House of Secrets [Triple Deception] ** (1956, Michael Craig, Brenda De Banzie, Barbara Bates, Gérard Oury, Julia Arnall) – Classic Movie Review 12,300

The lively, well-crafted 1956 British crime thriller film House of Secrets stars Michael Craig, who was the Rank Organisation’s bright new star when he appeared in this yarn about warring gangs of smugglers and counterfeiters.

Director Guy Green’s lively, well-crafted 1956 British crime thriller film House of Secrets [Triple Deception] stars Michael Craig, who was the Rank Organisation’s bright new star when he appeared in this yarn about warring gangs of smugglers and counterfeiters.

Michael Craig landed this star role after Sir Dirk Bogarde turned it down. The film was released in the UK on 23 October 1956 when John Davis, the managing director of Rank, announced that Michael Craig was one of the actors under contract that he thought would become an international star. Craig did become a star but not on the level of Bogarde.

The screenplay by Robert Buckner and Bryan Forbes is based on the novel Storm Over Paris by Sterling Noel.

Michael Craig plays Larry Ellis, sent undercover to infiltrate an international crime organisation plotting to distribute huge amounts of forged UK bank notes to damage the British economy.

The star performances are lightweight and thin, but cinematographer Harry Waxman’s widescreen Technicolor photography and the Paris and Marseille location shooting give some zing to the familiar situations, and there is no shortage of stout-hearted reliables in support, like Geoffrey Keen, David Kossoff, Anton Diffring and Eric Pohlmann.

House of Secrets also stars Brenda De Banzie, Barbara Bates, Gérard Oury, and Julia Arnall.

It was filmed by cinematographer Harry Waxman in Technicolor and VistaVision in Pinewood Studios near London but it was also shot on location in France, in Paris and Marseille. The sets are designed by art director Alex Vetchinsky and  the costumes are designed by Julie Harris.

The Rank Organisation were less than generous and paid Michael Craig only £30 a week. Perhaps because of that, he recalled the film as ‘a sort of forerunner to the James Bond-type of movie which, in spite of all our best efforts, ended up being fairly boring.’

The cast are Michael Craig as Larry Ellis / Steve Chancellor, Anton Diffring as Anton Lauderbach, Gérard Oury as Julius Pindar, Brenda De Banzie as Madame Isabella Ballu, Geoffrey Keen as Colonel Burleigh, CIA, David Kossoff as Henryk van de Heide of the CIA, Barbara Bates as Judy Anderson, Alan Tilvern as Brandelli, Julia Arnall as Diane Gilbert, Gordon Tanner as Curtice, Eugene Deckers as Vidal, Eric Pohlmann as Gratz, Jean Driant as Gratz’s assistant, Carl Jaffe as Walter Dorffman, and Patrick Westwood.

The British actor and screenwriter Michael Francis Gregson, aka Michael Craig, was born on 27 January 1929 in Poona, British India. His career goes right back to an uncredited role in Passport to Pimlico (1949). His younger brother was the film producer Richard Gregson, who was married to Natalie Wood, making Craig an uncle of the actress Natasha Gregson Wagner.

He is celebrated for Campbell’s Kingdom (1957), Sea of Sand (1958), The Silent Enemy (1958), Sapphire (1959), Doctor in Love (1960), Cone of Silence (1960), Mysterious Island (1961), The Iron Maiden (1962), Modesty Blaise (1966), Turkey Shoot (1982), Ride a Wild Pony (1975) and Appointment with Death (1988).

Julia Arnall (21 November 1928 – 8 November 2018) was a German-born British-based actress. She was born Julia Ilse Hendrike Irmgard von Stein Liebenstein zu Bachfeld, in Munich. She started as a model before becoming an actress with the Rank Organisation.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,300

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