State Secret (1950)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Sidney Gilliat

Writers:

Roy Huggins (novel)
Sidney Gilliat (screenplay)

Release Date:

3 July 1950 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

Visiting in England, famed American surgeon Doctor John Marlowe is decoyed to a middle European country...

Plot Keywords:

Dictator | Operation | Surgeon | American | Police

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Douglas Fairbanks Jr.	...	Dr. John Marlowe
Jack Hawkins	...	Colonel Galcon
Glynis Johns	...	Lisa Robinson
Walter Rilla	...	General Niva
Karel Stepanek	...	Dr. Revo
Herbert Lom	...	Karl Theodor
Hans Olaf Moser	...	Sigrist (as Hans Moser)
Guido Lorraine	...	Lieutenant Prachi
Robert Ayres	...	Arthur J. Buckman
Howard Douglas	...	Clubman
Martin Boddey	...	Clubman
Russell Waters	...	Clubman
Arthur Howard	...	Clubman
Carl Jaffe	...	Janovic Prada
Gerard Heinz	...	Tomasi Bendel

Also Known As:

The Great Manhunt (USA)

Runtime:

104 min | USA:97 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #14712) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Dolomites, Italy

Company:

London Film Productions

Goofs:

Errors in geography: At the 'river docks', a London bus is visible in the background passing over the bridge. The stern of the 'barge' shown is also very clearly that of an English narrowboat, found nowhere on the Continent.

Quotes:

Dr. John Marlowe: They tell me that in some parts of the world musicians are finding it increasingly difficult to compose non-political music, so it's very gratifying to think that a doctor can still perform a non-political operation.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Beyond Recognition (2003)

The Case of the Curious Shared Plot line Movies

1950 was a great year for films, but for some reason two fine ones came out that had the same plot line (with variations) set in two different parts of the world. These were CRISIS and STATE SECRET. CRISIS was set in Latin America, in a country run by a dictator and his cronies, similar to the Perons in Argentina. The dictator (Jose Ferrer) has a brain tumor, and when an American brain surgeon (Cary Grant) and his wife come to the country on a vacation, the dictator puts pressure on the brain surgeon to perform secret surgery on him. Grant also has pressure on him by the local revolutionaries (led by Gilbert Roland) to botch the operation.

STATE SECRET was a British film starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Jack Hawkins, Glynnis Johns, and Herbert Lom. Vacationing in a Balkan state that is not totally Communist (read Yugoslavia), Fairbanks is pressured by the head of the Secret Service (Hawkins) into operating on the Genreralisimo (a type of elderly version of Tito) who is gravely ill. When, after an initial period where the patient is responding well to the operation, the dictator dies, Fairbanks realizes that his life is in danger (Hawkins can't have the death of the dictator revealed so early - there has to be a replacement ready in the wings). Fairbanks' adventures in fleeing (aided by Johns and Lom) are the basis of the plot.

I find the sociological background to Latin American politics in CRISIS better than the Balkan background to STATE SECRET, but there are nice touches. Hawkins is a dangerous foe, but he is a man with an astute political brain. Lom (playing his normal villainous type: a blackmailing scoundrel) turns in a superb comic performance when he unwittingly stumbles on a secret he'd prefer never knowing at all. Fairbanks Jr. was always underrated as an actor, because too many critics saw him as trying to carry on the tradition of swashbuckling films his father made famous in the silent period. But he was better than that, and shows real, growing concern for Johns and her safety as the film continues.

If possible try to see this and CRISIS together, to see which one is better. I bet you will find that an impossible choice. Enjoy them both.