WINGS OF DANGER / HAPPY ACTUAL 35OOTH POST

Zachary Scott and  Naomi Chance

WINGS OF DANGER (aka Dead on Course/1952). Director: Terence Fisher.

Pilot Richard Van Ness (Zachary Scott of The Unfaithful) has a secret: he gets black outs that come on without warning. For this reason he has delayed in marrying Avril (Naomi Chance of The Gambler and the Lady) but keeps on flying. Avril's brother, Nick (Robert Beatty) flies off one afternoon and is presumed dead after his plane crashes into the drink. Richard discovers that Nick may or may not have been involved with a gang who cleverly smuggle gold that has been disguised as tools. Nick has a girlfriend, Alexia (Kay Kendall), who may also be involved with the dangerous smugglers, and there is more than one murder. Zachary Scott was one of a number of American leading men who went to England to make "B" movies where their names still had marquee value. Scott deserves better than this TV-type "thriller" that is rather dull despite Terence Fisher's very brisk and efficient direction. The performances by all the named actors are fine, and there is good work from the supporting cast as well, but despite a positive conclusion relating to Richard's condition and his relationship with Avril, the movie is strictly ho hum. This was another of Lippert's Hammer studio "film noir" non-classics. Diane Cilento [Stop Me Before I Kill!] has a small role as a woman who gets involved with Nick. Malcolm Arnold's music helps a bit.

Verdict: You can't say it's awful but it just doesn't excite despite the occasional car chase and crash. **.

NOTE: A while ago I erroneously reported that Great Old Movies had reached its 3500th post. Well, I was never good at math! This is the real 3500th post for GREAT OLD MOVIES (wish it had been about a better picture)! 

I THANK A FOOL

Susan Hayward hurls angry accusations

I THANK A FOOL (1962). Director: Robert Stevens.

"It belongs to the genre in which the plot never stops thickening and significant entrances are made through French windows." -- London Times review.

Dr. Christine Allison (Susan Hayward) is put on trial for the alleged mercy killing of her dying lover and is prosecuted by Stephen Dane (Peter Finch). Christine is convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to two years in jail, then is contacted by a mysterious employer who wishes to hire her services. The employer turns out to be Stephen Dane  -- of course, as Finch is Hayward's co-star --  who wants Christine to look after his emotionally-disturbed wife, Liane (Diane Cilento of The Wicker Man). But Christine senses there are other things wrong in this strange household. Were it not for its upper-class cast, I Thank a Fool would come off like one of those twisty Jimmy Sangster Hammer psycho-thrillers, and frankly, it might have worked better if that's what it had been. The three leads are all excellent, and there's nice work from Kieron Moore [Crack in the World] as the stable keeper, Cyril Cusack as Liane's father, and Athene Seyler as Aunt Heather. The main problem with the movie, which holds the attention without being terribly suspenseful and has some interesting if suspect plot elements, is that it tries to be too clever for its own good. There is -- I think -- a murder finally committed in the final quarter of the film, but the solution to the alleged mystery is completely inexplicable. The sequence (and scenery) when Christine takes Liane on a trip back home to her village in Ireland is quite good. Robert Stevens also directed Finch in In the Cool of the Day.

Verdict: Hayward gives her all but it's not really a worthy project for her -- or Finch. **1/2.

SEAN CONNERY Christopher Bray

SEAN CONNERY A Biography. Christopher Bray. Pegasus; 2011.

Less a biography than a career study -- Bray had virtually no access to either Connery or any close associates -- this book looks at how Connery became a star as 007, came to hate his close association with the role, then reinvented himself as a leading man and character actor as he got older. Connery played Lana Turner's love interest in Another Time, Another Place, the male lead in Hichcock's excellent Marnie, and did a few more Bond movies such as Never Say, Never Again before taking off his wig and playing several characters who were actually older than he was in real life. Bray is critical of Connery's acting in the early years, and doesn't seem to think much of James Bond movies, and there are times when he seems to be playing curmudgeon more than he is honest film critic, but the book is very readable. The book could be dismissed as one man's ruminations on his "man crush," but Bray does provide interesting and often cogent analysis of Connery's movies and performances in everything from Goldfinger to Outland to the awful Zardoz. Bray looks at Connery's unsuccessful first marriage to actress Diane Cilento, but there's almost nothing abut his relationship with his younger brother, Neil, who tried to make it in spy movies like Operation Kid Brother.

Verdict: Not the last word, perhaps, but an entertaining look at a highly intriguing actor and sex symbol. ***.

STOP ME BEFORE I KILL!

STOP ME BEFORE I KILL! (1960). Director: Val Guest.

Race car driver Alan Colby (Ronald Lewis of Scream of Fear) is still recovering from a very serious highway accident and is on vacation with his wife, Denise (Diane Cilento of The Third Secret). Alan loves Denise, but has recurring feelings that he may harm or even kill her due to a neurotic nature he can't control. Denise seeks help from slimy psychiatrist David Prade (Claude Dauphin), whom most people wouldn't buy a used car from or anything else. Can Prade get to the root of Alan's psychological problems before disaster occurs? Stop Me Before I Kill! features a fine lead performance from Lewis, and a notable supporting performance from Francoise Rosay [September Affair] as David's mother -- the others are not bad, either -- but it's slowww, long, stagy and talky, and would have been better off as a half hour TV episode, although the "twist" in this can be seen coming practically from the first. An honest-to-goodness plot never really develops.

Verdict: A Hammer thriller that bores much more than it thrills. **.

THE THIRD SECRET

Pamela Franklin and Stephen Boyd

THE THIRD SECRET (1964). Director: Charles Crichton.

"Look around the world, doctor. What's so special about madness? What's so special about murder?" 

Alex Stedman (Stephen Boyd of Fantastic Voyage), an American TV personality working in London, refuses to believe that his friend and psychiatrist Leo Whitset (Peter Copley) committed suicide. Whitset had helped Alex get over the death of his young daughter, and the latter feels that suicide would go against everything the man believed in. Stedman's belief that Whitset's death had to be homicide is shared by the latter's daughter, Catherine (Pamela Franklin), who reminds Alex of his own daughter and helps him to bond with her. Alex thinks the killer must be one of Whitset's patients, and he goes to see each of them: neurotic art dealer and artist Alfred (an unrecognizable and excellent Richard Attenborough of 10 Rillington Place); lonely Ann (Diane Cilento), with whom he sleeps; and Sir Frederick (Jack Hawkins), who has a secret buried in his past. The "third secret" -- the real truth -- is unveiled at the climax. Boyd gives an excellent performance in this, as does Pamela Franklin [The Nanny], Cilento [The Wicker Man], and Hawkins [She Played with Fire], but the movie never really catches fire, and the solution seems fairly obvious from the first. Judi Dench has a small role as Attenborough's assistant.

Verdict: Somewhat intriguing, but a little too gloomy and flaccid. **1/2.

THE WICKER MAN

Christopher Lee

THE WICKER MAN (1973). Director: Robin Hardy. Screenplay: Anthony Shaffer.

"You'll simply never understand the nature of sacrifice."

Sergeant Hardy (Edward Woodward) travels to a Scottish village on a remote island in answer to a letter claiming that a woman's young daughter has disappeared. The townspeople, including the woman who allegedly wrote the letter, claim that no one is missing and they never heard of the little girl in question. Seeing the free-spirited natures of the pagan villagers and their unashamed attitudes towards sexuality brings out the prig in the Catholic police officer, who is outraged by the licentiousness and confused by the weird rituals he sees all around him. On the other hand, Hardy is truly concerned with the welfare of the child he is searching for. Which makes his ultimate fate all the more troubling ... The Wicker Man, although conventional enough in its thinking at its core [substituting Paganists for Satanists], is an unusual horror suspense film. At times it plays like a weird musical with the villagers breaking out in song at the drop of a hat -- these sequences don't really work and were wisely cut in some versions -- and a scene with a naked Britt Ekland dancing and singing around her bedroom seems like nothing so much as a rock video [she even sings into the camera like a rock star!]. Ekland is the nubile daughter of the tavern keeper; Ingrid Pitt is a librarian; Diane Cilento is a teacher; and Christopher Lee is Lord Summerisle, leader of the Pagan cult. In general the cast is very good and Edward Woodward gives the performance of a lifetime. The version on the DVD is still not complete, as a documentary on the movie shows clips from scenes that are not included and were supposedly "lost." It's too bad that some fairly serious directorial missteps prevent this from being a true classic, although it certainly has many admirers, and once you get past the foolish moments it's actually quite good, with a chilling wind-up. Remade in 2006 with Nicolas Cage in the Woodward role.

Verdict: You just can't trust those Pagans -- and Edward Woodward's finest hour and a half. ***.