Highly Dangerous
- Margaret Lockwood
- Dane Clark
- Marius Goring
- Naunton Wayne
company
- General Film Distributors (UK)
- Lippert Pictures (US)
- 6 December 1950 (1950-12-06) (London)
- 12 October 1951 (1951-10-12) (US)
Highly Dangerous is a 1950 British spy film starring Margaret Lockwood and Dane Clark. It was directed by Roy Ward Baker, based on a screenplay and novel The Dark Frontier written by Eric Ambler.
It was released in the USA by Lippert Pictures as Time Running Out.
Plot
Frances Gray is as a British entomologist trying to stop a biological attack with the help of an American journalist.[1]
Cast
- Margaret Lockwood as Frances Gray
- Dane Clark as Bill Casey
- Marius Goring as Commandant Anton Razinski
- Naunton Wayne as Mr Hedgerley
- Wilfrid Hyde-White as Mr Luke (as Wilfrid Hyde White)
- Eugene Deckers as Alf
- Olaf Pooley as Detective-Interrogator
- Gladys Henson as Attendant
- Paul Hardtmuth as Priest
- Michael Hordern as Lab Director Owens
- George Benson as Sandwich Stand Customer
- Eric Pohlmann as Joe
- Joan Haythorne as Judy
- Patric Doonan as Customs Man
- Anthony Newley as Operator
- Anton Diffring as Officer At Station Checkpoint (uncredited)
Production
Margaret Lockwood had not made a film in 18 months following Madness of the Heart, and had been focusing on stage work.[2] Earl St John wanted a comeback vehicle and commissioned Eric Ambler to write a film specifically as a vehicle for Lockwood. Ambler had recently specialised in melodramas, but Highly Dangerous was a comedy thriller in the vein of Lockwood's earlier hits, The Lady Vanishes and Night Train to Munich.[3] It was directed by Roy Ward Baker, who had served with Ambler during the war.[4]
"One thing about Eric is that he presents you with a script that is beautifully finished in every detail", said Baker.[5] He added " Eric had invented a language for the people the other side of the curtain which wasn’t Russian or anything else and the poor actors had to learn this stuff. He was playing a game with that."[6]
"I think Margaret Lockwood wanted to play a modern woman", recalled Baker. "It was actually Eric Ambler's first or second book, although the book had a different title and its main character was a man; Eric changed it to a woman to make it more interesting".[7]
The studio wanted a Hollywood leading man to play opposite Lockwood. Wendell Corey was originally sought[8] before the role was given to Dane Clark, who had recently left Warner Bros. "He was just delivering a stock leading man movie performance which was virtually nothing," said Baker. "He wasn’t very efficient. I think he fell in love with London. He also fell deeply in love with Jean Simmons which was unrequited. He was a pillock, I’m afraid. Marius Goring played the Belgravian heavy; he was very heavy, I'm afraid. I couldn't control him at all. It was a satisfactory run of the mill picture."[6]
There was location work done in Trieste. "I found it very difficult to make anything of that location," said Baker. "I was a bit disappointed and to tell the truth I didn't do it very well. The reason I say that is that many years later... I realised I’d been trying to piece it together in a logical way, sticking to the topography of Trieste I’d done myself an injury because the audience doesn't give a damn."[6]
Filming started at Pinewood Studios in June 1950.[9]
Reception
Baker later said that "Highly Dangerous wasn't a very successful picture.... It was a good idea although I don't think I did it very well."[10]
References
- ^ "BRITISH THRILLER". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 19, no. 4. Australia. 27 June 1951. p. 29. Retrieved 1 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Maggie comes back in Highly Dangerous". The Sunday Times. Perth. 7 May 1950. p. 10 Supplement: Sunday Times MAGAZINE. Retrieved 31 October 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Ambler writes a thriller-comedy". Times Pictorial. Dublin, Ireland. 15 April 1950. p. 13.
- ^ STEPHEN WATTS (20 May 1951). "SUCCESS IN THE SHADOW OF FAILURE: Roy Baker Makes Mark as Director at Scene of Faded British Hopes On His Own Quick Return Army Training". New York Times. p. X5.
- ^ McFarlane p 49
- ^ a b c Fowler, Roy (Oct–Nov 1989). "Interview with Roy Ward Baker" (PDF). British Entertainment History Project.
- ^ McFarlane p 50
- ^ "IN THE FILM SPOTLIGHT". The Mirror. Vol. 27, no. 1457. Western Australia. 22 April 1950. p. 16. Retrieved 10 April 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "JUST VERY, VERY, DEAR FRIENDS". The Mirror. Vol. 27, no. 1463. Western Australia. 3 June 1950. p. 15. Retrieved 10 April 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ McFarlane p 49-50
Notes
- McFarlane, Brian, An Autobiography of British Cinema, 1997
External links
- Highly Dangerous at IMDb
- Highly Dangerous at TCMDB
- Highly Dangerous at Britmovie
- Highly Dangerous at AllMovie
- Film4 review
- Review of film at Variety
- v
- t
- e
- The October Man (1947)
- The Weaker Sex (1948)
- Paper Orchid (1949)
- Morning Departure (1950)
- Highly Dangerous (1950)
- I'll Never Forget You (1951)
- Don't Bother to Knock (1952)
- Night Without Sleep (1952)
- Inferno (1953)
- Passage Home (1955)
- Jacqueline (1956)
- Tiger in the Smoke (1956)
- The One That Got Away (1957)
- A Night to Remember (1958)
- The Singer Not the Song (1961)
- Flame in the Streets (1961)
- The Valiant (1962)
- Two Left Feet (1963)
- Quatermass and the Pit (1967)
- The Anniversary (1968)
- The Fiction Makers (1968)
- Moon Zero Two (1969)
- The Spy Killer (1969)
- Foreign Exchange (1970)
- The Vampire Lovers (1970)
- Scars of Dracula (1970)
- Journey to Midnight (1971)
- Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971)
- Asylum (1972)
- The Vault of Horror (1973)
- And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973)
- The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)
- The Monster Club (1981)
- The Masks of Death (1984)