Fantastic!

Excellent but underrated film

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

"Never Let Go" is a British noir from 1960. It was controversial because of the language and violence, which today's viewers won't even notice.John Cummings (Richard Todd) is a salesman for a cosmetics firm who isn't doing well. He is told he pushes too hard; that he's not like the "new" types of salesmen coming in. Obviously nervous and desperate to keep his job, John has the look and aura of a loser, and his employer knows it.Hoping to help his work, Cummings buys a Ford Anglia from Lionel Meadows (Peter Sellers), a crook. Cummings doesn't insure the car and when it's stolen, he's in trouble. His sales kit was in it, he now can't get around, and he'll be paying for it for years with nothing to show for it.Though he's told he needs to let it go, Cummings won't. He launches his own investigation and runs into violence and the seamier side of London.The outstanding thing about this film is the performance of Peter Sellers as a vicious criminal, violent, vile, with no empathy. He is outstanding. It's said that people who excel in comedy can do drama, but the reverse isn't always true, and Sellers proves the point here. He's amazing and doesn't hold back, giving a full-out performance.And he flopped. Why? His fans didn't like the change in image, and neither did the critics. He never did drama again. I am reminded of Tyrone Power's excellent performance in Nightmare Alley that so freaked out Darryl Zanuck that he gave it no publicity and withdrew it from release. In that case, though, the critics liked it, and it finally achieved a cult status. But it goes to show how strong images were back in the day and how uncomfortable people were if you tried to do something else.This is a gritty, depressing movie about a man who needs to get his car back in order to prove to himself and his wife that he's not a loser, and that he refuses to take what fate gives him. The street thugs show him no mercy, the police aren't interested, and his marriage is in jeopardy. Cummings realizes that no matter the price, he must win -- for himself. The finale is fantastic.Richard Todd does a wonderful job in an emotional role and shows a wide range. He was one of the many British actors who came to fame around the same time: Stewart Granger, Richard Burton, Dirk Bogarde, Laurence Harvey, Terrence Stamp, etc. Whether it was poor choices in films or what, as good an actor as he was, he never reached the full film star potential that seemed unlimited after "The Hasty Heart." The photography is top quality noir: offbeat angles, with the use of shadows throughout. The music was that typical '50s music one hears in '50s films, loud and jazzy, the type of thing you always here as someone approaches a cheap club in a sleazy part of town.A good film, tough and no-holds barred in the noir tradition.

I've only ever seen this film once, and only recently found out its title! I won't go over the plot here as this has been well covered by other reviewers. Suffice to say that this low-budget British film punches way above its weight and features some great performances, especially that of Peter Sellers who puts in a particularly riveting turn as the car-napper. Richard Todd's performance as the mild mannered salesman was always going to be eclipsed. One thing that struck me at the time was the number of mentions given to Todd's 'Ford Anglia', the car without which he could not survive. So often was the car mentioned that I am still convinced that Ford must have done a bit of sponsorship here! A great, gritty film from the days when we knew how to make them.

Not for the first time and probably not the last I find myself in the minority; two possibilities present themselves; 1) I'm hard to please, 2)the majority of the posters here are easy to please, go figure. Clearly the aim here was to show that Peter Sellers could do something more substantial than the Goon Show and Adam Faith could do something besides mouth banal lyrics occasionally on key. Sellers idea of 'straight' acting is to say everything through clenched teeth, shout a lot and throw, stamp on and/or break things. As added insurance director Guillerman pits him against Mr. Balsa-Wood Richard Todd to whom he evidently gave the direction 'look wounded and act dogged'. There are, as it happens, a couple of decent actors along for the ride but Elizabeth Sellars, Noel Wilman and Mervyn Johns are largely wasted. Basically we're talking Bicycle Thieves with an English accent and a faux-jazz score used to point out that 'menace' and 'violence' are about to occur. Let it go, you'll thank me in the end.

Saw this movie in the UK in the early 60's. Sellers was a major comedic hero of mine who I first discovered in The Goon Show. What made "Never Let Go" so important was that as far as I can remember this was the only time he played a vicious character. The scene where he is crushing Adam Faith's hands in a drawer stayed with me forever not only because Faith was a major pop star at that time but that it was shocking to see Sellers play this cruel roll. Now some 40+ years later I wish Sellers had pursued this other side of his character in more films as I think he could have become a real 'bastard' London character that have become so popular. Yes I prefer his comedy as it was so important to Britain's comedic release from it's stiff upper lip but he might have become one of the few actors that span both comedy & drama. Imagine Sellers with a touch of Bob Hoskins & Michael Caine (Long Goodbye mixed with Ipcress/Alfie). Definitely worth seeing. As an aside Adam Faith was a huge pop singer who did some acting and later became a very successful business man. Look out for his music.