Circle of Danger *** (1951, Ray Milland, Patricia Roc, Marius Goring, Naunton Wayne, Hugh Sinclair) – Classic Movie Review 8,271

Jacques Tourneur’s suspenseful 1951 mystery thriller film Circle of Danger stars Ray Milland as a tough American who comes to Britain to investigate his army commando brother’s suspicious death.

Director Jacques Tourneur’s suspenseful 1951 mystery thriller film Circle of Danger stars Ray Milland as tough American Clay Douglas, who travels to Britain to investigate his army commando brother’s suspicious death during an operation in occupied France in the Second World War.

[Spoiler alert] He tracks down the surviving members (Marius Goring, Hugh Sinclair, Naunton Wayne, Edward Rigby) of the raid and finds out that the brother was killed by his CO, Hamish McArran (Hugh Sinclair), who offers no explanation of the deed when he confronts him.

Based on the novel by Philip MacDonald, an intriguing yarn is neatly acted and carefully scripted, but the Coronado Productions (England) movie is held back by the modest production values and surprisingly plain direction from the normally stylish Tourneur. However, Milland is excellent, and Goring, Sinclair, Wayne and Rigby all impress in showy support. Oswald Morris’s noirish black and white cinematography on Cornish locations as well as in the studio at the London Film Studios, Isleworth, is outstanding.

The restless film also includes the coast of Tampa, Florida, Wales, the Scottish Highlands, Birmingham, Dartmoor, Devon, and London’s Covent Garden.

It is also good that it has a Alfred Hitchcock-style vibe, with humour undercutting the tension, no doubt partly as a result of being co-produced by Hitchcock’s long-time associate Joan Harrison. Naunton Wayne, who plays Reggie Sinclair, is best known as Caldicott, in Hitchcock’s 1938 The Lady Vanishes. Milland went on to star in Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder (1954).

Also in the cast are Marius Goring, Naunton Wayne, Marjorie Fielding, Edward Rigby (in his last film), Colin Gordon, Dora Bryan, John Bailey, Michael Brennan, Reginald Beckwith, David Hutcheson, Philip Dale, Archie Duncan, Norah Gordon, George Margo, Ben Williams, and Peter Butterworth.

Circle of Danger is directed by Jacques Tourneur, runs 88 minutes, is made by Coronado Productions (England), is released by RKO Radio Pictures (1951) (UK) and Eagle-Lion Classics (1951) (US), is written by Philip MacDonald, is shot in black and white by Oswald Morris, is produced by David E Rose, John R Sloan and Joan Harrison, and is scored by Robert Farnon.

Release date: 21 May 1951.

The cast are Ray Milland as Clay Douglas, Patricia Roc as Elspeth Graham, Marius Goring as Sholto Lewis, Hugh Sinclair as Hamish McArran, Naunton Wayne as Reggie Sinclair, Edward Rigby as Idwal Llewellyn, Marjorie Fielding as Margaret McArran, John Bailey as Pape Llewellyn, Colin Gordon as Colonel Fairbairn, Dora Bryan as Bubbles Fitzgerald, Reginald Beckwith as Oliver, David Hutcheson as Tony Wrexham, Michael Brennan as Bert Oakshott, Peter Butterworth as Ernie the diver, Philip Dale, Archie Duncan, Norah Gordon, George Margo and Ben Williams.

© Derek Winnert 2019 – Classic Movie Review 8,271

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com