Beyond the Curtain

Able journeyman director Compton Bennett reveals some considerable cinematic flair by nimbly orchestrating a goodly number of pulse-poundingly exciting scenes in his intense, competently made, consistently gripping 1960s thriller 'Beyond The Curtain'. Fortuitously working from an effectively lean, unfussy text by Bennett, Charles B. Blair and John Cresswell the pacey, frequently dark thriller finds beautiful, latterly emancipated East German-born Karin (Eva Bartok) in a fraught, emotionally complex dilemma, being recaptured by the conspicuously ominous East German police, as due to turbulence her flight was forced to fatefully cross Russian airspace.

Working for an American airline offers poor Karin no immunity, so her handsome fiancé pilot Richard Greene, desperate to be reunited with his beloved bride-to-be must heroically contrive a daring, increasingly dangerous plot to get her back into his loving, tweed-covered arms! Ostensibly a 'get the good German out of the zealous totalitarian clutches of the DDR' potboiler, but is entertainingly performed with exceptional brio by a wonderful cast, with a deliciously duplicitous turn by mean Marius Goring as the traitorous, deeply conflicted Doctor Hans. It must also be strongly noted that plainly talented D.o.P Eric Cross seems most adept at composing crepuscular, doom-laden night shots. 'Beyond The Curtain' comes very highly recommended as some splendidly rousing cold war-era entertainment!

Hammer Films fans might like to know that the delightful Andree 'Brides of Dracula' Melly is no less scintillating as the courageous anti-communist Linda.