POSTMARK FOR DANGER/PORTRAIT OF ALISON
UK, 1955, 84 minutes, Black and white.
Terry Moore, Robert Beatty, William Sylvester, Josephine Griffin, Geoffrey Keen, Alan Cuthbertson, Henry Oscar, Terence Alexander.
Directed by Guy Green.
Postmark for Danger/ Portrait of Alison is a very entertaining small-budget British thriller. It has quite a complicated plot, smuggling, murders, a suicide, police investigation.
The screenplay was cowritten by directors Ken Hughes and Guy Green, Green an Oscar-winning photographer for his work on David Lean’s Great Expectations, working as a director in Britain with such films as The Angry Silence and then moving to the United States for big budget films.
As with so many small firms in Britain in the 1950s, there is an American star import, this time Terry Moore. However, the film focuses on Robert Beatty, Canadian expatriate long in the UK, who plays a painter, working commercially. His brother is a pilot for cargo planes around Europe, William Sylvester.
They receive news that their brother has been killed in a car accident, seen at the opening of the film, and that a young woman was with him. What emerges is an expose of a diamond smuggling ring, being reported on by the dead brother, his sending a list of all those involved in code on a postcard. The search for the postcard becomes very significant.
The police interrogate the painter and with more and more seemingly outlandish circumstances. They decide that the painter is guilty of the murder of his model who has been found in his apartment. However, as the film goes on, the seemingly outlandish circumstances are all satisfactorily explained.
There is a very strong British supporting cast.
1. Brief British thriller? The style of the 1950s? American actress? British character actors? Murder mystery, crime investigation?
2. The London settings, the artist’s studio and apartment, police precincts, hotels, used car dealerships, the British police, the Italian police? The musical score?
3. The titles, the significance of the postcard and the postmark? From Italy? From the journalist? The code? Alison’s hand with the Chianti bottle? The recipients of the card, for sale, the various criminals and the code incrimination? Murders and suicides? The emphasis with the portrait of Alison, Alison and her relationship with Lewis, not in the car with the accident, her father and his involvement, suspicions – and then the romantic lead?
4. Tim at the centre of the story, his work as an artist, getting by with advertisements, painting dual, his attraction towards her, the interchange, her fiance, her return, leaving the box, attracted by the dress, the portrait? Her later being found dead, wearing the dress? Tim, his relationship with Dave, sharing the apartment, brotherly? The news of the death of Lewis? Dave going to Italy? The summons by John Smith, the interview, the portrait and the dress? His doing the painting? Jill, her leaving the parcel? His going to the airport for Dave, the return, finding Jill dead? Inspector Colby, explaining the situation to him? The story getting more and more unlikely? The seeming disappearance of John Smith? The defacing of the portrait and the photo disappearing? Jill wearing the dress? The sale of the postcard by the dealer? Setting up the phone tapping, the dealer and his doubletalk? The journalist, the issue of the postcard, his sending it on? Alison, her arrival, the explanations, Tim attracted, taking her to dinner, staying the night, the disappearance? Dave’s arrival, the postcard, the confrontation and the fight? The issue of Nightingale, Tim hearing his attack on Alison, the fight, Nightingale’s death, the solving of all the mysteries? The romantic ending?
5. Alison, in America, with her mother, actress, coming to England, the encounter with Lewis in Italy, her father warning her against the drive, getting out of the car, her being presumed dead? In the apartment, defacing the painting, taking the portrait? Her later return, the explanations, with Tim, confronting her father, wanting to give him a chance? His suicide? Her return, the encounter with Nightingale, the struggle?
6. Dave, pilot, commercial goods, the death of his brother, going to Italy, the inconsistent times of returning? In the apartment? The issue of the postcard, audiences suspecting his collaboration? The fight with Tim? The truth? His lies about going to South America?
7. Jill, the model, her fiance, her hopes, the return to Tim, leaving the parcel, admiring the dress, being found dead? Nightingale and his motivation?
8. Inspector Colby, Interpol, the steady investigations, the interviews, becoming more suspicious of Tim, the lack of evidence, the phone tapping, ready to charge Tim? The investigations, the laboratory and fingerprints, the codes on the postcard? His admitting the truth? His collaborators, and his ticking off of the sergeant?
9. Nightingale, wealthy, with Jill, his car, the revelation that he was the mastermind?
10. John Smith, his true name, his daughter, wanting to save her, his involvement in the ring, meeting his daughter, his suicide?
11. The car dealer, the setup, selling the postcard, aware of the phone tapping?
12. Fenby, journalist, the postcard, his involvement in the ring, wanting to get out, the fight with Dave? His death?
13. An effective mystery in a short space of time?
