{{Short description|1954 film by Robert Aldrich}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = World for Ransom | image = World for Ransom movie poster.jpg | alt = | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = Robert Aldrich (uncredited) | producer = Bernard Tabakin<br />Robert Aldrich | screenplay = Lindsay Hardy<br/>Hugo Butler (uncredited) | starring = Dan Duryea<br />Gene Lockhart <br> Patric Knowles | music = Frank De Vol | cinematography = Joseph Biroc | editing = Michael Luciano | studio = Plaza Production | distributor = Allied Artists Pictures | released = {{Film date|1954|1|27|Los Angeles|1954|6|4|New York|ref2=<ref name="nytreview"/>}} | runtime = 82 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = $100,000<ref name="robert">Alain Silver and James Ursini, ''Whatever Happened to Robert Aldrich?'', Limelight, 1995 p 231</ref> | gross = 441,946 admissions (France)<ref name="aldrich">[http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=search&rurl=translate.google.com.au&sl=fr&u=http://www.boxofficestory.com/box-office-robert-aldrich-c23331915&usg=ALkJrhiBj0BwkGhyaAI9UwR7ZxAaQO_fGg French box office results for Robert Aldrich films] at Box Office Story</ref> }} '''''World for Ransom''''' is a 1954 American film noir drama directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Dan Duryea, Patric Knowles, Gene Lockhart, Reginald Denny and Nigel Bruce (in his final film role).<ref>{{IMDb title|id=0047681|title=World for Ransom}}.</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=WORLD FOR RANSOM|work=Monthly Film Bulletin|location=London|volume=21|issue=240|date=Jan 1, 1954|page=137}}</ref>

Many of the actors and sets used in the film were recycled from Duryea's television show ''China Smith''.

==Plot== Mike Callahan is an Irish national and war veteran working in Singapore as a private detective. He takes a case from a former flame, now a nightclub singer, who suspects that her husband Julian March is involved in criminal activities.

Callahan learns that a man named Alexis Pederas has involved Julian in a plot to kidnap prominent nuclear scientist Sean O'Connor and hold him for ransom to the highest bidder. O'Connor is one of the only four men in the world who knows how to detonate the hydrogen bomb.

==Cast== * Dan Duryea as Mike Callahan aka Corrigan * Gene Lockhart as Alexis Pederas * Patric Knowles as Julian March * Reginald Denny as Major Ian Bone * Nigel Bruce as Governor Sir Charles Crotts * Marian Carr as Frenessey March * Arthur Shields as O'Connor * Douglass Dumbrille as Inspector McCollum * Carmen D'Antonio as Dancer * Keye Luke as Wong * Clarence Lung as Johnny Chan * Lou Nova as Guzik * Beal Wong as Wu, Bartender * Strother Martin as Corporal * Patrick Allen as Soldier * Spencer Chan as Club Patron * Herschel Graham as Club Patron

==Production== Aldrich was inspired to produce the film while directing episodes of ''China Smith''. When production was on hiatus, he wrote a story with a colleague.<ref name="interview">{{cite book|page=43|title=Robert Aldrich : interviews|first=Robert|last=Aldrich|date=2004|publisher=University Press of Mississippi}}</ref> Bernard Tabakin, who produced ''China Smith'', agreed to produce the film along with Aldrich.<ref>{{cite news|title=DOLEFUL HOLLYWOOD: Uncertainty Pervades Industry as Rise In Unemployment Continues -- Addenda|author=THOMAS M. PRYOR|work=New York Times|date=Apr 19, 1953|page=X5}}</ref>

Aldrich claimed that the script was almost entirely written by the uncredited Hugo Butler, a blacklisted screenwriter. Aldrich said: "There are optimists in the society, not many left, who thought that someday those guys [on the Hollywood Blacklist] would get post-mortem credits for their work. So he wrote ''World for Ransom'' and I put my name on it to try and get him the credit. And it went into arbitration with the Writer's Guild, and another guy, Lindsay Hardy, got total screen credit on it. It was a joke. He no more wrote that script than walk on the water. Butler made that total screenplay."<ref>{{cite news|title=mr. film noir stays at the table|author=Silver, Alain|work=Film Comment|location=New York|volume=8|issue=1 (Spring 1972)|pages=14–23}}</ref>

Filming began on April 13, 1953 at the Motion Picture Center Studio.<ref>{{cite news|title=WRITERS, STUDIOS AGREE ON CREDITS: Guild to Vote April 22 on New Terms Concerning Alleged Reds and Arbitration|author=THOMAS M. PRYORS|work=New York Times|date=Apr 4, 1953|page=9}}</ref> It was shot over the course of six days, and then Aldrich halted production to shoot television commercials to raise money for the film's post-production. A five-day shoot ensued to finish production. The film's budget was between $90,000 and $100,000.<ref>[http://online.tvguide.com/movies/database/showmovie.asp?MI=26867 TV Guide Movie Database]</ref><ref name="interview" />

Aldrich later said that the film "... first embedded what I wanted to say in films. It was mainly about two men with good and bad points. Both men believed in individual liberty but the belief of one man was weaker than the other because he had no respect for humanity."<ref>{{cite book |last=Aldrich |first=Robert |title=Robert Aldrich : interviews |date=2004 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |page=12}}</ref>

==Reception== In a contemporary review for ''The New York Times'', critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "Set it down as an item booked not beneath its class. Nothing gives it distinction, save possibly the people in its cast. ... Robert Aldrich produced and directed. He was trying. Some day he may learn how."<ref name="nytreview">{{cite news |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |date=1954-06-05 |title=The Screen |work=The New York Times |page=11}}</ref>

Reviewer Wanda Hale of the ''New York Daily News'' called the film "a tight thriller" and wrote: "'World for Ransom' sustains suspense and the cast ... all give the star first rate support."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hale |first=Wanda |date=1954-06-05 |title='World for Ransom' at Palace Theatre |work=New York Daily News |page=18}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb title|id=0047681|title=World for Ransom}} * {{TCMDb title|id=96268|title=World for Ransom}} *[https://free-classic-movies.com/movies-05/05-1954-01-27-World-for-Ransom/index.php Complete film] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190823161411/https://free-classic-movies.com/movies-05/05-1954-01-27-World-for-Ransom/index.php |date=2019-08-23 }} at Free Movies {{Robert Aldrich}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:World For Ransom}} Category:1954 films Category:1954 drama films Category:Allied Artists films Category:American black-and-white films Category:American drama films Category:Cold War films Category:American detective films Category:1954 English-language films Category:Film noir Category:Films scored by Frank De Vol Category:Films directed by Robert Aldrich Category:Films set in Singapore Category:1954 American films Category:English-language drama films