Australian actor Ron Randell becomes the Scotland Yard man in the USA helping solve a case of badly leaking government secrets at a missile testing ground in Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard. An American agent played by Harry Lauter gets killed during his investigation and the bad guys went to great lengths to make it look like a suicide.The leak is an innocent one and it's played by Gunsmoke's future Miss Kitty, Amanda Blake. How the information is being gotten out of her is the key to the whole film, but it involves our developing missile guidance systems which the Russians would like to steal.The villains are a clever and ruthless bunch and the film is from the B unit at Columbia Pictures. Doesn't have any great production values, but the story is an intriguing one and the players are all fine in their parts.

Despite the rather cheesy sounding title, "Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard" is a very good B-movie. However, it's included in a collection of film noir films, and I really don't see this as noir--more just a good old spy yarn.The film begins with a government agent supposedly committing suicide. However, he was on the verge of a breakthrough on a big case and didn't seem depressed, so the agency had its doubts as to whether he really killed himself. So, they decide to secretly exhume the body--at which point they find another person already there with the same idea! Well, this turns out to be a Scotland Yard detective with a very bad sense of direction (after all, this is the West Coast of the US). Together, this agent and the Americans try to determine who actually murdered the guy.The story turns out to involve a ring of spies who use mind-control drugs to get secrets out of agency personnel--people who have no idea that they are having secrets pumped out of them when they go to see the doctor. It's all very far-fetched but also pretty exciting--especially as the film has a dandy conclusion involving a drugged agent fighting to alert his friends.Well written (despite the odd angle about drugs) and acted, despite this film's humble origins and budget, it kept my attention and was constantly entertaining. Well worth seeing.

Another low budget film from Forgotten Noir Vol. 4. This one rates a little higher than Radar Secret Service. The script is pretty basic, the directing OK and the cast a step above RSS. The story is more involving and although it's more a spy film than film noir it has many of the elements of film noir. Dark streets, a fast moving pace, a narrative beginning and those fine old cars. Amanda Blake tops a decent cast and the espionage adds a tension to the film which satisfies. Being almost addicted to Film Noir I have to admit that these films, as cheesy as they may appear, are very entertaining! The DVD set Forgotten Noir Vol. 4 has surprisingly good prints and the movies though just over an hour in length are fulfilling.

That's the first Seymour Friedman movie I comment. He was an acceptable B director. Most of his movies were made for Columbia Pictures, and not under Sam Katzman's rules, except one or two; I am not absolutely sure. Wallace Mac Donald produced most of his movies. This one is not a film noir but a spy tale, as so many in these anti red years. Nothing special in this story of enemy agents tracked by David Harding. We already saw him in a Ray Nazzaro's film : David Harding Counterspy - one of the are non western Ray ever shot !! -, and a buddy hunter from SY. An opportunity to specify cooperation between UK and US in spy hunt.Guided missile, charming secretary, dark rooms, a little talk and some good action sequences - for a B movie, I mean, nothing more. What could be expect more?Well, in short, you can waste 67 minutes on it. Try "Forgotten Noir" disc set. It's in it. With eight other ones. You won't regret.