Squadron Leader X (1942, Eric Portman, Ann Dvorak) – Classic Movie Review 12,588

Lance Comfort’s 1942 British RKO film Squadron Leader X stars Eric Portman and Ann Dvorak, and is the companion piece to the trio’s 1943 Escape to Danger. Alas, Squadron Leader X is on the BFI’s 75 Most Wanted list of missing British feature films. 

Director Lance Comfort’s 1942 British RKO wartime spy film Squadron Leader X stars Eric Portman and Ann Dvorak, and is the companion piece to the trio’s 1943 follow-up film Escape to Danger. Alas, Squadron Leader X is included on the BFI’s 75 Most Wanted list of missing British feature films.

Erich Kohler (Eric Portman), a fascist hero, pretends to be a British airman from the RAF to help him return to Germany, but inevitably things start to go wrong and he finds himself targeted by M15 and the Gestapo. He contacts British nurse Barbara Lucas (Ann Dvorak), an old flame with Nazi sympathies, but she will not help him.

It was said to have been extremely well-reviewed at the time of release. At the time, Portman was said to have made a good job of his role, but, reportedly, it was thought that this perhaps unlikely story moved along at a brisk pace, with well-written dialogue and effective bursts of action.

The screenplay is by Miles Malleson and Wolfgang Wilhelm, based on the short story Four Days in a Hero’s Life by Emeric Pressburger.

There is no record of Squadron Leader X ever being re-shown after its original release. The British Film Institute has been unable to trace a print for inclusion in the BFI National Archive and classes the film as ‘missing, believed lost’. It is especially sought because of critical reassessment of Comfort’s importance in British cinema history.

Escape to Danger is also missing, believed lost.

The cast are Eric Portman as Erich Kohler, Ann Dvorak as Barbara Lucas, Walter Fitzgerald as Inspector Milne, Martin Miller as Mr. Krohn, Beatrice Varley as Mrs. Krohn, Henry Oscar as Dr. Schultz, Barry Jones as Bruce Fenwick, Charles Victor as Marks, Marjorie Rhodes as Mrs. Agnew, David Peel as Michael Bertholt, Aubrey Mallalieu as Pierre, Mary Merrall as Miss Thorndike, Carl Jaffe as Luftwaffe Colonel, Frederick Richter as Inspector Siegel, and John Salew

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,588

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