THE WEAPON is an unusually-plotted British crime film in which the bombed-out ruins of a post-war London play a large part in the proceedings. The tale is about a group of street urchins playing in said ruins who discover a loaded gun. One of them accidentally shoots a friend and goes on the run, which is when the plot kicks in for real.The main problem with this film is the unbelievability of the plot. The villain character seems shoehorned into the storyline and never would have been in danger from the police had he simply kept out of things. In addition, the kid who goes on the run would have been out of danger had he simply handed himself in to the police early on. Thus credibility is strained throughout and the film sometimes feel mildly ridiculous as the plot plays out.The further shoehorning into the story of an American military figure to act as detective is a blatant attempt to get an American lead into the thing, although Steve Cochran is saddled with a very dull character. The inexplicably American mother, Lizabeth Scott, is much better and somebody you end up warming to as the story progresses. George Cole is cast against type and should have stuck to the mild comedy he was far more convincing in. It was a pleasure to see old-timer Herbert Marshall (FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT) in support but he only appears in a couple of scenes.The main actor is former Oscar winner Jon Whiteley as the precocious child who causes so much trouble. I quite liked him although others may find him a bit irritating. Whiteley has nowadays forgotten about his early acting career and become a museum curator. The exemplary direction is by Val Guest, who brings an atmospheric London to life, teeming with the working class, and the locations have never looked so authentic and lived-in.

The problem with this thriller is that it relies to much on coincidences and unexplained plot developments.It is never explained why the boy's mother is American,we must assume that she is there fro American distributors.Why does George Cole become involved when,as the murderer he has managed to keep his head down for the last 10 years.In the middle of the film we have the biggest contrivance of the lot.Steve Cochran is supposed to be meeting Nicole Maurey at her flat.He is late,who is there but George Cole who murders her.We know there is a connection between them but what is it?Cole cosies up to Scott and just happens to be at her home when the boy phones.This leads to the final chase and Cole's death from a fall in a fight with Cochrane.Herbert Marshall is in there giving Cochrane 24 hours to sort things out,which he tries to do with all guns blazing.the most interesting part of this film is the location work.It shows area of the city of London still showing the after effects of the blitz some 11 years after the end of the war.

"The Weapon" (1956) is a mixed blessing. It does present some marvelous action sequences. On the other hand, Steve Cochran makes a pretty charmless hero and his co-star, Lizabeth Scott, looks surprisingly dowdy. It's left to Nicole Maurey to present all the feminine allure, but while she appears so mightily attractive, she makes little headway against some of the tritest dialogue in the movie. In fact, the script regales audiences with too much uninteresting talk to sustain our consistent interest, yet it leaves vital plot points unclarified – even at the close! Unfortunately, Val Guest's direction does little to disguise the banal dialogue stretches, but once the camera moves away from Mr. Cochran, Guest's handling perks up considerably, with very impressive use of natural locations – so overwhelming in fact is the location material that it puts the movie firmly back into the "A"-grade class. It would seem that Guest realized Cochran and Scott were not only distinctly second string, but they were doing nothing for the film. Maybe that's why Herbert Marshall was employed in a very small, inconsequential role? It was no doubt thought that his name would give the cast credits a touch of much-needed luster.

A routine show for me. A Val Guest film starring two American actors, such were so many British movies from this time - see Terence Fisher's ones. But no real surprises. The flat yarn about a young boy who finds a weapon among the ruins of a building in London and who runs away with it. It appears that this gun was used ten years ago for a murder.You stay awake all along this little story, but I am sure that you'll have forgotten all this two years later. Nothing exceptional. The ending is easily foreseeable. But it's always a pleasure to watch Lizabeth - the Throat - Scott and the likes of Steve Cochran and Herbert Marshall. Even in a British film. And val Guest is a pretty good artisan.