STATE SECRET

UK, 1950, 104 minutes, Black and white.
Douglas Fairbanks Jnr., Glynnis Johns, Herbert Lom, Jack Hawkins, Karel Stepanek, Walter Rilla, Sam Jaffe.
Directed by Sidney Gilliat.

State Secret is an enjoyable thriller from the team of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat (The Lady Vanishes). It is espionage in the Alfred Hitchcock, John Buchan vein. However, this is post-World War Two. The atmosphere of the Cold War and the Iron Curtain. The focus is on a totalitarian state and its threat to the free world.

The location photography in Europe is effective, especially in the car chases and the mountain-climbing. Douglas Fairbanks is a good debonair hero. Glynnis Johns is attractive as the heroine. Herbert Lom, as always is a villain.

1. An entertaining thriller? Light style? Serious undertones of the times?

2. Black and white photography, European locations, mountains, cities? Special effects? William Alwyn's score?

3. The 1950s and the attitudes towards central Europe, communist states, the cold war? Europe of the past as the holiday place for their affectionate memories? British? The film's comment on the central Europe as the place for espionage? Totalitarian takeovers?

4. Secret missions, danger, escapes, espionage? The flashback technique, - how effective? For suspense?

5 John Marlowe: American background, skills, working in England, the invitation, the situation in Vosnia, the reality about the President's health, the operation and the crisis? The pressure on Marlowe? Dangers, escape through the city, contacts with Lisa, with Theodore and the black market? With the Vosnian authorities? The scape, the journey, the cars, the mountains? Capture? The final rescue? A hero of thrillers?

6. Lisa and attractive, her life in Vosnia, English background, with Marlowe, sharing his escape, help? Romance?

7. Theodore and his black-market connections, blackmail, help, threat and menace?

9. The picture of the Vosnian authorities the military, leaders, the elections, propaganda, cover-ups?

9. Action and pace, car chases, mountain climbing?

10. The plausibility of this kind of adventure? In action and espionage stories?