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Wings of Danger, released in the United States as Dead on Course, is a 1952 British crime film directed by Terence Fisher and starring Zachary Scott, Robert Beatty and Kay Kendall.[1] The screenplay concerns a pilot who is suspected of smuggling.
| Wings of Danger | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Terence Fisher |
| Screenplay by | John Gilling |
| Based on | novel Dead on Course by Trevor Dudley Smith & Packham Webb |
| Produced by | Anthony Hinds |
| Starring | Zachary Scott Robert Beatty Naomi Chance Kay Kendall |
| Cinematography | Walter J. Harvey |
| Edited by | James Needs |
| Music by | Malcolm Arnold |
Production company | Hammer Film Productions |
| Distributed by | Exclusive Films (UK) Lippert Pictures (US) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 73 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Plot
At Spencer Airlines in England, American pilot Richard "Van" Van Ness (Zachary Scott) tries to stop his friend, Nick Talbot (Robert Beatty), from taking off in a storm. Nick threatens to tell their boss, Boyd Spencer (Arthur Lane), that Van suffers from blackouts. Next morning, Van's fears come true when debris from Nick's aircraft wash ashore.
Van tells Spencer who does not seem to care about Nick dying. Van asks Spencer's girl friend, Alexia LaRoche (Kay Kendall) to exchange pounds for dollars. The following night, he visits his girl friend, Nick's sister Avril (Naomi Chance) who is being blackmailed by a man named Snell (Harold Lang) to keep her father from discovering Nick's post-war black market business.
Van forces Snell to confess and learns that a set of tools are to be delivered to Cherbourg for Spencer. Van locates the box of tools in the storage room, however, another man runs from the room and escapes on a motorcycle. Customs officer, Inspector Maxwell (Colin Tapley) discovers the tools are made of solid gold.
Later, the bellboy is shot driving Van's car to the front door, and Van has Snell arrested. Alexia reveals that Spencer has in his office, a coded notebook with financial information. Van breaks into Spencer's darkened office and finds the notebook, but hears Spencer collapse and sees the man from the storage building rush out to his motorcycle.
Van follows but suffers a blackout and crashes his car. The mysterious man rescues him and takes him the cottage that Nick and his girl friend Jeanette (Diane Cilento) share. Nick admits he faked his death because was wanted by the French police and Spencer knew that. Nick also knows Spencer has been making counterfeit dollars from old Nazi forging plates.
Van and Nick confront Spencer but Nick is shot. Van leaves Nick with Jeanette and Avril and returns with Maxwell. Together they chase Spencer to the airport. He flies away, but his engines fail and he quickly crashes and dies. Nick is also dying but tells Avril that Van is afraid to marry her because of his blackouts.
Van tells Avril that he is leaving town for a while to think things over but just as his aircraft is about to take off Avril tells the pilot to leave without him.
Cast
- Zachary Scott as Richard Van Ness
- Robert Beatty as Nick Talbot
- Naomi Chance as Avril Talbot
- Kay Kendall as Alexia LaRoche
- Colin Tapley as Inspector Maxwell
- Arthur Lane as Boyd Spencer
- Harold Lang as Snell, the blackmailer
- Diane Cilento as Jeannette
- Jack Allen as Tniscott
- Douglas Muir as Doctor Wilner
- Ian Fleming as Talbot
- Larry Taylor as O'Gorman, henchman
- Darcy Conyers as Signals Officer
- Sheila Raynor as Nurse
- Nigel Neilson as Duty Officer (uncredited)
- Courtney Hope as Mrs Clarence, hotel tenant
- Anthony T. Miles as Sam, Desk Clerk
- James Steele as First Flying Officer
- Russ Allen as Second Flying Officer
- June Ashley as Blonde in Sportscar (uncredited)
- June Mitchell as Blonde in Sportscar (uncredited)
- Natasha Sokolova as Blonde in Sportscar (uncredited)
Production
Wings of Danger was based on the 1951 novel Dead on Course by Trevor Dudley Smith and Packham Webb.[2] The film was made by Hammer Films and shot at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith.[3] Production began in late September 1951 with location shooting in Rye, East Sussex.[4]
The aircraft used in Wings of Danger are:
- De Havilland DH.89A Dominie, c/n 6886, G-AGSI
- Percival Proctor Mk II, c/n H548, G-AIIL[5]
Reception
In Britain Wings of Danger was released on a double bill with FBI Girl (1951), enjoying a certain amount of success at the box office.[N 1]
Aviation film historian Stephen Pendo in Aviation in the Cinema (1985) compared Wings of Danger to the "dull" Arctic Flight (1952), stating, that Arctic Flight "... was still better than 'Wings of Danger', a British film with Zachary Scott as an airline pilot mixed up in a smuggling web or counterfeiting ring, depending on how one interprets the vague plot."[6]
References
Notes
- When Wings of Danger was released in the United States by Lippert Pictures, "according to some sources, the U.S. version was trimmed by a couple of minutes."[1]
Citations
- Erickson, Hal "Overview: 'Wings of Danger' (1952)." AllMovie, 2019. Retrieved: 13 July 2019.
- Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1 January 1952, p. 56.
- "Review: 'Wings of Danger' (1952)." BFI, 2019. Retrieved: 13 July 2019.
- "Original print information: 'Wings of Danger' (1952)." TCM, 2019. Retrieved: 13 July 2019.
- Santoir, Christian. "Review: 'Wings of Danger' (1952)." Aeromovies, 27 February 2014. Retrieved: 13 July 2019.
- Pendo 1985, p. 26.
Bibliography
- Pendo, Stephen. Aviation in the Cinema. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. ISBN 0-8-1081-746-2.
External links
- Wings of Danger at IMDb
- Wings of Danger at the TCM Movie Database
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