Wings of Danger (1952)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Terence Fisher

Writers:

John Gilling (writer)
Trevor Dudley Smith (novel)

Release Date:

1 April 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

Tagline:

COUNTERFEIT CARGO! ...a fortune in loot...a fabulous woman...a sinister fugitive!

Plot:

When his girlfriend's brother's cargo plane is lost at sea, nagging questions arise, and pilot Richard Van Ness gets caught in a web of blackmail and smuggling.

Plot Keywords:

Pilot | Blackmail | Channel Islands | Gold | Airline

Cast

Zachary Scott	...	Richard Van Ness
Robert Beatty	...	Nick Talbot
Naomi Chance	...	Avril Talbot
Kay Kendall	...	Alexia LaRoche
Colin Tapley	...	Inspector Maxwell
Arthur Lane	...	Boyd Spencer
Harold Lang	...	Snell, the blackmailer
Diane Cilento	...	Jeannette

Also Known As:

Dead on Course (UK) (working title) (USA)

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

UK:U

Filming Locations:

Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London, England, UK

Company:

Hammer Film Productions

Quotes:

Avril Talbot: Would you like him to know you're blackmailing me?
Snell, the blackmailer: Blackmail is an old-fashioned word, Miss Talbot.
Avril Talbot: Well, what would you call it?
Snell, the blackmailer: It's business. I'm selling; you're buying. I'm selling a little commodity known as silence.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Trailer Cinema (1992) (TV)

Not great, but at least a decent story

The first Hammer noir I saw was the excellent Hell is a City; and it's a good job too because if the first one I saw was one of the ones I saw after Hell is a City, I probably wouldn't have bothered watching any more! Wings of Danger is directed by Hammer veteran Terence Fisher, who also directed the disappointing Hammer noir The Stranger Came Home. This one is actually slightly better, but there's not a lot in it. Wings of Danger focuses on cargo plane pilot Richard Van Ness. He tries to stop another pilot from flying due to the weather, but is blackmailed into allowing it. The plane crashes and this leads the police to begin questioning Richard about his own affairs. The film is very short at only seventy minutes, and I do have to say that's a good thing because any longer and I've have gotten really tired of it. The plot is always at least fairly interesting and the film does manage to present a handful of interesting characters. The dialogue can be a little suspect at times, but that's not such a bad thing as it's often unintentionally comedic. The film holds the audience's interest for the duration and boils down to an interesting and satisfying conclusion. Overall, I really wouldn't recommend this film, though I wouldn't say it's awful either.