High Treason

Ther actor Basil Gill was famous in his time for his fine voice. He was an accomplished stage actor before starting work in the early cinema. There were numerous press reviews of his performances that commented on his voice, and those that accompanied the release of this film, the talking version, in 1928, were no exception. "Basil Gill as President Stephen Deane has far and away the best recording voice we have heard, a lesson to everyone in clearness and beautiful quality." What a shame that the sound is no longer audible. However, his voice can still be heard in such films as "Knight without Armour", "Rembrandt", "St Martin's Lane" and "Wings of the Morning".

HIGH TREASON was originally issued in both sound and silent versions, but for many years, only the silent version was known to survive. A few years ago, a copy of the abbreviated sound version, issued by Tiffany in the US was discovered and restored. However, it is still difficult to see, and so this review is based on the silent version.

The year is 1950 -- a popular year for science-fiction films in the 1920s -- and tensions are rising between the Federated States of Europe and the Atlantic States. A car carrying liquor breaks through a border guard and is shot down; the Atlantic States send an ultimatum to Europe, whose President, Basil Gill, wants war; although he is not implicated, arms manufacturers are shown bribing people. Only the World League of Peace, led by Humberstone Wright, and his daughter, Benita Hume, stand in the way of war. Miss Hume's boy friend is Jameson Thomas, an officer of Europe, ready to carry out his orders. Thus the conflict is not only a matter of the world and politics and money, but of love.

Visually, the movie is an Art Deco feast, pitched halfway between METROPOLIS and THINGS TO COME (Raymond Massey, who starred in the latter, has a small but prominent role and can be clearly seen at about the 30-minute mark). Clothes follows the sleek design, with a lot of shiny fabric and hats midway between cloches and skullcaps. Neither does Elvey neglect the technological touches, with autogyros and biplanes flying about London, television broadcasts, sliding doors and the other paraphernalia beloved of screen sf. Percy Strong's camerawork is limber, with many a tracking shot to focus the audience's attention, and a couple of moving crane shots. British film-making may have long been considered a backwater of the industry, but British Gaumont had the resources and will to make this spectacular.

The weaknesses of this movie are twofold. First, it is very talky for a silent picture, with a lot of title cards of dialogue, doubtless reproducing speech in the sound version. Second is the rather clunky utopianism of the plot, reducing the issues of politics and economics in a theoretical world to melodrama, where singing a song can stop a military action, and national leaders can be isolated from their guards. In my rather cynical view, Realpolitik guides the powerful, who are isolated and protected from the consequences of their follies.

Still, that's no way to make popular entertainment now, and was less so in 1929; and while this movies shows flaws that an examination of the sound version might more fully explain, it remains visually quite beautiful, with the lovely 23-year-old Miss Hume a high point.

I have read that BLACKMAIL (directed by Alfred Hitchcock) was the first British talking picture. I was sure surprised when I learned that HIGH TREASON came out several months earlier. In both cases, they made sound and silent versions because most British theaters were not equipped for sound. I found the silent version and would love to see the sound version if I can find it.

The story is a natural outgrowth of WWI, which just ended a decade earlier. Millions of men were needlessly slaughtered in a war which had no 'good guys'...just victims. Because of this, many anti-war films were made in the 1920s and 30s...all hoping to convince everyone that war was avoidable and useless. Too bad they hadn't anticipated the rise of Naziism and, unfortunately, these films actually HELPED the Third Reich to gain control over Europe, as the films were particularly popular in Britain (such as with this film and THINGS TO COME) and France (such as with both versions of J'ACCUSE).

The film is set in 1950. Europe and North America have each formed a separate union--with the Federated States of Europe and the Atlantic States each representing many millions of people. A small border incident* occurs and instead of dealing with it like adults, the leaders begin preparing for war--fomented by evil industrialists who will profit from death. The only thing standing in the way is a large group of peace-lovers who are members of The World League of Peace....with 25,000,000 members who are willing, in some cases, to give their lives to maintain peace and prevent another senseless war. How this war is averted is fascinating....and gives an interesting twist to the notion of passive resistance!

This is a cool film to watch, as their view of the future is amazingly dated--with everyone flying about in dirigibles, auto-gyros and airplanes. The look of all this is pretty silly in some ways (sort of like THE JETSONS) but also is fascinating to see. Overall, a fascinating look at what if....and well worth seeing, particularly if you are a history buff like me.

The year is 1950 and tension is growing between the empires of United Europe and the Atlantic States. A bloody border incident puts both sides on high alert. The Peace League, led by saintly Dr. Seymour, opposes what looks like an inevitable march to war. Seymour's daughter Evelyn supports her father but is in love with Michael Deane, commander of the Air Force for Europe. A group of terrorists with ties to munitions manufacturers wants a war and is playing both great powers off against each other. The terrorists sabotage the railway tunnel that runs beneath the English Channel and the Atlantic States are promptly blamed. The President of Europe orders immediate induction into the armed forces of all young men and women. When Deane tells Evelyn he intends to fight she calls him a moral coward and they break up.

The President calls his council together and finds they are evenly divided between war and peace. The President, a scowling Fascist, breaks the deadlock in favor of war and tells the council he will go on television at midnight to announce this to the world.

Worried about Dr. Seymour's influence, the terrorists bomb Peace League headquarters. Seymour survives and tells Evelyn to go the airfield and try to prevent the war planes from taking off. He tells her that he's going to appeal to the President directly. "I'm a man of peace but I go PREPARED!" he says rather ominously. Evelyn leads a demonstration at the airfield and has to confront Deane. Will Dr. Seymour be able to talk the President out of starting World War...ummm.. Two? And can true love surmount different political philosophies?

HIGH TREASON was conceived and filmed as a talkie but a silent version (the one reviewed here) was also made to accommodate those many theaters still not equipped for sound. BFI has both films but, ironically, the sound on the talkie has deteriorated so the film is now mute. As pacifist propaganda the film is unconvincing and has a resolution that-in addition to being very farfetched-would not likely be approved by Gandhi. While the play the movie is based on was no doubt sincere in its pacifism the movie seems to have less lofty goals. A debate between Deane and Dr. Seymour is inter-cut with Evelyn undressing, taking a shower, drying herself with a big blow dryer and getting dressed again. Later the camera ogles all the female draftees taking off their clothes and putting on uniforms.

And most of the sequences of blasts and bombings seem to end with shots of women victims lying about with their clothes in disarray. Still all this cheesecake does distract a bit from the stodgy direction which makes few adjustments to meeting the challenge of doing a sound film in a silent mode (Demonstrators keep breaking into the "Peace Song"; not too effective when there's no sound!) The only reason there's any interest at all in this curio is the science fiction/ futuristic elements but they're inconsistent, implemented on a obviously modest budget and usually very campy. We see one 1950's car (looks like a rocket ship on wheels) and people communicate by a television system instead of phone. In the unconvincing miniature work we see weird flying machines but in the close-ups all the airplanes are of World War I vintage. An Art Deco nightclub has no musicians but a big machine that simulates the music. The patrons do a very funny dance that involves staying absolutely still at one point and when things get slow the management sends out lady fencers to amuse the crowd. And in what may be a prediction of McDonald's hype the Peace League has a giant electronic scoreboard that totes up all the millions who are joining (Over 50 million not serving?).

Ladies' fashions are a real hoot with detachable sleeves for work and shower caps for evening wear. There are a few odd looking hand grenades but most of the artillery consists of old fashioned hand guns. Basil Gill and Benita Hume are adequate as the lovers (I suspect their performances might work better in the talkie). Humberston Wright is stiff enough be posing for a plaster statue while Basil Gill appears to be doing a bad Mussolini impression as the President. If you look quickly you can spot Raymond Massey-maybe gearing up for THINGS TO COME-as a peacenik and Rene Ray- thirties urchin and fifties sci fi writer-as a draftee who says "War is a terrible thing" when she sees the ugly uniform she was to wear.

The landmark British sci fi film made in 1936 by Korda had many prophecies about a world war which would commence in 1940.This film,made in 1929 was forecasting a war between Europe and the USA based,somewhat oddly on a border incident.Itforecast war in 1950 and mass destruction by bombers.so I wonder if either H.G.Wells or Korda saw this film and were influenced by it.The sets and the costumes are very stylish and also very art deco.In reality in 1950 it would be austerity.This film was made on the cusp of sound.The version I saw was silent so I wonder if a sound version exists.The fact that there are a lot of explanatory sub titles indicates that it was probably filmed as a talkie with silent copies issued to cinemas who had not installed sound equipment.In any event by 1930 the silent film was to all intents and purposes dead.This is therefore a real curiosity.