David Somers, a member of the Secret Intelligence Service, is dismissed from the service after a mission goes wrong. (Exactly what Somers did wrong is never revealed). He goes to work for Nicholas Fenton, a wealthy amateur naturalist, at his country house in Hampshire, helping Fenton to catalogue his extensive collection of butterflies. (The film's title derives from a species of butterfly; Fenton has one in his collection, but it does not play a major part in the plot).
At Fenton's house Somers meets Sophie, the niece of Fenton's wife Jess, who has lived with her uncle and aunt since her parents died in a supposed murder- suicide when she was six. Sophie is a strange, fey, mentally troubled girl, and when a local gamekeeper and ne'er-do-well is found stabbed to death, she falls under suspicion. Somers, who is strongly attracted to the beautiful young woman, and who believes strongly in her innocence, helps her to evade arrest. They go on the run across England, with their journey taking them to Newcastle, the Lake District and finally Liverpool. They are pursued not only by the police but also by Shepley, an SIS agent. The SIS are embarrassed that one of their former agents has got involved in a murder hunt and want to keep an eye on what is happening. Somers, however, uses the skills he has learned as an intelligence agent to stay ahead of his pursuers.
Several reviewers have pointed out the influence of Alfred Hitchcock on the film, but actually the influences are more varied. The basic plot is certainly Hitchcockian, with the caveat that when a man and a woman go on the run in a Hitchcock film it is invariably the man rather than who has been wrongly accused of some crime. Hitchcock had already used this plot in "The 39 Steps" and "Young and Innocent", and was to use it again in some of his American films such as "North by North-West". The Lake District scenes here certainly reminded me of those set in the Scottish Highlands in "The 39 Steps". (Director Ralph Thomas was later to make his own version of John Buchan's story; Kenneth More, who appears as Shepley here, was to play the lead in that film). Thomas, however, also seems to have borrowed from other British directors. The Newcastle scenes were strongly reminiscent of those set in Belfast in Carol Reed's "Odd Man Out", while the ending in the Liverpool docks was clearly borrowed from that of Robert Hamer's "It Always Rains on Sunday", set amid the railway sidings of London.
Despite these borrowings, "The Clouded Yellow" cannot compare in quality with any of the films I mention in the previous paragraph. Compared with, say, Robert Donat in "The 39 Steps" or James Mason in "Odd Man Out", Trevor Howard makes an uncharismatic hero, and the romance between him and Jean Simmons never seems convincing. The age difference between them was sixteen years, not unusual by the standards of films from the 1950s, but Howard- especially when he is wearing that moustache- comes across as considerably older than his real age of 37, making Somers seem more like a father-figure to Sophie than her lover. Simmons gives a better performance than Howard, but even she does not really rescue the film. The solution to the mystery and the identity of the real murderer are revealed at the end of the film in a rather rushed and contrived way, which I found unsatisfactory; I had to watch the ending a couple more times to work out what the killer's motives were. As the saying goes, lesser artists borrow and great artists steal, but there is more to making a good movie than borrowing a few scenes from the work of greater directors. 5/10.
At Fenton's house Somers meets Sophie, the niece of Fenton's wife Jess, who has lived with her uncle and aunt since her parents died in a supposed murder- suicide when she was six. Sophie is a strange, fey, mentally troubled girl, and when a local gamekeeper and ne'er-do-well is found stabbed to death, she falls under suspicion. Somers, who is strongly attracted to the beautiful young woman, and who believes strongly in her innocence, helps her to evade arrest. They go on the run across England, with their journey taking them to Newcastle, the Lake District and finally Liverpool. They are pursued not only by the police but also by Shepley, an SIS agent. The SIS are embarrassed that one of their former agents has got involved in a murder hunt and want to keep an eye on what is happening. Somers, however, uses the skills he has learned as an intelligence agent to stay ahead of his pursuers.
Several reviewers have pointed out the influence of Alfred Hitchcock on the film, but actually the influences are more varied. The basic plot is certainly Hitchcockian, with the caveat that when a man and a woman go on the run in a Hitchcock film it is invariably the man rather than who has been wrongly accused of some crime. Hitchcock had already used this plot in "The 39 Steps" and "Young and Innocent", and was to use it again in some of his American films such as "North by North-West". The Lake District scenes here certainly reminded me of those set in the Scottish Highlands in "The 39 Steps". (Director Ralph Thomas was later to make his own version of John Buchan's story; Kenneth More, who appears as Shepley here, was to play the lead in that film). Thomas, however, also seems to have borrowed from other British directors. The Newcastle scenes were strongly reminiscent of those set in Belfast in Carol Reed's "Odd Man Out", while the ending in the Liverpool docks was clearly borrowed from that of Robert Hamer's "It Always Rains on Sunday", set amid the railway sidings of London.
Despite these borrowings, "The Clouded Yellow" cannot compare in quality with any of the films I mention in the previous paragraph. Compared with, say, Robert Donat in "The 39 Steps" or James Mason in "Odd Man Out", Trevor Howard makes an uncharismatic hero, and the romance between him and Jean Simmons never seems convincing. The age difference between them was sixteen years, not unusual by the standards of films from the 1950s, but Howard- especially when he is wearing that moustache- comes across as considerably older than his real age of 37, making Somers seem more like a father-figure to Sophie than her lover. Simmons gives a better performance than Howard, but even she does not really rescue the film. The solution to the mystery and the identity of the real murderer are revealed at the end of the film in a rather rushed and contrived way, which I found unsatisfactory; I had to watch the ending a couple more times to work out what the killer's motives were. As the saying goes, lesser artists borrow and great artists steal, but there is more to making a good movie than borrowing a few scenes from the work of greater directors. 5/10.