The Sleeping Tiger was the first collaboration between Dirk Bogarde and director Joseph Losey, and marked the beginning of one of British cinema’s most important creative unions, later films they made together include King & Country, Accident and The Servant.

On its initial theatrical release, Victor Hanbury, the film’s producer, was credited as director rather than Joseph Losey. Blacklisted at the time after refusing to testify before the 1951 House Committee on Un-American Activities, and in desperate need of work, Losey convinced the producer to take the credit.

A psychiatrist, Clive Esmond (Alexander Knox, Accident, Chase A Crooked Shadow, The Divided Heart) catches young gunman Frank Clemens (Dirk Bogarde,) breaking into his house. Rather than send him to prison, Esmond invites the delinquent to stay at his home as a social guinea pig, believing that he can curb the fugitive’s criminal tendencies. The dubious experiment is threatened, however, when the youth begins an affair with Esmond’s wife (Alexis Smith, The Age of Innocence, Night and Day).

Made a full 9 years before they reunited for the seminal The Servant, The Sleeping Tiger offers an early glimpse at what was to become one of British cinema’s most enduring and fruitful partnerships.