This film is mainly just a lot of conversation about a secret formula which the audience finds out later apparently called sterility in women, particularly over in Africa. Kenneth Haigh spends most of the time either conversing with his wife or two young female hitchhikers he picks up, and finally having a confrontation with Harry Andrews where the big secret is revealed. There's some suspense in the opening scene where a man in a bowler hat enters a city park, passes by a homeless woman on a bench, sneers at her and walks on. Later it is revealed that he has been found dead, and there is debate over whether it was suicide or murder.

The only memorable moment for me was the scene with the hitchhikers in the car marveling over the fact that he had a car phone, and the one girl using it to call her mother who finds the idea of the invention absurd. While the setup indicates that there is going to be some intrigued, there are only little tidbits of it here and there, and Haigh (who is apparently the successor to the dead man's post at the company where this formula was created) debates the value of this creation on society. It's a very boring film outside of the conversation with the young girls and Haigh (which frankly goes on a bit too long and serves no plot purpose), and all I could think of as the film ended with a doll resolution was what did I just waste my time on?

Joe Lampton (played by Kenneth Haigh) is a ruthless, high flying businessman from humble working class beginnings in the north of England. He is promoted to managing director of a pharmaceutical company owned by Lord Ackerman (played by Harry Andrews). Lampton subsequently discovers that his predecessor committed suicide because a drug developed by the firm had catastrophic side effects on people who took it. Lampton believes he is being set up and tries to get to the bottom of it...

When Hammer's traditional gothic horror films started to perform badly at the box office in the early 70's, they turned to making big screen spin offs of popular British sitcoms, notably On The Buses which became the most popular film at this country's box office in 1971. Here they turned their attention to a successful ITV drama based on the exploits of John Braine's character who was memorably portrayed by Lawrence Harvey in the classic 1959 movie Room At The Top. Despite performing disappointingly at the box office upon its release, this is one of Hammer's better late efforts outside of the horror genre with Haigh (here reprising his role from the TV series) portraying Lampton in a realistic and down to earth way. He is utterly ruthless and stops at nothing to get what he wants, but his upbringing in a tough, northern working class community has clearly given him a lot of street cred and he is "nobody's fool". The plot intrigues and holds one's attention throughout and we are never quite sure how it will turn out. Will Lampton find that he is in too deep and up against people who are a lot more powerful than he is to be able to come out on top in the end? There are suspenseful sequences like when Lampton attends a hunting party of Lord Ackerman's and, in a bid to scare him off, he, rather than the fox, becomes the hunted. In addition, there are moments of humour such as Lampton's encounter with two young hitchhikers whom he gives a lift to as he drives to his boss's country pad. Good supporting performances too from Nanette Newman and Harry Andrews while Mike Vardy's direction is excellent.

I presume that this is a spin off from the tv series,made by Hammer,when they were diversifying from horror.A silly plot is continually interrupted by Joe having his way with the nearest woman.The only member of the cast not to participate is Newman,who has an obvious body double. I much preferred Laurence Harvey in the role.