Very mild spoilers below. If, like me, you are British and of a certain age, watching Green for Danger can be a bitter-sweet experience. There are a number of films, made by the likes of Pinewood and Ealing Studios in the 1940's and 50's, that evoke in me a strong sense of loss. Loss of a time when life was much simpler and safe. When men always wore suits and ties and everyone spoke the Queens English. Loss of a time when it was always summer and the sun always shone from clear skies. Loss of a time before motorways, when you could wend your way down endless leafy lanes without meeting a soul, before stumbling upon an ivy-covered inn for lunch.
Green for Danger, for me, encapsulates this sense of a bygone England.
I first saw this film as a young boy, sat comfortably between my parents and I was hooked from the beginning. It started in me a lifelong love for the whodunnit and, considering it is 60 years old, I challenge anyone to find a better one in the classic mould. "The clue is in the title Son", my Dad said....and I still didn't get it.
With the wonderful Alastair Sim framing the story with his narrative before he arrives at the scene, we are introduced to the crime, the characters, the setting and the abundance of clues and red herrings. You almost feel as if you are one of the characters as you follow them around the hospital setting. When Alastair Sim eventually arrives on the scene as the Inspector, we are taken by him through the unravelling, up one or two blind alleys, toward the tense climax where, at any moment, you know the killer shall be revealed. Classic and wonderfully done.
Alastair Sim is...well, Alastair Sim. Marvellously dry and sardonic. Impeccably comedic. A bad movie can be entertaining just for his presence, but for me he is the icing on this particular cake.
A couple of years ago Green for Danger came on the TV and I called my youngest daughter in to watch it with me. "The clue is in the title" I said. "But it's black and white!" she rightly pointed out, and promptly kissed me on the cheek and ran off back to her PlayStation and Internet Chatroom.
Ahh well....
Green for Danger, for me, encapsulates this sense of a bygone England.
I first saw this film as a young boy, sat comfortably between my parents and I was hooked from the beginning. It started in me a lifelong love for the whodunnit and, considering it is 60 years old, I challenge anyone to find a better one in the classic mould. "The clue is in the title Son", my Dad said....and I still didn't get it.
With the wonderful Alastair Sim framing the story with his narrative before he arrives at the scene, we are introduced to the crime, the characters, the setting and the abundance of clues and red herrings. You almost feel as if you are one of the characters as you follow them around the hospital setting. When Alastair Sim eventually arrives on the scene as the Inspector, we are taken by him through the unravelling, up one or two blind alleys, toward the tense climax where, at any moment, you know the killer shall be revealed. Classic and wonderfully done.
Alastair Sim is...well, Alastair Sim. Marvellously dry and sardonic. Impeccably comedic. A bad movie can be entertaining just for his presence, but for me he is the icing on this particular cake.
A couple of years ago Green for Danger came on the TV and I called my youngest daughter in to watch it with me. "The clue is in the title" I said. "But it's black and white!" she rightly pointed out, and promptly kissed me on the cheek and ran off back to her PlayStation and Internet Chatroom.
Ahh well....