The First Offence (1936) review - A goofy, dusty little car thief drama

If you have seventy minutes to spare and a soft spot for dusty 1930s British crime quickies, The First Offence is absolutely worth a watch. Melodrama fans will eat up the earnestness, but anyone expecting a sleek, fast-paced thriller will probably get bored after ten minutes. 🚗

It is one of those films that feels like it was rescued from a damp basement. The print I watched had some weird audio hum, but honestly, that just added to the charm.

A very young John Mills plays Johnny, a kid who gets mixed up with a gang of slick car thieves in Paris. He looks so incredibly innocent that you wonder how he ever got past the gang's front door.

The whole plot kicks off because he wants to impress a girl, played by Lilli Palmer. She has these incredibly expressive eyes that the camera just lingers on for way too long during her first scene.

"I didn't mean to steal it, I just wanted to drive fast."

That line made me laugh out loud because of how Johnny delivers it with zero self-awareness. It's like he thinks stealing a luxury car is just a minor driving infraction.

The car chase scenes are the real highlight here, even if they look hilariously slow by today's standards. You can clearly see the actors sitting in a stationary car while a very shaky projection of a French street plays behind them.

At one point, Johnny spins the steering wheel like he is trying to wrestle a bear, but the background street is completely straight. It is a beautiful, goofy little mistake that I loved. 🐻

The Gang Vibe

The gang members are great, especially Bernard Nedell as the boss. He wears his hat tilted at such an extreme angle I kept waiting for it to fall off his head.

Unlike some heavier crime dramas of the era, like In for Life, this one keeps things relatively light. It never quite decides if it wants to be a gritty warning to youth or a romantic comedy with gear shifts.

There is a scene in a smoky cafe where an accordion player just stands in the background doing nothing for three minutes. I kept watching him instead of the main characters because he looked so intensely bored.

The movie gets noticeably better once the romance takes a backseat to the actual car thievery. The heist sequence in the rain has some genuinely nice shadows, even if the editing is a bit choppy.

I do wish Lilli Palmer had more to do than just look worried in a trench coat. She has way more screen presence than the script knows what to do with.

By the time the third act rolls around, the movie suddenly remembers it needs a moral lesson. The transition from "cool car thieves" to "crime does not pay" happens so fast it might give you whiplash.

Is it a masterpiece? No, not even close.

But it has a weird, clunky energy that makes it hard to dislike. If you like finding obscure old films that time forgot, give this one a spin. 🎞️