A government team researching cures for plague find their results put on the Official Secrets list. One of their number is so incensed by this that he lets the maimed and jealous companion of a female colleague draw him into what, technically, could be a treasonable act.
The Risk, Sospechosos, 嫌疑人
Quickie, low budget British thriller from John and Roy Boulting that probably aimed for the same suspense and excitement the directors (and twin brothers) delivered with Seven Days to Noon. But no. This is just too plodding, competent but without much spark really so the "thrills" are pretty minor.
The budget may have been small but it did attract quite the cast just the same, starting with Peter Cushing as the head of a small team of scientists who make a breakthrough that could save millions from epidemics of I forget what diseases. But they're shut down by the government which deems their cure a security risk.
Cast also includes Donald Pleasance, weird as ever, Ian Bannen (becoming a favourite…
A slice of cold war paranoia from the Boulting brothers with a pithy script from Nigel Balchin and a particularly strong cast. Cast your eyes over this parade of beauties: Peter Cushing, Donald Pleasance, Thorley Walters, Ian Bannen, Kenneth Griffith - and punchy supporting work from Sam Kydd, Spike Milligan, Murray Melvin and Raymond Huntley. It's an ensemble piece really but the nominal lead is Tony Britton (fine) and there is effectively only one female in the entire cast - Virginia Maskell. Surely they could have found space for Irene Handl or Joan Hickson?
It deals with a group of scientists working on a cure for the bubonic plague who find the government (boo!) standing in the way of their…
Peter Cushing plays essentially a secondary character as a scientist leading a team of epidemiologists in this Cold War-era drama in which their research, which would save millions of lives, gets shut down as "Official Secrets" by the British government. One of the team, played by Virginia Maskell, lives with an invalid, a double amputee (Ian Bannen), who blames the government for his condition, which he got in the Korean War. As her ex-lover, he also doesn't look kindly on her flirtation with a fellow scientist (Tony Britton), so he sets him up with a mysterious man (Donald Pleasence) who will help him sell the research to a shady organization.
The drama is on the sleepy side, but it has…
Stupendous cast, so why is it so mundane? Still nice to pretend some of my 60s friends stopped by.
A strange, contradictory little film which really feels like it's several different films in one. Part Cold War thriller about scientific secrets and potential leaks, part melodramatic romance, part challenging study of a disabled veteran. The second two aspects are the more successful, perhaps, although it's the former that this seems to have been marketed as.
Slow to develop and to set up a thriller aspect which really only informs the final 20 minutes, but it's compelling and interesting throughout. Cushing gets to act quite against type (certainly for 1960) as the slightly stuffy head scientist, and the cast is filled with minor British stars of b-movies and second features. It's the great Ian Bannen, though, who walks away with…
What I'll remember most about this film is the small role of cleaner with a monkey nemesis given to Spike Milligan. It seems being a comedy legend didn't cut it with the British film industry in 1960. There's not much else to remember about this. Peter Cushing, Thorley Walters and Donald Pleasance tried their best but couldn't breathe much life into a dull script not helped by some dodgy acting elsewhere.
Why don't you keep a dog if it's a pet you want?!
Having just seen Ian Banning as a smarmy macrobiotic ladies man in "Identikit" last night, I was thrilled to see him show up in tonight's movie as the maimed, twisted and misanthropic Alan Andrews. His Iago-like villain has been maimed by friendly fire, and he's cared for by his ex-fiancee Lucy, who he knows has no more passion for him, but stays out of sympathy. From these indignities wells up the demonic urge to sow chaos, and he seizes the opportunity to ensnare Lucy's new beau Bob in a scheme to leak government secrets.
Supporting cast is a powerhouse for a low-budget wartime noir b pic. Cushing is cast perfectly as the avuncular senior scientist, and a young Donal Pleasance shows up, sneering his way through as one of the baddies.
Peter Cushing was in the middle of his great run with Hammer Films, as he took a break from gothic horror for some political thrillers for Charter Film Productions and British Lion Films with this adaptation of the 1949 novel A Sort of Traitors by Nigel Balchin in SUSPECT (aka THE RISK, 1960). 'It really was one of the quickest pictures I appeared in," Cushing remarked of its brief shooting schedule. "But, it stands to this day as a lesson that such budgets and tight shooting schedules can sometimes work." Cushing plays Professor Sewell, and he and his team might have discovered the cure for the bubonic plague. When government officials come to congratulate them, Sewell fears his publication of…
Man, barely any reviews for this. Produced by Charter Film Productions, a film company set up in 1937 by the Boulting brothers. One brother, Roy, would serve in the Army Film Unit under whatever umbrella of government or military you'd like to place it. He'd produce the propaganda documentary DESERT VICTORY out of this, itself produced by the Ministry of Information. Suspect was distributed by British Lion Films, a studio with history dating back to 1919. Wikipedia says they had produced fifty-five films by the end of WWII, including IN WHICH WE SERVE. More here:
"In Which We Serve received the full backing of the Ministry of Information, which offered advice on what would make good propaganda and facilitated the…
From Severin's "Cushing Curiosities" set is this generally uneventful scientific espionage thriller with Cushing leading a team of scientists who have created a plague antidote only to have the UK government intervene and classify it under "Official Secrets" before they can publish, all under the guise of national security. One of the scientists (top-billed Tony Britton) gets duped by the embittered, disabled boyfriend (Ian Bannen) of a colleague (Virginia Maskell) and ends up in a plot to sell the information to a clearly sketchy third-party (Donald Pleasence). Directed by the Boulting Brothers (John and Roy), SUSPECT is worth seeing for Cushing, Bannen, Pleasence, and the cast of familiar British character actors (you also get Spike Milligan as a comic relief…
Incredible! Did not know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t this slab of dark intrigue peppered with Spike Milligan and a monkey!
I know of them and their importance in the story of British Film, but I can’t say I’ve seen much work of the Boulting Brothers. If this is an example of their usual standard of work, they’re suddenly very much on my radar.
It’s also another film ticked off my Ian Wilson watch list. Anyone who listens to the House Of Hammer podcast knows of my affection for this diminutive and memorable bit part actor.
A solid little espionage flick that would be a whole heap better without the twinge of melodrama. Cushing is superb, Tony Britton is basically Bichard Rurton, Donald Pleasence is suitably sinister, and I wish they'd given Virginia Maskell more to do.
Throw in Spike Milligan and a chimpanzee, and you've got yourself a passable way to spend eighty minutes.