Movie review - "The High Commissioner" (1968) **

Jon Cleary had a marvellously successful career as a novelist but some lousy luck in the movies, this most of all. His book had all the makings of a top thriller, and a great role for Rod Taylor - a Sydney detective sent to London to arrest the Australian High Commissioner for murder. But Rod was going through his boozy egotistical phase at the time and interfered in unhelpful ways. It was also badly adapted, and directed by Ralph Thomas when he wasn't keen.

Actually no one seems to have been terribly keen to have made this film - Cleary turned down the chance to write the script, Rod Taylor only agreed to do it if he could fiddle with the script, it's cast with two models too many (both are stunning, mind), Chris Plummer seems to be slumming. The only person to give a decent performance is Lili Palmer, who seems to really try. Franchot Tone makes his final movie appearance in a useless scene (he's a dying American ambassador who talks with Plummber about the leaks) which could have been cut out.

It's a shame because the story is strong - there's comedy with the snobby butler, intrigue with the American mystery man Jamaica, several plots (murder from long ago, assassination, leaked secrets), some solid action sequences, a believable climax involving an exploding clock. If they'd just stuck to the book they would have been okay.

But the script makes some key errors, like having Rod Taylor sleep with Daliah Lavi, which doesn't make any sense and isn't true to the character in the books or as established here; removing scenes where the High Commissioner and Scobie bond; there's far too much stupid "I'm a dumb Aussie in England" humour ("beats the old shearing shed", "where's that beer you promised me"); Rod Taylor's accent is dumb; all the other key Australians are played by very obviously non Australians (Camilla Sparv, Lili Palmer, Chris Plummer).

Occasionally this isn't too bad - like in the scene where Rod has to tell Chris Plummer he's going to be arrested, or when Calvin Lockhart is killed. And people who don't know what Australians sound like mightn't care. It's just such a damned shame.