then a taxi..... Or he could have rented it in a different name I mean they were on the lam. Also this guy was a detective for 7 years he would know the ins and outs of the system.Of course this being Hollywood crime doesn't pay--DULL.It is entertaining if you have absolutely nothing else.I give it 2 stars.DO NOT RECOMMEND

Cage of Evil (1960) ** (out of 4) Routine and rather lifeless crime picture has Detective Scott Harper (Ben Foster) getting assigned to a diamond heist, which left one man dead. The detective starts to investigate showgirl Holly Taylor (Patricia Blair) who has a connection the big crime boss but soon the two fall in love and the detective decides to go bad and get the diamonds for himself. CAGE OF EVIL features just about every cliché you can imagine from the crime genre and by the time it's over you'll be slightly entertained but there's still no question that you've seen this type of thing so many times before and this here doesn't add anything new. I mentioned being slightly entertained and the main reason for this is that the detective is simply so stupid and makes so many stupid mistakes that you really can't help but be entertained by how many dumb things he does. I mean, it's easy to believe that he'd turn bad after being passed over on a promotion but at the same time he just makes one mistake after another. A detective should know how to work around the system but this guy makes such boneheaded mistakes that even a newborn baby wouldn't do something of the things he does. Another problem is that director Edward L. Cahn really doesn't bother building up any real drama or suspense. The entire film comes off rather flat and it appears that the director was just wanting to get everything on film, on budget and he didn't stretch to try and do anything special. The story itself is pretty familiar stuff but the final ten minutes do start to pick up and lead to a nice ending. CAGE OF EVIL really isn't recommended to anyone except for those who must see every crime pic from this era.

Pretty good little "B" crime movie. Granted the plot was nothing new but movies are still being made with the same story. Ted Knight was a riot. It seemed like he tried to steal every scene he was in (which wasn't that many). I like the narration, it made the story seem better. I guess this film would be a good candidate for MSTK but certainly wasn't awful. Our hero/antihero? was a little stiff and his slang didn't quite jibe with his stiff suits and clean cut demeanor. It was funny watching "squares" cut loose though. Recommended time filler but not a whole lot of action. Gotta watch out for that plumber though.