Leofwine_draca
GREEN FOR DANGER is a British murder mystery/comedy/thriller with a wartime setting. The setting is one of the strengths of the movie, with doodlebugs flying overhead at times and the constant threat of one of them hitting and blowing everybody up. A small cast of professional medical characters work in a country hospital which is beset by the machinations of a mysterious killer whose motivations are unknown. Enter a wisecracking and typically quirky Alastair Sim as a detective determined to get to the heart of the matter and figure out which of the small cast is responsible. It's said cast that makes this film work, with Trevor Howard and Leo Genn on fine form butting heads and well supported by Megs Jenkins and Judy Campbell. I found the climax completely unbelievable but at least it ends the picture in a novel and entertaining way.
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This movie has everything going for it: good cast, good cinematography, good story, but Alastair Sim (who plays the inspector) is a wildly overrated actor and really ruins this movie. The odd way in which he portrays the inspector breaks the mood of the film and is a major distraction. Perhaps not surprising: Alastair Sim was an odd character in life too (see Wikipedia), so perhaps to be expected, but it's a shame: Trevor Howard and the rest of the cast do a great job. This could have been a mystery treat with a better actor cast in Sim's role.See it if you're a fan of Brit mysteries, otherwise, don't waste your time.
Lechuguilla
Thoroughly entertaining, this whodunit is set amid the bombing raids in London in 1944, but the plot only tangentially touches on the War. Most scenes take place in or near a hospital. And all of the suspects are hospital staff, identified early and efficiently. As the camera slowly pans an operating room, the story narrator identifies six main characters, doctors and nurses, all dressed in surgical gowns, masks, and caps. "Two of these people (will) be dead, and one of them a murderer".Into this setting comes Inspector Cockrill (Alastair Sim), quick-on-the-uptake, self-assured, and humorously pompous. He learns the details of the crime, interviews the suspects, and then, at the end, recreates the operating room setting wherein the first person was murdered, hoping to trap the killer.The film abounds with subtle clues and red herrings. That's what makes the film enjoyable. Yet, in reviewing the film, I can see that one of the most important clues is really too subtle. And that's my main criticism. Nevertheless, viewers can find all the clues they need to solve the mystery, in the first 20 to 25 minutes of the film, if they really pay attention.B&W cinematography is effective in creating a suspenseful, taut, noir atmosphere, particularly in the operating room scenes. The cinematography is less effective outdoors. But outdoor scenes were actually filmed inside a studio.Good acting amplifies the high quality production. Leo Genn, Judy Campbell, and Megs Jenkins are all quite effective. And, of course, Alastair Sim is terrific."Green For Danger" presents viewers with a murder mystery attended to by a humorously eccentric inspector. It also conveys a realistic look at civilians trying to cope amid the stress and uncertainty of wartime, and thus has thematic value beyond the whodunit element.
T Y
This movie is unusually dull for the initial 40 lackluster minutes until Alistair Sim shows up. When he does, its in a setpiece with a perfectly choreographed bit of slapstick that seems to signal a more imaginative, engaged type of film-making than we've been looking at. But despite a few ravishing moments of camera-work in the movie, still more convention confirms that that was all you get! It's potential dissipates as it plunges through narrower and narrower scales until all that's left is comparing it to other mysteries. It's a bit naff when a b&w movie mentions the color green, pounding you over the head with the title clue. There is craft here, but nothing to transform it into art. A viewer may find intrigue in how a region downstream interprets a Hollywood genre; in this case "noir" filtered through the British investigator tradition.The quaint rural England milieu and sets will stick in your mind. But the movie never becomes the above average film that it's production design hints at, and one wonders why the extra effort was made. Its regional setting reminded me of P&P's A Canterbury Tale. Perhaps it's the very unflappability of the English that makes this exercise so unengaging. Characters can barely be bothered to feel threatened or excited. The psychology is paper deep.
AD
