This film is extremely cleverly made up. No one knows anything in the beginning, and the actors and audience alike are left in complete ignorance of what is going on and like the police only left with a few loose ends leading nowhere, until at last Mr Ward is caught in a picture, which provides the key to untangling the extremely comprehensive plot with its circle of saboteurs.
Another key is the tutorial institute, and some of the finest scenes are from there. for instance when the inspector has to attend a music performance of thoroughly modern music not sounding very well, and you can see how he suffers, while the others pretend to understand the meaning of this abstract katzenjammer.
Kenneth Griffith makes an unforgettable performance as the martyr of the intrigue, getting caught up in a web he can't extricate himself from and still making something of the hero of the drama - without him the police would never have arrived in time.
Another striking performance is Anthony Nicholls as the MP making a thoroughly charming and cultivated presence with great villainy hidden beneath. His final conversation with the commodore is the top of the film with the lights efficiently going out...
Notable is also Joan Hickson as the mother, playing a much more convincing and heart-rending role than her later better known ones as Miss Marple.
Another vital part is Mary Morris as Anna Braun, irresistibly beautiful like an impressing viper full of venom whom you just must be paralyzed by for fascination until she stings...
But the film is full of such characters. You can never imagine that Stringer is not actually played by a Russian, his accent is so perfectly Russian, and the music adds to it as well, especially at the tutorial college with its concerts as the perfect smokescreen for a truly devilish coven - the film reminds not a little of Hitchcock's "Sabotage" in its recklessly cruel set-up.
Another key is the tutorial institute, and some of the finest scenes are from there. for instance when the inspector has to attend a music performance of thoroughly modern music not sounding very well, and you can see how he suffers, while the others pretend to understand the meaning of this abstract katzenjammer.
Kenneth Griffith makes an unforgettable performance as the martyr of the intrigue, getting caught up in a web he can't extricate himself from and still making something of the hero of the drama - without him the police would never have arrived in time.
Another striking performance is Anthony Nicholls as the MP making a thoroughly charming and cultivated presence with great villainy hidden beneath. His final conversation with the commodore is the top of the film with the lights efficiently going out...
Notable is also Joan Hickson as the mother, playing a much more convincing and heart-rending role than her later better known ones as Miss Marple.
Another vital part is Mary Morris as Anna Braun, irresistibly beautiful like an impressing viper full of venom whom you just must be paralyzed by for fascination until she stings...
But the film is full of such characters. You can never imagine that Stringer is not actually played by a Russian, his accent is so perfectly Russian, and the music adds to it as well, especially at the tutorial college with its concerts as the perfect smokescreen for a truly devilish coven - the film reminds not a little of Hitchcock's "Sabotage" in its recklessly cruel set-up.