Mbakkel2 This spy film has all the ingredients that I require: A likable male lead (Joel McCrea), a gorgeous female lead (Diana Decker) and a great supporting cast, including Marius Goring, Herbert Lom and Roland Culver. It has suspense, humour and a good script.The end of the film takes place at Madame Tussaud's wax cabinet. Hitchcock used several famous landmarks in his thrillers, but I am uncertain if he could turn the script into a so entertaining film like director Robert Parrish did.Although this film is shot in black and white and contains neither bikini-clad women nor funny gadgets, I think this film is better than most James Bond films.

LeonLouisRicci Espionage Thriller that really takes awhile to take off, as the slow moving startup is meant to propel Joel McCrea into a Spy Ring and Set Up a Situation that may remind the Viewer of Hitchcock.But this is rather awkward at first and never attains much Mystery or Suspense until things leave the Countryside. Herbert Lom's Performance borders on Broad Comedy and holds things back somewhat. There is enough here to be an Entertaining Piece of Cold War Propaganda, but never really kicks into High Gear until the Final Act. Up to that point things are really Talky and Stodgy, but it does manage to display some Atmospheric Tension during the Chase through a Wax Museum and in the Bowels of a Cityscape.

MARIO GAUCI Like CIRCLE OF DANGER (1951; see my review elsewhere), this is a British thriller with a lightweight American lead, in this case Joel McCrea; also like that earlier Jacques Tourneur film, this has a decidedly Hitchcockian flavor to it (down to a Bernard Herrmann-esque score, though he would only team up with The Master three years later!) and is, in effect, a livelier example of its kind. Interestingly, both Ray Milland (star of DANGER) and McCrea would work for Hitchcock on DIAL 'M' FOR MURDER (1954) and FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940) respectively. The film under review is based on a Geoffrey Household novel and, like Fritz Lang's similarly-sourced MAN HUNT (1941), it centers around a hunting aficionado whose favorite pastime lands him in hot water; the screen adaptation was itself penned by celebrated crime novelist Eric Ambler.Abetting McCrea in his struggle are understanding wife Evelyn Keyes (she had already portrayed her definitive noir role in 1951 courtesy of Joseph Losey's THE PROWLER), Polish military 'mental case' Herbert Lom (unusually a good guy despite his obvious ambivalence) and sympathetic British Intelligence man Roland Culver. Their antagonists, then, are first-rate marksman Marius Goring (from the afore-mentioned CIRCLE OF DANGER but in a less showy role), sinister chauffeur Karel Stepanek and mysterious Austrian female Patricia Laffan (equally enigmatic off-screen, since the promise she showed in the definitive 1951 version of QUO VADIS was never delivered upon!); curiously enough, her alcoholic and uncommitted (to the cause) husband here – played by Frank Lawton (from 1935's David COPPERFIELD) – basically disappears halfway through the proceedings! The exciting action takes us from McCrea's shooting grounds (doubling as a night-time airfield for the villains' purposes) through an impersonation game to a perilous train journey to a notable climax at London's world-renowned "Madame Tussaud's" wax museum. Here, Goring startlingly blows himself up to safeguard the all-important documents that a typically meek defecting scientist had brought over with him from the other side. For the record, this was released in the U.S. as SHOOT FIRST, which is the name attached to the TCM-sourced copy I watched. One final thing: former actor and Oscar-winning editor Robert Parrish had graduated to the director's chair shortly before this, in 1951 – with two more noirs which I should be watching presently, namely CRY DANGER and THE MOB.

Benoit Vanhees US Col. Robert Tanie lives with his wife in a cottage in rural England. While hunting on hares, he stumbles on someone he suspects being a poacher or a smuggler. Hoping to scare off the trespasser, he takes a shot at him, and sees the man fall down. Having used non lethal munition, he's very surprised to discover the man's actually dead. What he doesn't know is that the actual killer is a sniper, belonging to a spy ring. Later, he meets Sandorski, a Polish officer (you could describe him as something between Tarfu –see Sabotage agent- and Hercules Poirot). This Sandorski is working together with some British cloak and dagger people, that are keeping a close eye on some suspicious characters, who are also roaming around on the hunting grounds. Sandorski has discovered the presence of strong lights, that are intended to help a plane land in the darkness on these remote surroundings. It soon turns out some shady characters are expecting a mysterious plane with a passenger that clearly doesn't want to use more common ways to travel to the UK. Tanie and the Polish officer manage to change the position of landing lights, and "kidnap" the passenger. It turns out to be a scientist from the Eastern bloc, who wants to meet a communist spy in London. The novel was by Geoffrey Household, the screenplay by nobody less than Eric Ambler. The action is more important than the psychology of the characters or the dialogs. The movie starts at a somewhat slow pace, but gradually, things are becoming more and more interesting, building up toward a nice climax in Madame Tussaud's. The movie is at times somewhat unnecessarily complex: the presence of a Polish officer with a cavalry sword (!) doesn't add much strength to the storyline. Also, it would have made more sense if Col. Tanie was enjoying retirement with his beautiful wife on the English countryside, so I was surprised to see him use a (US ?) uniform at times, which suggested he was not. And why would spies meet in Madame Tussaud's in stead of in a safe house ?Still, it's certainly a nice little movie: although no A-stuff, certainly a better than average B-movie. Joel McCrea is alright as the not particularly bright Colonel, and Evelyn Keyes is well cast as his helpful but also curious and somewhat impatient wife. I'd rate it 7.5 to 8/10 However, if you want to see a much better UK spy movie from the same period, try to find High Treason.