JohnHowardReid Copyright 13 June 1952 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy: 13 June 1952. U.S. release: 25 June 1952. U.K. release: 28 July 1952. Australian release: 4 September 1952. Sydney opening at the Mayfair. 98 minutes.SYNOPSIS: An American secret agent in Salzburg is sent to pick up top secret information. His path, however, is blocked by a Russian spy ring.NOTES: Final teaming of actor Power and director Hathaway.COMMENT: Based on Peter Cheyney's novel, "Sinister Errand", this movie emerges as a surprisingly dull account of international intrigue. The script starts off slowly and whenever it looks like speeding up, it gets bogged down in talk. The players do their best to overcome this major handicap, but they are constantly hampered by their one-dimensional characterizations and the script's sloppy narrative structure.As not a single member of the cast left the Hollywood studio, director Henry Hathaway's main task has been to integrate the studio material with the 2nd unit location footage — a task he has accomplished with great success and masterly adroitness.Lucien Ballard's photography has the characteristic Fox low-key and high contrast I so greatly admire. Other production values are first-rate though the film would be considerably improved by sharper film editing.OTHER VIEWS: Diplomatic Courier is a film I like very much, and it was another experience. I had made many pictures outside. This picture took place in Europe and went on all over, but I made it on the stage. I never left the stage. The second unit shot the scene with Tyrone Power on the Trocadero. It was an action picture, automobiles chasing each other, and they showed this thing all over the industry. As soon as a guy wanted to go to Europe, they said "Get Diplomatic Courier, show the son-of-a-bitch the picture — it was made on the stage." All the stuff on the street, everything, was shot with transparencies, like the Trocadero scene. (By "the stage", Hathaway also means the Fox back lot, which was very convincingly dressed up, as in the Trieste scene). — Henry Hathaway.There was a time when a Tyrone Power picture would always be assured of top billing on Saturday nights. By 1952, however, his career had well and truly stalled. Yet he was soon to pull himself out of the doldrums with "King of the Khyber Rifles" which was soon followed by the smash hit, "The Eddy Duchin Story". His last film, "Witness for the Prosecution" (1958) was one of his greatest successes. But with "Diplomatic Courier", Power is strictly marking time. — JHR writing as George Addison.

robert-temple-1 This is a superb espionage film set early in the Cold War. Tyrone Power makes the perfect lead, because he always had that quality of looking innocent and puzzled in the trickiest of situations, inevitably summoning plenty of noble resolution while never looking worldly wise about it. In this story, he is a diplomatic courier working for the American State Department. It is his job to carry important diplomatic communications by hand from country to country. He carries them in a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. He wears two watches at once, one for the time at home and one for the time of his destination. However, Power becomes embroiled in a fantastically complicated espionage affair and ends up being used as a pawn in a complex game of intrigue which few can understand. He become involved with two mysterious women, who may or may not be femmes fatale. One is Patricia Neal, who plays a wealthy American widow on the make. She comes across as too good to be true, and for a while we suspect her of overacting. But then her true nature comes out, and we discover how evil she really is. When she starts playing her character's true self, she is terrifying. The other mysterious woman is played by the German actress Hildegard Neff, a mysterious beauty who was at the peak of her American popularity at this time. The film also features Karl Malden in a supporting role, where he is particularly good and shows the promise of his career which was to come. Much of the film is shot in Trieste, which one of the characters describes as being a hotbed of spies of all kinds, like Lisbon during the War. This film has a great deal of postwar atmosphere and suspense and is only one notch down from the more brilliant works of Hitchcock and Carroll Reed. The director was Henry Hathaway, an old pro who could make the telephone book look interesting, The film is full of double agents, betrayal, duplicity, baffling situations, and murder. The film moves at quite a pace and is never dull for a moment. The availability of this classic now on DVD is a welcome addition to the finer cinematic portrayals of early Cold War paranoia and deception. It is interesting historically as well as cinematically, and we get to see a lot of location shots which evoke the era.

MartinHafer This espionage film is quite enjoyable and is truly a fascinating little curio from the Cold War. However, it also is quite silly at times and plays more like a comic book or perhaps a B-movie than a genuine thriller. While the performances are pretty good (in particular, I liked Karl Malden in one of his early roles), the writing isn't and often credibility is simply thrown out the window--with Power playing the part more like he's in an Indiana Jones movie than a spy picture.Power plays a diplomatic courier who is sent to Salzburg to receive some information. Unfortunately, the man he is supposed to meet is murdered and Power isn't sure what to do next. The US army encourages him to go on a spy mission--not because they believe Power will complete it, but because they think the bad guys will tip their hand while trying to kill Power!! Sadly, they don't bother telling Power this and he just seems to blunder into things.In the midst of all this are two ladies--one of which is OBVIOUSLY bad since they keep accidentally meeting and one is possibly on the side of good. These two subplots are the biggest problem with the film. With the first woman, it's obvious to everyone in the audience that she's evil--after all, despite Europe being very large, they just happen to meet again and again?! With the second, her role wasn't bad, but having Power jump into the thick of things to rescue her was just silly. Tyrone Power was a fine actor--but here they have him playing more of an action hero and it really made the film seem rather cheesy.Still, despite some plot problems, it's a decent little time-passer with an interesting glimpse into a part of our history you seldom see on film.

edwagreen Wonderful Tyrone Power vehicle that will have you guessing every minute along the way.When Power is assigned to deliver important papers, the person who is to receive them can't retrieve them and is eventually murdered. Suspicion centers on Hildegarde Knef, who does quite well in this film.Patricia Neal is in fine form as a wealthy looking widow of an official who comes along and tries to romance Power along the way. What else is this conniving woman up to?Diplomatic intrigue hasn't been this good in years. Power is sympathetic and will rescue Neff at the end when it appears that she has been truthful to him throughout the film.