Little known Australian film, remembered if at all because of an early appearance by Peter Finch. It was one of two dramatic features directed by Noel Monkman, who became well known as an underwater photographer, it's actually a lot of fun.
It is set just prior to World War Two and starts with a bunch of Nazis (including Sydney Wheeler and Eric Forty Thousand Horsemen Reiman) sitting around planning world domination rather in the style of old Monogram Picture with Bela Lugosi. (Wheeler actually says “nothing stands in the way of world domination by Nazi Germany” and “I have no conscience but Germany”, Reiman says “The new Germany will never rise except by blood and iron”, etc, etc).
They’ve developed a nasty nerve gas – a Czech scientist (Lou Vernon) and his pretty daughter (Katrin Rosselle), who is actually working on a new fuel, but the gas is a side effect. The scientist doesn’t want to use his invention for evil but he’s threatened with a concentration camp; he destroys his lab and manages to escape with his daughter – but is then recaptured. We meet two members of the secret service who are in a British café – when another man is arrested the two of them flee. They trick a passing German car into stopping and knock them out – to discover the scientist and daughter in the back seat, prisoners. They take the Germans uniforms and drive the prisoners to the airport and manage to escape in a plane. The scientists go to Australia with one of the agents but the Nazis find out about it and decide to track him there.
The scientist starts working for the Australian air force – and Peter Finch comes into the film as a pilot. Eric Reiman arrives in Australia and meets up with Australian fifth columnists who are planning sabotage on planes – Finch’s ends up crashing and he winds up in hospital. By this stage the war has started and there’s a scene where Reiman and the fifth columnist (John Fernside) looks at some Aussie soldiers marching past; Reiman says “we did not expect the enthusiasm of the dominions” for the war, Fernside says he’s been to Australia for a number of years and still doesn’t understand them, adding that “you expect from their interest in sport that nothing else matters but in war the greater the danger the harder they fought”.
Finch and his friend Eric Bush visit the doctor and his daughter in their rural hideaway, where they are looked after by a comic Chinaman; Bush is keen on the daughter. Then the fifth columnists and Reiman are sitting around waiting for their spy to come alone – it’s Peter Finch! Reiman slaps him in the face for slack effort so Finch gives a speech explaining his history.
Finch tells the Germans where to find the scientist and they duly rock up and start torturing to find the formula. The Germans are about to take the scientist and daughter back but Joe Vallie manages to sneak off and inform the authorities. Bush goes over there along with Finch (NB no one knows Finch’s involvement yet). Bush and some of the others rescue Vernon but Finch’s treachery enables the Germans to take off with the formula. Bush hops in a plane and flies after him – there is a dog fight, Bush manages to shoot down Finch and Reiman, and destroy a German U Boat.
It’s glorious over the top fun with some top notch Nazi acting from Wheeler and Reiman and plenty of pace and silly action – last minute escapes, car crashes, comic relief from a wacky Chinaman and Scot (Joe Valli), fifth columnists who press a button in their living room making a painting revolve around to reveal a picture of Hitler. It has faults - silliness of course, but more importantly we dont' know who our main hero is until the film is more than half over and when we do know who it is, Bush isn't very charismatic - but is fun.
Monkman flashes his directorial muscles every now and then: a tracking shot with various Germans talking in a restaurant. And he keeps things at a fast, skilled pace – it was a shame he didn’t do more movies as a director. I know you can say that about a lot of Aussie filmmakers but in his case it’s especially true.
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