THE MASTER PLAN
UK, 1954, 64 minutes, Black and white.
Norman Wooland, Tilda Thamar, Wayne Morris, Mary Mackenzie, Arnold Bell, Marjorie Stewart.
Directed by Hugh Raker (Cy Endfield).
The Master Plan is a small British drama of the first half of the 50s, supporting feature and, as popular at the time, with an American leading man from the past, Wayne Morris. It also reflects the atmosphere of the Cold War, espionage in plans, devices to detect traitors.
Norman Wooland is Mark Cleaver, the commander of a secret strategy, inviting his old war friend, Brent (Wayne Morris), to help him uncover a traitor. There is an office which can be locked, a secret room and a strong safe, a special plan that even Brent is not allowed to look at.
The setting is Germany.
There is a range of supporting characters, each bringing their suspicious behaviour to the case. There is a commanding general and his wife who is very sympathetic to Brent. There is Mark Cleaver’s girlfriend, Helen, whose name is used for the secret code. There is also his severe secretary, Miss Gray. There is talk of espionage because, as the film opens, we see Brent being set up by an attractive woman who was later revealed to be a spy as well is as a doctor who treats Brent and who is in league with foreign powers.
The film spends some time on each of these characters offering the audiences the possibility of making up their own minds. This includes their going to a symphony concert which bores the general. It involves Helen making a date with Brent to meet him at a restaurant but he fails to turn up.
In fact, Brent has Being unwell, having moments of catatonia, becoming completely immobile but not remembering what has happened. The enemy takes advantage of this, takes into a laboratory, injects him with serums and hypnotises him so that he returns to his work but is under the command of a voice on the phone whom he addresses as The Chief.
In the meantime, Cleaver returns from talks and discovers what has happened, not believing that Brent could be a traitor.
There are quite some complications, involving a cigarette lighter where some microfilm is stored – with various people turning up, including Cleaver’s secretary, including the PR man for the military. As might be guessed, it is Helen who is the spy and takes the set up cigarette lighter and substitutes another. There is also some gun action with Brent.
Then it is all revealed that there was no secret plan but word that had got around so that it would flash out the traitors.
A much better contemporary film from the UK with American stars, Joel McCrea? and Evelyn Keyes, takes up some of these issues, Rough Shoot
