An airline pilot called Nick Talbot (Robert Beatty) is presumed dead after his plane, destined for Guernsey, seemingly crashed into the English Channel as a result of severe weather conditions. Nick's best friend and fellow pilot Van (Zachary Scott) discovers his girlfriend, Nick's sister, Avril (Naomi Chance), is being blackmailed by a guy called Snell (Harold Lang) and he learns that during the war Nick had ran a smuggling ring. Snell got Nick his job with the airline and he tells Van that its owner Boyd Spencer (Arthur Lang) runs an outfit smuggling gold and forged currency. Van visits Alexia (Kay Kendall), a former girlfriend of Nick's, on the pretext of buying some counterfeit dollar bills on someone else's behalf and he discovers that Boyd Spencer keeps an incriminating code book locked away in his office. When he breaks in, Van is ambushed and knocked down by another intruder who escapes on a motorcycle. Van chases him in his car but suffers a blackout and crashes. He awakes to find himself in a remote country cottage attended upon by - guess who? - Nick and his girlfriend Jeannette (Diane Cilento). Nick explains that he faked his death because Boyd Spencer had blackmailed him into smuggling forged currency and gold in his plane. He is a wanted man in France and Boyd Spencer used that to his advantage. Van encounters Boyd Spencer and his gang at their hideout in a martello tower and endangers his life in the process...
An early offering from the legendary Hammer studio and celebrated director Terence Fisher made a few years before they shot to international fame with gothic horrors such as The Curse Of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy. The screenplay is by John Gilling whose own career would peak at that studio in the 60's when he co-wrote The Gorgon and directed notable chillers like The Shadow Of The Cat, The Plague Of The Zombies and The Reptile.
Alas, fans of Hammer should prepare to be disappointed, as although some of their pre-horror stuff is excellent, this is a hackneyed little crime thriller in which its tale of smuggling and an implicated pilot faking his death has all be done before. Gilling, who could be a versatile writer and director, simply rehashes tired situations from the b-pic playbook here. Terence Fisher's direction is unsurprisingly lifeless here since it gives him very little to do. People wanting better examples of his early work at Hammer should check out Stolen Face and Four Sided Triangle, which both have strong links to his subsequent greatest works for them like the Frankenstein movies. It has to be said that what little action there is here is both slackly and clumsily executed.
Zachary Scott, the obligatory imported American leading man, is competent in his role as the hero and something of a heavy too, but his relationship with his on screen girlfriend, Naomi Chance, herself a very competent performer, isn't sufficiently developed in the script so as to have that much of an emotional impact upon the audience. He is hesitant to marry her since he suffers from blackouts as a result of a war injury, which could wreck his career as a pilot if it came out and he fears that he is not good enough for her as a result of that. In addition, Robert Beatty's character, the disappearing airline pilot, simply wants to escape the country with Diane Cilento in order to both to escape Arthur Lang's gang and to keep his father from ever finding out the truth. He has always believed his son to be a great war hero and if he ever found out about his smuggling activities it would destroy him.
All in all, Wings Of Danger (USA: Dead On Course) will be a disappointment to fans of Fisher and Hammer who are seeking out their frustratingly obscure early works due to the routine plot, its predictable development and indifferent direction. Funnily enough, this film is only very briefly mentioned in Wheeler Winston Dixon's marvellous book The Charm Of Evil: The Life And Films Of Terence Fisher who clearly felt that it did not warrant detailed analysis.
An early offering from the legendary Hammer studio and celebrated director Terence Fisher made a few years before they shot to international fame with gothic horrors such as The Curse Of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy. The screenplay is by John Gilling whose own career would peak at that studio in the 60's when he co-wrote The Gorgon and directed notable chillers like The Shadow Of The Cat, The Plague Of The Zombies and The Reptile.
Alas, fans of Hammer should prepare to be disappointed, as although some of their pre-horror stuff is excellent, this is a hackneyed little crime thriller in which its tale of smuggling and an implicated pilot faking his death has all be done before. Gilling, who could be a versatile writer and director, simply rehashes tired situations from the b-pic playbook here. Terence Fisher's direction is unsurprisingly lifeless here since it gives him very little to do. People wanting better examples of his early work at Hammer should check out Stolen Face and Four Sided Triangle, which both have strong links to his subsequent greatest works for them like the Frankenstein movies. It has to be said that what little action there is here is both slackly and clumsily executed.
Zachary Scott, the obligatory imported American leading man, is competent in his role as the hero and something of a heavy too, but his relationship with his on screen girlfriend, Naomi Chance, herself a very competent performer, isn't sufficiently developed in the script so as to have that much of an emotional impact upon the audience. He is hesitant to marry her since he suffers from blackouts as a result of a war injury, which could wreck his career as a pilot if it came out and he fears that he is not good enough for her as a result of that. In addition, Robert Beatty's character, the disappearing airline pilot, simply wants to escape the country with Diane Cilento in order to both to escape Arthur Lang's gang and to keep his father from ever finding out the truth. He has always believed his son to be a great war hero and if he ever found out about his smuggling activities it would destroy him.
All in all, Wings Of Danger (USA: Dead On Course) will be a disappointment to fans of Fisher and Hammer who are seeking out their frustratingly obscure early works due to the routine plot, its predictable development and indifferent direction. Funnily enough, this film is only very briefly mentioned in Wheeler Winston Dixon's marvellous book The Charm Of Evil: The Life And Films Of Terence Fisher who clearly felt that it did not warrant detailed analysis.