Movie review - "Age of Consent" (1969) *** (re-watching)

 Gorgeous to watch. Helen Mirren is perfect. James Mason's Australian accent isn't the best. Varying support work - I quite liked Neva Carr Glynn. The dog is terrific. Beautiful photography and locations.

Mirren looking old means the the dodginess of the plot is minimised.

The Australian films of 1969

 When exactly did the Australian film revival begin? Stork in 1971? Naked Bunyip in 1970? Bazza McKenzie in 1972? In terms of public acceptance, yes.

Then there was the year of 1969. Gorton was in. TV quotas were in effect. There was a rising cultural nationalism, so it seemed. Homicide was a hugely popular show. As was Bellbird. Riptide sold.

So there was the adhoc films of 1969. Consider these

* Adam's Woman

* Age of Consent - Michael Powell returns to Australia after They're a Weird Mob. A good screenwriter, interesting source material, international star, sexy subject matter. 

*Colour Me Dead - one of three Reg Goldsworthy productions, all with B grade international stars.

*The Intruders - big screen version of Skippy. Public didn't go for it.

*It Takes All Kinds - more Reg Goldsworthy.

*Jack and Jill: A Postscript - Philip Adams goes to the movies.

*Little Jungle Boy/Strange Holiday - two Mendes Brown productions.

*Marinetti - an Albie Thoms joint. 

*Ned Kelly - big name director and big music star

*Rise and Fall of Squizzy Taylor

*The Set

*Three to Go (some of it filmed in 1969)

* Two Thousand Weeks - Tim Burstall's famous navel gazing flop.

* You Can't See Round Corners - cheap knock off of the TV series. Actually a good idea because you could condense the story for a film, and colour gave it a reason to do it

Movie review - "Miracle in Soho" (1957) ***

 I'm getting to be a soft marker with these 50s British movies, I think. Few people have anything positive to say about this - Michael Powell is scathing in his memoirs... but then, he and Emeric Pressburger had just broken up.

It's not that well directed. The studio setting is very studio-y. The nationalities of the characters vary wildly, even within the same family. Belinda Lee's family is meant to be Italian but it is kind of a UN.

It's an interesting companion piece with A Kid for Two Farthings which was also about a specific place (in that case the East End) and had a hot blonde (Lee) but was an ensemble piece.

I like Pressburger's writing and this had a feel of community. I enjoyed Lee and John Gregson in the leads. I acknowledge that their love story is dodgy - he's a womaniser, she falls in love like a tonne of bricks, is a doormat. But I went with it in part because Gregson always comes across so affably and sensibly, the womanising irresponsible aspect of his personality seems like an act (I'm aware this is rationalising). I also went with it because Lee's characters's arc has fascinating parallels to Lee's own life... she's with a guy who is fine but a bit dull then falls head over heels for this more passionate person. Lee would do that only a year later.

It's toy town but it's sweet and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Could make an ideal musical.

Book review - "Star of India: The Life and Films of Sabu" by Philip Leibfried

Disappointing look at the career of an actor who deserved better. Sabu was one of those fairytale film stories - a young man from Myesore whose father and mother had died, was a ward of the Maharaja who worked with the elephants, and was discovered by the makers of  Elephant Boy. Sabu became a sensation - it's a great performance - and he was lucky in a sense to be under contract to Alex Korda, who then went and fashioned a series of vehicles for him: The Drum, Thief of Bagdad and Jungle Book.

The last two were made in the US, where Sabu stayed in the war. He signed with Universal and enjoyed continuing popularity with three films starring Jon Hall and Maria Montez; there would have been more (Hall and Montez made three more films, each featuring roles clearly ear marked for Sabu), but Sabu wanted to fight - he enlisted in the services and saw action in the Pacific as a gunner. He spent time in Australia and befriended Bob Dyer.

His post war career started wobbily with Montez in Tangier then he was in a classic, The Black Narcissus. However it was hard going after that - a bunch of minor adventure films.

It must've been depressing for Sabu but he worked hard, did well in real estate and also made extra money performing in circuses. He married and had two kids then died of a heart attack at 39.

This last fact is one of many described in a matter of fact way by the author without going into detail - I mean, surely that's worth some discussion, a person dying so young without notable cause? (Surely his impoverished upbringing?) Other things are mentioned and skipped over - a lawsuit against Sabu, a paternity suit, the murder of his brother. Instead there's a lot of listing of co stars and directors and some stories of the making of the films, which feel cobbled from various books.

The author has done some interviews and clearly has admiration for Sabu. It's not a terrible book you just wish it was more thorough in certain areas.

Movie review - "The Queen's Guards" (1961) **

A rare Michael Powell film that film buffs tend to ignore, along with Honeymoon and The Boy Who Turned Yellow - in part because it was so hard to see for a long time. His most financially successful films of the 1950s had been war movies - Ill Met by Moonlight and especially The Battle of the River Plate - so many he felt he had to make this to keep "in" with the public. Only thing is, it's not based on a historical story, or even a novel - it's an original fictional account of a guards regiment. (It's not that original though - it's full of tropes familiar from other war movies such as The Four Feathers.)

The movie has all sorts of problems. Daniel Massey lacks star power in the Dirk Bogarde-esque role as a young soldier who flashes back throughout the film. It is kind of cool to see him act opposite his real life father Raymond Massey, who plays his father on screen, and Massey senior hams it up in a decent C Aubrey Smith impersonation (the scenes where he drunkenly craps on about how great his dead son was is very reminiscent of Four Feathers).

Secondly, the film lacks historical context. It's set in 1960 - the opening credits make that very clear - but nothing else is. Massey goes off to fight in a battle that takes place in a fictitious Arabic country against some browned up English actors pretending to be Arabs. It reminded me of those make up conflicts that they used to shove into old 30s melodramas set in the British raj like The Last Outpost or Another Dawn. But its 1960 now - there's no love triangle - audiences deserve a bit more reality. I don't know why they just didn't make it Oman or Malaya.

Thirdly it's just dull. The conflict between Massey and his overbearing hammy father is alright but overdone. The secret of his brother is not that intriguing. There's an undeveloped romance. And the action scenes at the end are boring.

The best thing about it are some of the visuals - the red of the guards uniforms and the trooping of the colour. But if any movie showed how much Powell relied on Emeric Pressburger, it was this one.

Movie review - "Peeping Tom" (1960) **** (warning: spoilers) (second viewing)

Out of all the movies Michael Powell made without Emeric Pressberger (admittedly there weren't too many of these) this is easily the most highly regarded and remains one of his best known; however it was enormously controversial on release, doing great damage to Powell's career (although the uninspiring response to Honeymoon and The Queen's Guards wouldn't have helped either).

It remains unsettling even now, taking us into the mind of one of cinema's most cuddly serial killers. Carl Boehm is a poor little photographer and camerman whose daddy was mean to him and who seems lonely and needs a cuddle and has a sweet G rated romance with the girl next door Anna Massey. He also likes to attach a knife to his camera and kill women while filming the act.

It's actually a great idea for an exploitation horror flick - giving plenty of opportunities for murder and a choice lead role, plus an exploration of the role of the spectator in horror movies, subjectivity vs objectivity, etc.  Many films are supposed to be ahead of their time - this one definitely is (the screenwriter was Leo Marks).

I can't think of a film or TV series except maybe Dexter and Psycho which went to such pains to make a killer sympathetic: he seems to be a sweet guy, who is capable of controlling his murderous impulses (he doesn't kill Massey or Massey's blind mother), who was abused by his father, he ultimately kills himself as punishment. But yet he still kills a saucy, likeable nude model (Pamela Green, who has some funny lines) and a nice seeming standing (Moira Shearer, who does a silly 60s-ish dance). This is why the movie remains so confronting.

Powell adds some recogniseable auteur touches: imaginative use of colour and camerawork, intense performances, wry comic moments; Powell appears in film footage as Boehm's father; there are also some amusing film in-jokes (eg a penny pinching film executive who seems based on Sir John Davis, a dopey starlet played by a fresh faced and pretty Shirley Ann Field, who is effective).

This isn't perfect by any means - around the two thirds mark the pace seemed to slow, I could have done without the Jewish shrink, and some of the costumes/slang etc appear dated. But it remains fresh and thought provoking in many ways and is worth seeking out.

Movie review - "The Edge of the World" (1937) ***1/2

Michael Powell had made a number of movies before this (many of which are now considered lost) but this was first "real movie". It remains a remarkable piece of work, with stunning location work on the Scottish islands. This is memorable not only for its visuals - crashing waves, craggy cliffs (that look like gnarled old faces), wind swept rocks, grizzled old faces of the locals (e.g. the old granny) - but the depiction of life on the island - dependence on fishing, Church sermons, what people wear, their "parliament", the formality of a funeral, the competitions of running up to the top of the cliffs, deciding to abandon their beloved dogs because they cost too much.

The central story is based on a good dramatic situation - one son (Eric Berry) wants to leave the island, his sister's (Ruth Manson's) boyfriend (Nial Macginiss) doesn't, they have a race, the departing son dies in an accident, the boyfriend has to leave, the girl is pregnant, the boyfriend takes ages to find out about it because he's been kicked off the island.

Eric Berry seems far too modern to play one of the islanders and Manson is blah but Macginiss is excellent, all sensitive torment, and John Laurie is superb as Berry's father, wedded to the old ways - but willing to accept his out-of-wedlock daughter having a baby. Powell is in it too - at the beginning as a tourist who visits the island. It's a bit creaky here and there the music sometimes is over the top but it has genuine magic about it.

Movie review - "They're a Weird Mob" (1966) ***1/2

Charming fish out of water comedy which will mean a lot to Australians and maybe Italians but probably not a lot to anyone else. Walter Chiari is very winning as the Italian migrant who moves to Australia to work for a magazine but finds it's been wound up so he has to go to work as a labourer. He wants to get married and when an Italian girl he's got his eye on turns up engaged he goes for hoity-toity Clare Dunne.

It's fascinating for the look at Australians: pushy, loud, very fond of a beer (keen to shout but quick to take offence if you don't join in), basically friendly, nosy (they listen in on his phone conversation but help translate), willing to forget the war (Slim de Grey was a POW of the Germans after Greece and picked up some Italian), lifeguards who can be snappy, up for a boisterous wrestle after work, quick to defend their mate against thoughtless racism of a brickie. The most racist intolerant person in the film is a drunk on the ferry who people laugh at. Chiari isn't Mr PC himself - he tells off Claire Dunne for being too manly and never having arrived late for a business appointment because she had to go to a beauty appointment (which she then does).

It's also great for the glimpses of Sydney at the time: the loud newspaper sellers, packed male-only pubs, smoko, St George football jerseys, boozing hard after work, Bondi Beach, the red brick houses, night time parties by the harbour, boozy BBQs, dishing trips. There's an appearance by a Chinese man and a reference to aboriginal people - Chiari points at an old aboriginal painting where he wants to build his house. Sydney rarely looked more gorgeous. It's basically a tolerant society, if male dominated, where you can make friends easily and quickly save up money to buy a house overlooking the harbour, where men are most comfortable drinking beer rather than scones but they pay due reference to women.

Some odd visual flourishes such as a long digging montage, including shot of Chiari through de Grey's legs and cut to a hammer and sickle lying down (what was this there for? I think for Powell to show everyone he was still Michael Powell); a second digging montage; a long scene of Chiari sitting around without a top as it rains; a rescue by life savers at the beach where we hear the breathing. Indeed, there's not a lot of story here - it would have been a better movie with more conflict (I kept expecting Chiari's cousin to turn up or Chips Rafferty to be nastier but it never happened).

The big subplot is a rom com between Chiari and leggy, beautiful Claire Dunne - even if she isn't as hot as the Italian chick he meets on the ferry. This is charming. Very good cast - Chiari is ideal with his puppy dog eyes (people keep referring to the fact he's bigger than a typical Italian); there's a very likeable group of friends in Ed Devereaux, Slim de Grey and John Meillion; Chips Rafferty an imposing potential father in law (his part should have been bigger); Jeanne Dynan is sweet as a young Aussie bride.

Documentary review - "The Making of 'They're a Weird Mob'" (1966) ***

Invaluable making of doco about one of the rare local film successes during the 1960s, produced and directed by none other than David Hill and presented by Ed Devereaux. Some fascinating stuff (for fans of Michael Powell and/or Aussie cinema, anyway): Powell arriving in Australia and some behind the scenes stuff involving talking with John McCallum and Lee Robinson; Devereaux commenting on Powell's prickly temper and us seeing him give Devereaux a bit of a serve; an oh-so-young-looking John Meillion making Powell laugh with his good nature; test shoots with Jeanie Drynan; footage with Clare Dunne in the surf; description of Walter Chiari which keeps emphasising his sport achievements (Hill knows how to make him palatable to Aussies at the time); Chips Rafferty talking about his hopes for the Aussie film industry; a party at the end with Rafferty reciting poetry, and everyone on the dance floor, including various hot women, John O'Grady, Devereaux and Powell.

Movie review - "Age of Consent" (1969) ***

Michael Powell's final full length feature film as director isn't one of his highly regarded, and even those associated with it complained often about compromises forced upon it (James Mason in an Australian accent, the opening music), but it has charm, and after an uncertain beginning, gets into it's groove.

I can see the appeal of this work for James Mason - you get to play a famous, handsome successful artist, who decides to return home (an island paradise), and be fawned over by several groupies, have sex with some and be "re-invigorated" by an underage muse (none other than Helen Mirren). It's less typical of Michael Powell's work, although it did give him a chance to play with colour, ruminate on art and work with Mason.

It's quite a racy film - easily Powell's most explicitly sexy one. Mason is in bed with a topless Clarissa Kaye (who he later married) and when they have sex Powell cuts to the bed shaking and squeaking; Mirren is forever running around without a bra and is often naked - twice at Mason's request (once swimming, the other posing in the water with a spear).

This doesn't have the best reputation and is certainly full of flaws - the music on the copy I saw was atrocious, there's some over acting from the elder character actors, it took a while to get used to Mason's accent. But it has life and warmth and I enjoyed it. It doesn't have a strong story - Mason lives on an island, gets Mirren to pose, an old mate turns up and pinches some money off him, Mirren's drunken aunt falls off a cliff, Mason finishes his pictures, gets his money back, then he and Mirren get together. The last bit doesn't feel too convincing - neither express that much interest in each other during the movie, Mirren seems mostly attracted to his out of town glamour (and fear of being left) and Mason to her body and availability.

But you know something? I didn't mind, especially as it went along. It reminded me of a TV show like Sea Change - handsome leads, pretty views, lots of wacky locals and a comic dog. The locations are beautiful - Australia looks so gorgeous in it's late 60s films, with that sparse city and super blue ocean and deserted beaches. Mason and Mirren are charismatic, there's a support cast including a young Harold Hopkins plus views of Brisbane, and it's all easy going, laid-back and Queensland-ish.

Movie review - "The Elusive Pimpernel" (1950) ***1/2

I was always surprised to read about what a disaster this movie was - it seemed to have an incredible amount of ingredients: David Niven, Powell and Pressburger, Korda and Goldwyn, the Scarlet Pimpernel, colour, location shooting, terrific support cast. 

And while it's no masterpiece, it's actually pretty fun. The story is strong as ever, it looks amazing (a feast for the eyes), it has a playful good nature that is infectious. I don't necessarily think it would have worked as a musical (as originally envisioned) but it's a great shame Americans didn't get to see the film for so long, and that it's been out of circulation for so long.

David Niven isn't as believable playing a fop as Leslie Howard was, but he tries, and he's superb as "straight", brave Pimpernel - smart, tough, wryly humorous, skillful at disguise, etc. Margaret Leighton felt a little old and cold for the part of his wife (I always think this role needs to be played by someone very passionate) but she is a good actor and is more of an "equal" to Niven. 

 

Very strong support cast including Cyril Cusack (scary and different as an all-white-makeup Chevalier), Jack Hawkins (not quite well cast as George IV but I got used to him), always-reliable Robert Coote, a very old John Longden and a very young Patrick Macnee.

There are bizarre scenes like the one in the steam bath where Niven recites the famous poem - leaping about in a loin cloth with jump cuts, Hawkins dancing (these two are where it felt like a musical), Cusack sneezing and seeing fireworks. It's got that touch of magic for which Powell and Pressburger were known and the film should be more widely distributed.

Movie review - "Ill Met By Moonlight" (1957) **

Dull World War Two tale about the capture of a German general on Crete - an interesting enough real life story but here done without any atmosphere, or view of Cretian life, or exploration of the characters involved. It all seems like a jolly jape, very easy to do - they don't know Morse Code but someone turns up who does, a native boy seems as though he's going to turn traitor but doesn't. 

Marius Goring is another in Powell and Pressburger's long line of sympathetic Germans, Bogarde is like a head prefect, David Oxlade has a powerful voice. It isn't even in colour and was shot in France not Crete but has some okay music.

Movie review – “Gone to Earth” (1950) ***

Auteursits love this because it was cut about by David O Selznick (see! It wasn’t Powell’s fault it flopped! It was the mean nasty producer!). But it’s a bit of a mess. 

 

Maybe I’d like it more if I was more enamored of Jennifer Jones, who is very much centre stage and her attractiveness and appeal is what is meant to drive the story. But it's a silly story - Jones is an Earth girl, in touch with the environment (they should have made this in the 60s) lusted after an evil squire (David Farrar) and loved by a nice reverend (Cyril Cusack). There's nothing more to it than that.

I guess it's like The Red Shoes in that a woman is torn between two guys, one dark and dangerous the other nice and bland, but Jennifer Jones doesn't have a job she's into like ballet dancing. 

 

It looks stunning, has that touch of magic which all the best Powell-Pressburger films had, features some awkward acting. Maybe I'd love it more if say Moira Shearer was in the lead - or Pamela Brown or Deborah Kerr; for me Jones just didn't make the grade.

Movie review – “Tales of Hoffmann” (1951) ****

I can understand why this wasn’t a hit like The Red Shoes: it’s an opera, so there’s no dialogue; nor does it have the one story – it’s in three parts (four, really, if you include the prologue). And the connecting story of a composer who gets drunk and misses and liaison with Moira Shearer (bewilderingly since she is at her most beautiful) isn't much. But it’s a gorgeous film that’s breathtaking to look at and truly magical. I don't think I've seen better colour and the imagery is wonderful. Certainly not for everyone's taste but this should be much better known than it is.

Movie review – “Oh… Rosalinda” (1955) **

All Powell and Pressburger films have their fans but I found this hard going. They weren’t filmmakers known for their skill with comedy, and a light touch escapes this tale of love and deception in post war Vienna. (It badly suffers from lack of location footage) The magic of that city escapes this film as do jokes, charm and fun. Which is a shame since it’s meant to be charming and fun.

The cast are irritating, especially Mel Ferrer. (You wouldn't automatically think of Michael Redgrave and Anthony Quayle as musical stars either. They try and they're okay but how about someone who can sing or be attractive?) It doesn't help that I'm not a big fan of the opera Die Fledermaus on which this is based (I'm declaring my bias because fans of it may find more to enjoy). The plot is silly - who really cares if Michael Redgrave finds out that his wife is a bit of a scamp? And tales of mistresses never seem to work in British films. Maybe it would have been better that this been shot in Italian or something. I did like Anton Wolbrook's speech at the end where the Viennese ask the occupiers to go (but even that, a few minutes later I was thinking, 'well they wouldn't have had to be there if you hadn't hooked up with the Nazis'.)

Movie review – “The Red Shoes” (1948) ****1/2

A classic, with moments that will take your breath away, particularly the spectacular ballet. There’s sublime acting from Anton Walbrook and Moira Shearer and the other dancers like Robert Helpmann. Shearer is sexy as hell asnd very likeable- she should have had a bigger career in films, but that was her choice. Marius Goring’s acting is fine but he’s just not good looking enough. And his character is a possessive prat - he doesn't mind if she dances for anyone just as long as it's not Walbrook.

The film struggled to regain it's momentum after the Red Shoes ballet - the plot becomes about Shearer's romance with Goring, she's way too hot for him, and her longing to do back to Walbrook feels a little rushed. But it's still a compulsive, wonderful passionate film.

Movie review – “Peeping Tom” (1960) ***1/2

I understand why academics like this movie as the central idea (photographer kills people with his camera as he’s filming them) offers so much scope for analysis – we the viewer are part of the crime, what is voyeurism, etc, etc (it makes a great double bill with Rear Window and/or Vertigo). Michael Powell produced and directed but despite the arrow hitting the target at te beginning there’s no Emeric Pressburger. Leo Mark’s script is still pretty good. I don’t love this film like others do but it’s a good solid psycho thriller, very much ahead of it’s time (it’s really a film that should have been made in the 90s/noughties).

Carl Boehm speaks with a Germanic accent – and he’s another of Powell’s sympathetic Germans. This one isn’t a Nazi but it’s rare we get such a humanised serial killer – it was all dad’s fault for being mean, and he struggles to not girl the girl he’s in love with. To counterbalance this, some of his victims are humanised – Moira Shearer’s stand in seems really nice and her death is a real tragedy.

 

Boehm is effective, Anna Massey over-acts (or maybe I just find her annoying), as does the shrink. Frank depiction of sex at the time, memorable climax. I felt it got a little slow around the middle and I didn’t buy Massey being so into Boehm.

Movie review – “Black Narcissus” (1947) *****

Stunningly beautiful atmospheric tale of nuns in the Himalayas. Like the best Powell/ Pressburger this has a touch of a magic about it – and the touch is often a dark one. Mostly people have sex/love on the brain – Deborah Kerr thinks back to when she was a girl in love in Ireland, David Farrar walks around in shorts and not much else as the nuns check him out and seems to have eyes for Kerr, crazy Kathleen Byron lusts after Farrar, sexy native girl Jean Simmons turns up just gagging for it and prince Sabu wants to give it to her.

Sex, nuns, religion, God, colonialism, a cliff top nunnery (spectacularly scary), native superstition, donkeys… it’s a heady mixture, like no other film. Superlative acting – why didn’t David Farrar become as big a British star as James Mason, they had a similar brooding quality? (He was much better than Dennis Price, who was Gainsborough’s back up James Mason).

One thing – I remember first seeing this the sight of Kathleen Byron in a dress (after viewing her only in nun’s habit) was one of the great shocks of cinema. It had less impact on second viewing, maybe because I was used to it – or I saw a version which had Deborah Kerr in mufti (in flashback). She’s still pretty terrifying – especially at the end when she looks all wasted.

Movie review – “A Matter of Life and Death” (1946) ****1/2

Powell and Pressburger always started their films wonderfully (eg even the flat One of Our Aircraft is Missing had haunting opening images of the plane flying through the mountains). They never had a more stunning opening that this – with David Niven flying a plane with his crew all dead, knowing he’s going to die, talking to Kim Hunter. It follows this up with some incredible visuals: the boy playing flute on the beach, Niven and Hunter among the blossoms, the stairway to Heaven, Roger Livesey perving on the entire village., the final trial.

It looks so amazing that it takes a while to notice that the story is a bit silly – Niven is meant to have died but slips through the cracks and attempts to argue he should stay on earth. That’s not so bad but the main argument he should die is because he’s British – as argued by American Revolutionary Raymond Massey – so you know the arguments aren’t going to be strong.

Niven is superb - is this is best performance? It feels so close to what I imagine the real Niven to be like - intelligent, charming, brave, a little insecure and sad. There's an aura of melancholy about his performance. Kim Hunter is another in a long line of sensible, pretty Powell heroines (although this one isn't a red head). Livesey's character is interesting - what sort of doctor perves on a whole town? And he really goes the extra mile for Niven and Hunter (giving up his life for her) - is he in love with Hunter?

A remarkable, audacious and romantic film, if a bit dim in places. Oh, and it's one of the rare war films around the time that gives attention (if only in passing) to the Indian and Gurkha soldiers who fought for Britain, and Chinese and African Americans.

Movie review – “The Battle of the River Plate” (1956) ***

After a string of films that under-performed at the box office, Powell and Pressburger finally had a big hit with an old fashioned war movie. It’s not a favourite with their big fans (although Powell devotes pages upon pages to it in his second volume of memoirs), but I enjoyed it.

There are occasional flashes of the old style – the opening sequence where captured British sailors enter the Graf Spee and there are these massive hangers. And the sympathetic treatment of the Germans is very Archers: when Bernard Lee is brought on board complaining about being captured in Portugese waters, Peter Finch advises him to fill out a complaint form and offers him a drink; the British prisoners are visited by singing Germans at Christmas; the Germans seem really glad that their prisoners are being released; Lee seems to have a man crush on Peter Finch. They really lay it on with a trowel.

There are three distinct acts – capture of British sailors, the battle, diplomatic intrigue. It’s not a hero's journey film at all – heroes come and go. Peter Finch isn’t in it that much – neither is Anthony Quayle or John Gregson.

It looks terrific – white uniforms, blue skies and oceans; there was co operation from the British navy which serves to provide tremendous production value It also feels real – the way the battle is fought, the diplomatic intrigues, etc.

Maybe I’m making it sound better than it is – the British characters are very bland, rather like the airmen in One of Our Aircraft is Missing. The battle scene was curiously unexciting - lots of stiff upper lips and being cool under pressure. It character of the German captain was under-developed. Still, it's not a traditional John Mills 50s war film, and is worth checking out.

NB The cast also includes Christopher Lee as a Uruguay cafe owner, Anthony Newley and John Schlesinger (apparently) as sailors.