Before 007, There Was Margaret Lockwood in Highly Dangerous (1950)
Margaret Lockwood studies insects for her living,
but is induced by the Home Office to spy on a mythical principality's misuse of
the critters for war purpose. Action gets at times Bondian, Lockwood and
assist Dane Clark sneaking into enemy labs not unlike what 007later detonated
to dispose of "heroin-flavored bananas." Everything that
60's-clicked in Britain
had fascinating origin that sometimes went way back. Maturing
Lockwood, no longer the girl-in-distress ofThe Lady Vanishes, is a determined
secret agent. She's even captured by the opposing side (Communists? It's not
explicit, but certainly implied) and given sodium pentothal in a surprisingly
explicit, and harrowing, highlight. Dane Clark is the American reporter who
tags along --- as if she needs help --- and indeed, he's
mostly ineffective. That secret plant they penetrate, by the way, nicely
anticipates similar facilities Professor Quatermass would search for awful
truths. Highly Dangerous had a US
release via Lippert Films, and played for most part as support to that
company's Lost Continent, a sci-fi with frankly greater B.O. promise. There's
been no DVD release, but for Region Two, which includes Highly Dangerous in a
Margaret Lockwood box set. TCM shows the film occasionally.
Stinky loves this movie. Always thought of it as more Hitchcock than Bond.
It seems Eric Ambler adapted this from one of his early novels where a scientist suffers a konk on the noggin and fancies himself a super-spy. To paraphrase the Rev. Harry Powell, Stinky disremembers the name.
Far be it for Stinky to speak ill of anyone, but Dane Clark is pretty bland. But at least it is not George Raft.
Many years ago saw a 30s British flick titled "Q Planes". The plot is basic spy stuff: a secret weapon is being deployed against military planes. The execution is a harbinger of "The Avengers", with Ralph Richardson as a playful photo-John Steed.
Another comic thriller is "Night Train to Munich", made after "The Lady Vanishes" and bringing back the same two veddy British twits. It doesn't date as well as Hitchcock's film -- it features dumkoff Nazi officers and a "concentration camp" that's jawdroppingly at odds with the (yet unknown) reality. Rex Harrison is another playful agent, rescuing the damsel from Germany.
There was a weird reticence about explicitly Soviet villains, a little like pre-WWII films that served up Dictatorships-That-Weren't-Germany. Recalling a Benny Hill spy parody. Every time his boss delicately referred to "a certain foreign power", Hill would smirk knowingly at the camera and whisper "Russia" as if that were privileged information. A favorite TV and movie default was the totally independent supervillain, hired to do supervillainy or selling secrets "to the highest bidder".
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https://trakt.tv/movies/highly-dangerous-1950
Stinky loves this movie. Always thought of it as more Hitchcock than Bond.
It seems Eric Ambler adapted this from one of his early novels where a scientist suffers a konk on the noggin and fancies himself a super-spy. To paraphrase the Rev. Harry Powell, Stinky disremembers the name.
Far be it for Stinky to speak ill of anyone, but Dane Clark is pretty bland. But at least it is not George Raft.
Many years ago saw a 30s British flick titled "Q Planes". The plot is basic spy stuff: a secret weapon is being deployed against military planes. The execution is a harbinger of "The Avengers", with Ralph Richardson as a playful photo-John Steed.
Another comic thriller is "Night Train to Munich", made after "The Lady Vanishes" and bringing back the same two veddy British twits. It doesn't date as well as Hitchcock's film -- it features dumkoff Nazi officers and a "concentration camp" that's jawdroppingly at odds with the (yet unknown) reality. Rex Harrison is another playful agent, rescuing the damsel from Germany.
There was a weird reticence about explicitly Soviet villains, a little like pre-WWII films that served up Dictatorships-That-Weren't-Germany. Recalling a Benny Hill spy parody. Every time his boss delicately referred to "a certain foreign power", Hill would smirk knowingly at the camera and whisper "Russia" as if that were privileged information. A favorite TV and movie default was the totally independent supervillain, hired to do supervillainy or selling secrets "to the highest bidder".
There's been no DVD release, but for Region Two, which includes Highly Dangerous in a Margaret Lockwood box set.
A multi-region DVD/Blu-Ray/4K player is your friend.
Highly Dangerous is available in Region 1 from VCI.
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