Dead on Course

When charismatic Nick Talbot (second billed Robert Beatty) disappears after flying into a storm after his partner Richard Van Ness (gravel-voiced Zachary Scott) has ordered the plane to be grounded, it seems not unlikely that (a) he's up to no good and (b) that we'll see him again before the movie's over. Made on a shoestring at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith but supposedly mainly set in Guernsey, this is quite a clever thriller with lively dialogue, though Richard's liability to black out when flying is too irrelevant. For nostalgic film buffs it's good to see naughty lady Kay Kendall a year before her breakthrough performance in 'Genevieve', Diane Cilento (at one time Mrs Sean Connery) as Nick's fiancée and camp Harold Lang as a blackmailer, but Naomi Chance is a boring heroine. I'd lost track of the malarkey before the end, but the finale has action and excitement.

Taking advantage of arrangements favoured by the UK's Eady levy (a state film subsidy established after the war) in 1950, American producer Robert Lippert formed a business alliance with Hammer studios. Under the agreement, Lippert would provide American acting talent - frequently shop-worn stars or just supporting actors who fancied a profitable trip out of the country - while Hammer would supply the rest of the cast and the production facilities. Together they would split the profits. Famous for his concern with the bottom line, Lippert produced over 140 films between 1946 and 1955, characteristically genre pieces such as I Shot Jesse James or Rocketship XM. For the British deal, most of the films were noir-ish thrillers - and include WINGS OF DANGER.

Zachary Scott does a professional enough job as a pilot who faces disaster through suffering unpredictable blackouts. To add to his woes, when his girlfriend's brother appears lost in a cargo plane accident, he falls into a police investigation over blackmail, counterfeiting and smuggling. Robert Beatty and Kay Kendall support in a solid tale never less than watchable, even if not ultimately memorable. Light tramlines from the source print are evident at some points - unusual for a set with generally good picture quality. Kendall seems out of place as a minor femme fatale, too nice to communicate the double-crossing her character demands. Scott's most important noir roles previously were probably Ulmer's Ruthless and Mildred Pierce; here the actor is not helped by fairly anonymous art direction and by a story never really bringing out his internal conflicts.

Another early Hammer studio film watched for context on the "House of Hammer" podcast. "Wings of Danger" was actually on a classic movies channel in the UK, so I didn't have to use YouTube this time. Unfortunately, it didn't help much with a film that I struggled to follow.

Richard Van Ness (Zachary Scott) loses his friend Nick Talbot (Robert Beatty) to a plane crash, when Talbot insisted on leaving and ignoring a weather warning. Confused as to why Talbot was so keen to leave, Van Ness begins to investigate his friend and discovers his part in smuggling organisation. With the customs officers involved, Van Ness tries to investigate the company he works for and convince them that he's not involved.

So, as I said above, I struggled with this film. Previously I may have struggled because of an issue with the audio recording, or film stock but here both those are decent. The performances are OK too, though I didn't ever feel I got a handle on the actual personality of the lead character Van Ness and that did mean I never really understood the motivations behind the character. For example, Talbot was supposed to be his friend but in their only scene together at the start of the movie, they're very antagonistic towards each other.

But it's the plot that I never actually got to grips with, perhaps on multiple viewings I would do but ultimately, I feel it's a film that suffers with a "show, don't tell" problem. I did get the basics of the plot; I don't put spoilers in my reviews, but I understand the twist and the reasons for it. I understood that the gay coded heavy, Snell, played by Harold Lang was not the brains of the operation but I honestly couldn't tell you how any of the other characters fit into it, or what the smuggling/counter fitting scam actually was.

If it was more interesting, I might be inspired to give it a few more watches to nail down that plot, but it isn't, so I'm not.

Zachary Scott comes over from across the pond to star in this British noir film about a pilot investigating the crash of another pilot whom he supervised that he let go up in a storm over the English Channel. As it turned out Scott was between a rock and a hard place, he has to let Robert Beatty fly because Beatty knows that Scott suffers from occasional blackouts and the Board of Trade wouldn't like that if they heard about it.

Why does Beatty go up. The more Scott digs on his own he uncovers, blackmail, counterfeiting, and smuggling. And a few more surprises before this film ends.

Although Hammer Films before it started doing horror films and became known for same, they turned out some decent low budget noir films that the British call quota quickies. This isn't one of them it drags in many spots and such talented folk as those already mentioned are wasted. Even Kay Kendall who plays the gangster's moll in this and well doesn't spark this film at all.

I think most will be bored with this one.

The first Hammer noir I saw was the excellent Hell is a City; and it's a good job too because if the first one I saw was one of the ones I saw after Hell is a City, I probably wouldn't have bothered watching any more! Wings of Danger is directed by Hammer veteran Terence Fisher, who also directed the disappointing Hammer noir The Stranger Came Home. This one is actually slightly better, but there's not a lot in it. Wings of Danger focuses on cargo plane pilot Richard Van Ness. He tries to stop another pilot from flying due to the weather, but is blackmailed into allowing it. The plane crashes and this leads the police to begin questioning Richard about his own affairs. The film is very short at only seventy minutes, and I do have to say that's a good thing because any longer and I've have gotten really tired of it. The plot is always at least fairly interesting and the film does manage to present a handful of interesting characters. The dialogue can be a little suspect at times, but that's not such a bad thing as it's often unintentionally comedic. The film holds the audience's interest for the duration and boils down to an interesting and satisfying conclusion. Overall, I really wouldn't recommend this film, though I wouldn't say it's awful either.