# Assignment Redhead

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{{Short description|1956 British film by Maclean Rogers}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Assignment Redhead
| image          = "Assignment_Redhead"_(1956).jpg
| caption        = British quad poster
| director       = [Maclean Rogers](/source/Maclean_Rogers)
| producer       = William G. Chalmers<br>[Richard Gordon](/source/Richard_Gordon_(film_producer))
| screenplay     = Maclean Rogers
| based_on       = {{based on|''[Requiem for a Redhead](/source/Requiem_for_a_Redhead)''|[Lindsay Hardy](/source/Lindsay_Hardy)}}
| starring       = [Richard Denning](/source/Richard_Denning)<br>[Carole Mathews](/source/Carole_Mathews)<br>[Ronald Adam](/source/Ronald_Adam_(actor))<br>[Danny Green](/source/Danny_Green_(actor))
| music          = [Wilfred Burns](/source/Wilfred_Burns)
| cinematography = [Ernest Palmer](/source/Ernest_Palmer_(British_cinematographer))
| editing        = [Peter Mayhew](/source/Peter_Mayhew_(film_editor))
| studio         = [Amalgamated Productions](/source/Amalgamated_Productions)<br>[Butcher's Film Distributors](/source/Butcher's_Film_Service)
| distributor    = Rank Film Organisation (UK)
| released       = {{Film date|1956}}
| runtime        = 79 mins
| country        = United Kingdom<br>United States
| language       = English
| budget         = over £15,000<ref name="tom">Tom Weaver, ''The Horror Hits of Richard Gordon'', Bear Manor Media 2011 p 17</ref>
}}
'''''Assignment Redhead''''' (U.S. title: '''''Million Dollar Manhunt''''') is a 1956 British [second feature ('B')](/source/B_movie)<ref name="Chibnall">{{Cite book |last1=Chibnall |first1=Steve |title=''The British 'B' Film'' |last2=McFarlane |first2=Brian |publisher=[BFI](/source/BFI)/[Bloomsbury](/source/Bloomsbury_Publishing) |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-8445-7319-6 |location=London |pages=67}}</ref> [crime thriller](/source/crime_thriller) film written and directed by [Maclean Rogers](/source/Maclean_Rogers).<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Assignment Redhead |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150023201 |access-date=27 February 2025 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-01-14 |title=BFI {{!}} Film & TV Database {{!}} ASSIGNMENT REDHEAD (1956) |url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/24473 |access-date=2025-02-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114173437/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/24473 |archive-date=14 January 2009 }}</ref> It was based on the novel ''Requiem for a Redhead'' by [Lindsay Hardy](/source/Lindsay_Hardy).

==Synopsis==
Murderous international master criminal Dumetrius specialises in providing false travel documents. He flies to London from post-war Berlin to retrieve twelve million dollars in counterfeit cash. With the aide of his confederate Hedy, a redheaded cabaret singer, he covers his tracks and kills one passenger retrieving an identifying photograph and frames another man for the murder.  American Major Keen is working attached to British intelligence and pursues him. Keen falls for Hedy, who is under Dumetrius's control, compromising the investigation.

==Cast== 
* [Richard Denning](/source/Richard_Denning) as Major Gregory Keen 
* [Carole Mathews](/source/Carole_Mathews) as Hedy Bergner 
* [Ronald Adam](/source/Ronald_Adam_(actor)) as Major Scammel / Dumetrius 
* [Danny Green](/source/Danny_Green_(actor)) as Yotti Blum 
* [Brian Worth](/source/Brian_Worth) as Captain Peter Ridgeway 
* [Jan Holden](/source/Jan_Holden) as Sally Jennings 
* [Hugh Moxey](/source/Hugh_Moxey) as Sergeant Tom Coutts 
* [Peter Swanwick](/source/Peter_Swanwick) as Monsieur Paul Bonnet 
* [Elwyn Brook-Jones](/source/Elwyn_Brook-Jones) as Digby Mitchel 
* [Ronald Leigh-Hunt](/source/Ronald_Leigh-Hunt) as Colonel Julian Fentriss, M.I.5.
* Robert O'Neil as Captain Hank Godowski  
* [Paul Hardtmuth](/source/Paul_Hardtmuth) as Dr. Buchmann  
* Bill Nagy as Marzotti  
* Alex Gallier as Max Rubenstein  
* Robert Bruce as staff officer
* George Holdcroft as nightclub diner

==Production==
The film was the first of seven made by Richard Gordon's Amalgamated Productions. It was a co-production with [Butcher's Film Distributors](/source/Butcher's_Film_Service).<ref name="tom"/>

The film was made for under £15,000 plus the salaries and expenses of the American participants.<ref name="tom"/>

==Reception==
''[The Monthly Film Bulletin](/source/The_Monthly_Film_Bulletin)'' wrote: "Confused and improbable, the film's central situation is developed with little imagination or tension. Script and direction also follow a firmly predictable pattern."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1956 |title=Assignment Redhead |volume=23 |issue=264 |pages=152 |id={{ProQuest|1305815216}} |journal=[The Monthly Film Bulletin](/source/The_Monthly_Film_Bulletin)}}</ref>

''[Kine Weekly](/source/Kine_Weekly)'' wrote: "A strong Anglo-American cast puts a kick into its hearty highlights and the backgrounds are widely varied. It'll keep the ninepennies on the ''qui vive''. Very good British programmer."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=11 October 1956 |title=Assignment Redhead |volume=474 |issue=2565 |pages=15 |id={{ProQuest|2826279714}} |journal=[Kine Weekly](/source/Kine_Weekly)}}</ref>

In ''The [Radio Times](/source/Radio_Times) Guide to Films'' David Parkinson gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "This dismal thriller has all the hallmarks of a Butcher's production: shoddy script, cheap settings and a cast of has-beens and no-hopers. Ronald Adam can just about hold his head up as the crook intent on blagging counterfeit Nazi cash, but the rest of the cast is just inept.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Radio Times Guide to Films |publisher=[Immediate Media Company](/source/Immediate_Media_Company) |year=2017 |isbn=9780992936440 |edition=18th |location=London |pages=54}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0049504}}
{{Maclean Rogers}}

Category:1956 films
Category:British crime thriller films
Category:Films directed by Maclean Rogers
Category:Films based on Australian novels
Category:1950s crime thriller films
Category:1956 English-language films
Category:1956 British films
Category:British black-and-white films
Category:English-language crime thriller films
Category:Films scored by Wilfred Burns

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Assignment Redhead](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assignment_Redhead) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assignment_Redhead?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.