Mike Callahan
Created by Vincent Banville

In World for Ransom, a rough-and-tough little B flick from 1954, MIKE CALLAHAN is an Irish war vet working as a P.I. in Singapore who goes to work for an ex-lover who thinks her husband's up to something shady.

sure enough, good ol' Mike soon finds enough murder, espionage, lust, nuclear secrets, betrayal and black market shenanigans to fill out the eighty-two minutes of this solid little programmer, directed by Robert Aldrich.

But what makes this film a real curiosity is that it was made by the same people that were producing the China Smith syndicated TV show, and starred many of the same actors, including Dan Duryea himself. Oh, the character names were changed, but the characters themselves, the sets, the setting and everything else was essentially the same. The big difference?

Robert Aldrich.

FILM

• WORLD FOR RANSOM...Watch it now
  (1954, Plaza Productions)
  Screenplay by Lindsay Hardy (Hugo Butler uncredited)
  Directed by Robert Aldrich
  Produced by Robert Aldrich and Bernard Tabakin
  Starring Dan Duryea as MIKE CALLAHAN
  Also starring Gene Lockhart, Patric Knowles, Marian Carr, Reginald Denny, Nigel Bruce, Keye Luke

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.