girvsjoint State Secret is a forgotten classic, made around the same time as the celebrated 'The Third Man', this film is equally, if not more enjoyable! A thriller in the Hitchcockian tradition, with a nice blend of comedy that doesn't detract from the thrills. Devilishly handsome, dashing and suave Douglas Fairbanks Jnr. in what is arguably his best role as the Doctor running for his life in a foreign country, ably supported by a menacing Jack Hawkins, pretty Glynis Johns, and a hilarious Herbert Lom, in one of the best 'cat & mouse' chases ever made! Nice locales, excellent black & white photography all add up to one hell of a ride! An even bigger mystery is why this film has never been given it's just desserts in an official DVD release? Perhaps it didn't have as catchy a theme as 'The Third Man'?

Rueiro This is a good little thriller that I quite enjoyed watching, since it borrows a lot of elements from "The Prisoner of Zenda" and "The 39 Steps", and it also looks like a Hitchcock thriller: Well written, paced and acted.A fictitious authoritarian country somewhere in central/eastern Europe, political intrigues, a double impersonating the head of state, picturesque towns and eccentric locals, an exciting car chase, a man running for his life, daggers at dawn, a charming ruthless villain and a totally unexpected ending. Fine entertainment for a Sunday afternoon. And a fine cast too: Fairbanks Jr as the man in the run, the commanding presence of Jack Hawkins as the master villain and the always excellent Herbert Lom in a small but nevertheless key role.

RogerTheMovieManiac88 'State Secret' opens with a scene that shows Douglas Fairbanks Jr. being held captive in a cabin and closes, in the last reel, with the conclusion of this scene. The story that unwinds in the intervening ninety minutes, between these intriguing book-ends, is a thrilling and fast-moving diversion in the best tradition of classic comedy thrillers.Based upon the absorbing novel 'Appointment With Fear' by Roy Huggins, Fairbanks Jr. plays the famed American surgeon Dr. John Marlowe. Our debonair hero finds himself embroiled up to his neck in the cut-throat workings of Vosnian politics when he accepts an invitation to demonstrate his techniques in the country. He is duped into treating the state's ailing dictator. When his charge suddenly conks out after delicate surgery, escape becomes necessary as the dashing doctor is confronted with the very real prospect of elimination. Striving to elude the tentacles of the oppressive regime, Marlowe has the good fortune to engage the help of a half-English dancer played by the zestful Glynis Johns. Having bribed shady Herbert Lom to help them, they travel towards the border with the police hot on their tails.The touches of Launder and Gilliat are delightfully evident. An effective sense of place is created, thanks to exemplary studio and location work by Robert Krasker, featuring exciting scenes of car chases on hilly, winding roads and treks across imposing mountains. The cloak-and-dagger mood is in some ways reminiscent of 'The Lady Vanishes'. The real sense of intrigue is wonderfully balanced by their twinkling sense of tongue-in-cheek humour. Jack Hawkins and, especially, Herbert Lom go to town with their roles. Lom steals the movie as the shifty and incredibly jittery crook-with-connections Karl Theodor. The scene where Fairbanks Jr. and Johns hide and surprise him in his luxury apartment is a real highlight of the movie. The palpable sense of relief that Theodor feels when he realises that he is only dealing with blackmail, and not the police, is hilarious. Hawkins' Colonel Galcon is a veritable Machiavellian. He is scheming and ruthless but also urbane and quite dispassionate in the discharging of his considerable duties. He is aptly summed-up by Hawkins' departing words to Fairbanks Jr.: 'If you should happen to hear of a vacant chair for political science anywhere, try to get in touch with me'.'State Secret' is a rattling good tale delivered with all-round competence and skill. It is a classic of its genre and it definitely merits an official DVD release.

Igenlode Wordsmith I found the establishing scenes at the beginning of this film to be the weakest point (in particular the inexplicable decision to shoot just a handful of voice-over scenes using a narrator's-eye camera), but from there on it grows from strength to strength, climaxing in a real humdinger of an ending.An astute decision which adds to the tension is to use an opening scene which makes it clear that the protagonist's escape attempt is ultimately foiled, and treat the rest of the picture in flashback from there; we are constantly, almost subliminally aware that disaster awaits in some unknown form just around the bend, which lends a sense of brooding menace to what might otherwise be a lighthearted caper. (It also makes it entirely plausible, for a few moments, that the whole adventure *will* end very badly indeed, thus delivering considerable emotional punch to an ending which does not insult the audience's intelligence.) The romantic interest is subtly -- no saccharine speeches are ever delivered, save in the most literal sense! -- and effectively indicated, and both Douglas Fairbanks Jr and Glynis Johns perform competently as the innocents on the run with a dangerous state secret. But the real show-stealers lie among the supporting cast, in particular Herbert Lom in an outstanding minor role as as Theodor the smuggler, and Jack Hawkins as the urbane Colonel who masterminds our hero's liquidation without personal rancour in an entirely disinterested spirit.As one would expect from a Gilliat/Launder production, the film boasts a sharp script, and the setting in a dictatorial Balkanesque state provides the opportunity for many mordant observations. The picture, however, is less a comedy than an intelligent thriller/chase scenario enlivened with flashes of black humour. Gilliat's original plot concept dates back as far as 1938, but the post-war setting proves equally apt. Production values are generally high (perhaps the greatest proof of that is that an entire mythical 'Vosnian' language was concocted for the use of the film, elements of which can be picked up by the attentive listener!) and the film is an effective piece of entertainment.