Beyond Soho (AKA Tank Malling, Double Cross, Double Intrigue)

Dir: James Marcus

1989

**

Originally called Tank Malling, then released as Double Cross in the USA, Double Intrigue in Canada and then re-edited and renamed Beyond Soho for British audiences, James Marcus's film received high acclaim from critics in 1989 but disappeared into obscurity soon after. Most non-British TV watchers of the late 80s/early 90s won't know him but James Marcus was one of the main cast members of a brilliant Sunday night drama series called London's Burning and this was his first and last outing as a director. It's an impressive debut but not a fantastic film. The story is pretty good and the performances are great when they're good and bad when they're not but the main characters are strong and it is no surprise that it launched the careers of quite a few actors. Although Ray Winstone had been in a couple of modern classics by this point, he still hadn't become a huge star. Beyond Soho was his first real opportunity to show what he could do and he leapt at the chance. Jason Connery's performance is wildly over the top, it's not a great performance but it somehow works with his character. Beyond Soho takes itself far too seriously and is rather camp in all the wrong places but this adds a certain disjointed charm. Many of the cast are director Marcus's mates and colleagues working on London's Burning, so as a big fan of the series, this feels like something of a summer project for that group of actors - entertaining but not something I found able to take very seriously. That said, Glen Murphy, one of London's Burning's most popular characters, plays the film's villain with absolute vigour. He seems to be in low-budget British Gangster hell at the moment but you can see why, he masters the character brilliantly way before it became really popular. The acting is hammy throughout and the script is often shockingly bad but the plot has some brutal surprises that make up for many of them. Its low budget, so you have to give everyone involved credit, I can't give the film more than two stars but there is a lot to admire, like and even love about it.