The Net *** (1953, Phyllis Calvert, Noel Willman, Herbert Lom, James Donald, Robert Beatty, Muriel Pavlow, Walter Fitzgerald, Maurice Denham) – Classic Movie Review 11,952

Director Anthony Asquith’s 1953 British aviation thriller film The Net [Project M7] stars Phyllis Calvert, Noel Willman, Herbert Lom, James Donald, Robert Beatty, Muriel Pavlow, Walter Fitzgerald, and Maurice Denham. It is made by Two Cities Films, distributed by General Film Distributors, and based on the 1952 novel The Net by John Pudney.

There’s deep trouble and mortal danger brewing with the scientists at a British secret aviation research station when inventor Michael Heathley (James Donald) designs a revolutionary new delta-wing jet plane that flies at fantastic speeds. It is a supersonic nuclear-augmented jet aircraft code-named M7, capable of taking off and landing on water and flying at up to 2,000 miles an hour. Meanwhile, though, his neglected wife Lydia (Phyllis Calvert) is canoodling with her husband’s colleague (Herbert Lom), and his jet is threatened by foreign spy (Noel Willman) who has talked his way onto the M7’s first test flight.

The Net is a good, plain suspense thriller, all about tense intrigue on the ground rather than exciting fun in the air, from director Asquith, who is generally identified with rather classier projects, though even so there are thoughtful elements to it with its Cold War backdrop, its idea of progress through aviation, and the quaintly optimistic suggestion of Britain being at the front of space research. Mostly though it sticks to being a straight thriller, but nevertheless, there is quality writing by William Fairchild and slick black and white cinematography by Desmond Dickinson and Stanley Grant.

It runs 86 minutes but the US version Project M7 runs 79 minutes.

Also in the cast are Patric Doonan, Marjorie Fielding, Caven Watson, Herbert Lomas, Cyril Chamberlain, Tucker McGuire, Hartley Power, Hal Osmond, Marianne Stone, Geoffrey Denton, Johnnie Schofield, Patricia Glyn, John Warren, and Philip Ray.

All the interiors of the M7 are mock-ups constructed in the studio at Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England. The aircraft seen are photographs on walls and a model of the M7.

The cast are James Donald as Michael Heathley, Phyllis Calvert as Lydia Heathley, Robert Beatty as Sam Seagram, Herbert Lom as Alex Leon, Noel Willman as Dennis Bord, Maurice Denham as Carrington, Muriel Pavlow as Caroline Cartier, Walter Fitzgerald as Sir Charles Craddock, Patric Doonan as Brian Jackson, Marjorie Fielding as Mother Heathley, Herbert Lomas as George Jackson, Cyril Chamberlain as Inspector Carter, Hal Osmond as Agent Lawson, Marianne Stone as Maisie, Tucker McGuire, Hartley Power, Geoffrey Denton, Johnnie Schofield, Patricia Glyn, John Warren, and Philip Ray.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 11,952

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