ZERO HOUR

Linda Darnell and Dana Andrews in the cockpit

ZERO HOUR (1957). Director: Hall Bartlett. Colorized version.  

Ted Stryker (Dana Andrews) hasn't had an easy time of it since leaving the service, feeling that he made a major mistake on a mission that left his men dead. Now his wife, Ellen (Linda Darnell), wants to take off with their little boy, but Ted manages to get on their plane before it departs. Suddenly people begin succumbing to food poisoning -- something in the fish -- including the pilot and co-pilot, both of whom collapse. Dr. Baird (Geoffrey Toone of The Terror of the Tongs) warns that everyone, including the Stryker's son, could die if they don't get to a hospital soon, but they have to go to another airport hours away because of fog. Meanwhile Ted, with instructions from an old, not terribly friendly colleague Capt. Treleaven (Sterling Hayden) on the ground, tries to fly and land the plane despite his not having flown in ten years, and never having flown an airliner! What could go wrong? 

Sterling Hayden takes charge!

Arthur Hailey of Airport fame was one of the co-writers of this tense if minor melodrama that is also a borderline disaster flick. Andrews is terrific as Ted, who has to confront his demons at the worst possible time, and he gets fine support from Darnell, Toone, Peggy King [Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy] as a stewardess, Jerry Paris [The Glass Wall] as her boyfriend, and especially Hayden as the take-charge and direct Treleaven, barking orders at Ted and everyone else with great authority. It's just that Zero Hour is not as good nor as thrilling as other airplane disaster flicks. Just the year before Doris Day, of all people, had to land an airliner following instructions on the radio in Julie. One distinct plot problem with the picture is that everyone succumbs to food poisoning much too quickly, and the doctor couldn't possible know they were, supposedly, going to die without doing tests. 

Verdict: Whatever you do, don't eat the fish! **3/4. 

THE TERROR OF THE TONGS

THE TERROR OF THE TONGS (1961). Director: Anthony Bushell.

"Why is it these occidentals indulge in their vices the same way they run their lives, with noise and vulgarity?" 

Chung King (Christopher Lee) is the imperious leader of the Red Dragon Tong, which -- like a mafia -- controls and terrifies the citizens of Hong Kong near the turn of the century. Anyone who dares to speak out against or betray them winds up horribly murdered. The members of the Tong go too far, however, when they slay the daughter of a British captain named Jackson Sale (Geoffrey Toone). Aided by some who are secretly working against the tong, including the lovely former slave girl, Lee (Yvonne Monlaur) and a certain beggar (Marne Maitland), Sale decides that the tong's reign of terror must come to an end. Dr. Fu Choa (Charles Lloyd Pack) tries to give Sale a lethal injection, and Chung King arranges for his enforcer to use thin needles to painfully scrape Sale's bones down to the very marrow in one very interesting torture sequence. Lee -- who would later play Fu Manchu in a number of movies -- gives an excellent performance, and the rest of the cast is at the very least enthusiastic and watchable; Maitland is especially notable. The film is well-directed, extremely well-edited, well-photographed by Arthur Grant [The Abominable Snowman], and has an exciting score by James Bernard [Dracula Prince of Darkness].

Verdict: Done with the usual Hammer studios aplomb. ***.