Who payed the critics

What a waste of my time!!!

Such a frustrating disappointment

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This spy film has all the ingredients that I require: A likable male lead (Joel McCrea), a gorgeous female lead (Diana Decker) and a great supporting cast, including Marius Goring, Herbert Lom and Roland Culver. It has suspense, humour and a good script.The end of the film takes place at Madame Tussaud's wax cabinet. Hitchcock used several famous landmarks in his thrillers, but I am uncertain if he could turn the script into a so entertaining film like director Robert Parrish did.Although this film is shot in black and white and contains neither bikini-clad women nor funny gadgets, I think this film is better than most James Bond films.

"SHOOT FIRST" (1953) Joel Macrae - I like Joel Macrae but this one just left me quite bored. The cable guide gives it 3 stars, I'd give it one star.Herbert Lom plays pivotal character, Sandorski.How can such an exciting storyline be treated so shabbily? Even as I was watching it I thought it was as if they purposely toned-down the dynamic impact (typically British under-statement) in order to convey stark distance and a sort of clinical detachment.Macrae plays an American Army officer in England who gets involved with some local Nazi spies. But that sounds way more exciting than the movie actually is.

Espionage Thriller that really takes awhile to take off, as the slow moving startup is meant to propel Joel McCrea into a Spy Ring and Set Up a Situation that may remind the Viewer of Hitchcock.But this is rather awkward at first and never attains much Mystery or Suspense until things leave the Countryside. Herbert Lom's Performance borders on Broad Comedy and holds things back somewhat. There is enough here to be an Entertaining Piece of Cold War Propaganda, but never really kicks into High Gear until the Final Act. Up to that point things are really Talky and Stodgy, but it does manage to display some Atmospheric Tension during the Chase through a Wax Museum and in the Bowels of a Cityscape.

Shoot First has the distinction of being the only non-western that Joel McCrea appeared in from 1946 until the end of his career. It was a bad mistake, worse than that when you consider the source is an Eric Ambler novel which usually translate well to the screen you have to scratch your head and wonder.McCrea plays an army colonel stationed in the United Kingdom with wife Evelyn Keyes and they have a small country place where McCrea does occasional rabbit and grouse shooting. He shoots with a light load of buckshot some foreign speaking gentleman he catches on his land mistakes for a poacher. Later on he returns and finds him dead and hides the body.After that McCrea and Keyes get involved in a web of spies and intrigue as McCrea realizes he's in a jackpot facing a possible murder charge.This is where I have real problems with a film that has Hitchcockian pretensions. This is not Cary Grant an advertising man caught up with spies, this is a professional soldier. No way in the world could you make it believable that McCrea would act like this in his situation. The plot premise is just ridiculous.One thing this British production has going for it is Patricia Laffan one of the sexiest women ever in British cinema. American audiences will know her best for playing Poppaea in Quo Vadis. She plays a foreign wife of a dissolute Englishman Frank Lawton who's involved with foreign agents. She's always a treat as is Herbert Lom as an exiled Polish count whom were never quite sure about.But they are not enough to save this one.