Challenge, The (1960)

After her first stardom in America, Jayne Mansfield made two films in England in 1959 – the better-known Too Hot to Handle and this film-noir crime story (released in the US as It Takes A Thief) where she acts against type as Billy Lacross, a tough dark-haired schemer.

Billy plans a heist, enlists a group of men, and announces, “I’m the boss!” She’s also the driver and throws a big Jag around the rain-soaked streets of London like a pro rally driver.

Jim Maxton (Anthony Quayle) – a widowed lorry driver set up as the patsy – takes the fall and spends five years in prison while Billy leads her gang on a headline-making crime spree.

Unfortunately, Jim is the only one who knows where the loot from the bullion robbery is stashed, and the story picks up after his release from jail.

The cops (Dermot Walsh and Edward Judd) tail and harass him while the gang – who want the money – beat his mother (Barbara Mullen) and kidnap his six-year-old son, Joey (Peter Pike).

Billy, now a blonde, runs a nightclub but lets her ruthless new man Kristy (Carl Möhner) call the shots.

There’s a conventional yet eventful “it’s turned out nice again” climax, but it’s energetically handled, and all loose ends are firmly tied at the finish.

The cinematography by Gordon Dines is wonderful, and there is lots of fine location shooting in London. It’s all enhanced by an atmospheric jazzy music score from Bill McGuffie. British singer Joan Small provided Jayne Mansfield’s singing voice.

Billy Lacross
Jayne Mansfield
Jim Maxton
Anthony Quayle
Kristy
Carl Möhner
Buddy
Peter Reynolds
Spider
John Bennett
Ma Piper
Barbara Mullen
Joey Maxton
Peter Pike
Bob Crowther
Robert Brown
Detective Sergeant Willis
Dermot Walsh
Detective Sergeant Gittens
Edward Judd
Rick
John Stratton
Max
Patrick Holt (as Patrick Parsons)
Mrs Rick
Lorraine Clewes
Shop Steward
Percy Herbert
Striptease Artiste
Liane Marelli
Nightclub Pianist
Bill McGuffie
Dr Westerly
Lloyd Lamble

Director
John Gilling