Time for some sleaze – it is Hammer Time, after all. And have I got some sleaze for you – Man Bait with Diana Dors. Look, here’s the poster!
Okay, that’s all a bit misleading. Man Bait – originally titled The Last Page in the UK – was one of Hammer’s first attempts to get into the US market and used the standard Hammer approach (hire a US actor as the lead) to do so. Here, George Brent is a married bookstore owner who’s blackmailed by Dors after he makes a pass at her, and only his secretary Marguerite Chapman can save him.
Despite the pulp fiction poster, it’s not very salacious at all, and Dors doesn’t get to do as much as you’d think. Originally intended as a way for her to become a star in the US market, her failure to stick by her contract – by divorcing her husband – meant that never happened. Ah well.
All the same, it’s a fun thriller and you don’t get many of those set in book shops. Enjoy!
