Reviews

I've just had a quick look through the reviews for this classic 50's sci-fi flick just in case someone had already covered the point I wanted to make. Having found no references to it I will press on. It seems obvious to me that Gerry Anderson drew inspiration from this film when he created his puppet TV shows. The launch system for the rocketship was used in Fireball XL5 and the landing sequence on Zyra is classic Thunderbirds. A great little film even if the science makes no sense whatsoever. Must have been quite gripping in a darkened cinema in 1952. Good special effects and a colourful new world. As for it being a white world in the film, well, it was a white world back then. I don't suppose they had room for a couple of maids and a shoe-shine boy never mind any pesky redskins.

I don't, as a rule, write reviews of films that I have seen, believing as I do that there are others who do a far better job than I could. With this one I thought I'd pitch in. This is a tedious drama and I have to say a waste of valuable time watching it. It stems from a bad script which often comes across as ludicrous and stilted. The story is a thin one that fails to engage any interest in the events as they unfold. It strives for sentiment and humour but fails masterfully. This has obviously hamstrung the direction and the acting. There are three strong leads here in Woolley, Lupino and Wilde but all are wasted. Sara Allgood is miscast and Melville Cooper appears for a minute at most. It finishes on a happy ending and I was happy to have finished with it. If you are reading this after watching it, then it is too late. If you are trying to decide whether it is worth the effort I have no hesitation in advising you it is not.

Wow! Just watched it for the first time and wow, what was that! A fascinating film, another totally,out of the blue, memorable film experience. How many gems are there out there I wonder? Without doubt this is one. Genuinely chilling, the seeds of the story are quickly sown with all the protagonists clearly laid out. Then the story unfolds with a sequence of events that will ultimately provide all the circumstantial evidence necessary, to send the heroine to the gallows as a murderess. However truth will out, the true murderer confesses and there is a happy ending. This is a British black and white film from 1947. That's usually good enough for me, I'll watch anything for five minutes, however this film is a stand out effort. It has Sally Gray and Eric Portman as the leads and a great selection of well known British character actors. I'm a big fan of Portman and here we're treated to an incredible performance, chilling and at times wildly hysterical, a performance that drives the narrative relentlessly towards the cliffs edge. I confess to being madly in love with Sally Gray. She is perfect in the part. She's beautiful and she suffers. Just watch her in the witness box. The chilling aspect of this film comes not from the fact that one person can contrive to murder another and get somebody else to take the blame. It comes from the use of circumstantial evidence to provide "evidence" where none exists. Anyway I enjoyed it, my second Sally Gray of the day after, watching Carnival earlier. It's like Christmas