Terence Young's screenplay glosses a lot, dialog is okay, but plot is short on action apart from a zingy air battle in last few hundred feet. The same prosaic line is taken by Brian Desmond Hurst in directing tale of a young Polish composer with the hands of a musician and the heart of a flyer. Piloting is slow and methodical, sans highlights.

Terence Young’s screenplay glosses a lot, dialog is okay, but plot is short on action apart from a zingy air battle in last few hundred feet. The same prosaic line is taken by Brian Desmond Hurst in directing tale of a young Polish composer with the hands of a musician and the heart of a flyer. Piloting is slow and methodical, sans highlights.

Fighting a losing air battle when Nazis invade Poland, Stefan Radetzky (Anton Walbrook) is fixed for an escape to Roumania since fellow pilots deem his music-making of more use to their country. Prior to winging he meets Carole Peters (Sally Gray), a newsgirl from the US. When booked later for a fundraising concert tour of America, the pair’s paths cross again. This time they marry, but Walbrook is unable to repress the pilot urge.

Walbrook enacts with his customary under-playing, this time almost to a point of self-suffocation. Similarly, Gray is screened for glamor that palls after too much of such footage. She’s a nifty looker, but over-poses. Effect is something like a series of screentests.

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Dangerous Moonlight

UK

  • Production: RKO. Director Brian Desmond Hurst; Producer William Sistrom; Screenplay Terence Young; Camera George Perinal; Editor Alan Jaggs; Music Richard Addinsell; Art Director John Bryan
  • Crew: (B&W) Available on VHS. Extract of a review from 1941. Running time: 90 MIN.
  • With: Anton Walbrook Sally Gray Derrick de Marney Cecil Parker Percy Parsons Kenneth Kent

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