What can I say? While I was complaining about the factual errors in a movie, a wise man (Vance) once told me "Suspend your disillusion!" Even though this "Ham" in the Swiss Alps is trying to talk on 80M with a parabolic dish, I gotta admit, this _is_ a kinda neat movie. I felt good to watch this, but rather than the plot generating this fuzzy feeling, it's probably really just brought on by the memories of watching B-movies at 4AM after a good night out. My sweetheart did get to jump once, and I must admit the suspense rivals that of most of the muck in the so-called action films released in the theaters every weekend. This movie isn't DVD worthy, but neither does it belong next to TRON (in file 13, or the round file.) I'm going to put it on my shelf next to the WarGames and Sneakers VHS tapes, to be watched over and over as I dream of a hackers ideal...
6 Reviews
Not bad for a film nobody has ever heard of
kwdavids4 March 1999
This is a suspense story about a man isolated by geography (he works in a satellite earth station in the alps) and a boy isolated by the loss of his father. They meet via shortwave radio and then the man sees some nasty doings via his big antenna. Technically it's not TOO infeasible. It's a fair yarn with moderate tension. It's an adventure story that anyone in the family could get sucked into. If you don't see anything better at the Video store, give it a look see.
A cute little sleeper film I'm glad I found
vrayder7 August 2001
I found this movie while flipping channels looking for something to watch. I was so hooked by the cuteness of it that I bought the video. It may not be perfect, but I like it and Vincent Spano is a delight.
The relationship development is good and the scenery of the alps and (New England?) coastline are good also. I look for good 'sleeper' films and this is one of my favorites. I recommend it to anyone who likes these different little films as I do.
The relationship development is good and the scenery of the alps and (New England?) coastline are good also. I look for good 'sleeper' films and this is one of my favorites. I recommend it to anyone who likes these different little films as I do.
HAM and giallo
BandSAboutMovies30 January 2024
Warning: Spoilers
The title of this movie translates as someone is listening but it was released in English-speaking places as High Frequency.
Peter (Vincent Spano) is a satellite television communications technician who works in a control station in the Swiss Alps. His life is pretty boring, as other than watching monitors, he just plays chess over the ham radio and tries to find other people to talk to. One of them is Danny (Umberto Caglini) and one night, they accidentally get to watch a murder.
It's very innocent how an older man and a young boy become friends in the time before the internet. Of course they would come together to try and stop others from getting killed. This looks more like an American movie, kind of like an Italian Cloak and Dagger.
Directed by Faliero Rosati, who wrote the story with Franco Ferrini and Vincenzo Cerami, the main story in this is about a man physically isolated helping a boy emotionally isolated by the loss of his father. I'm surprised that no one decided to remake it the U. S., as it's very much the kind of movie that would come out at the end of summer.
Is it a giallo? Mitigating factors: Pino Donaggio did the music and the spy in it is played by David Brandon, who was in Stagefright, Delirium and Olga O's Strange Story.
Peter (Vincent Spano) is a satellite television communications technician who works in a control station in the Swiss Alps. His life is pretty boring, as other than watching monitors, he just plays chess over the ham radio and tries to find other people to talk to. One of them is Danny (Umberto Caglini) and one night, they accidentally get to watch a murder.
It's very innocent how an older man and a young boy become friends in the time before the internet. Of course they would come together to try and stop others from getting killed. This looks more like an American movie, kind of like an Italian Cloak and Dagger.
Directed by Faliero Rosati, who wrote the story with Franco Ferrini and Vincenzo Cerami, the main story in this is about a man physically isolated helping a boy emotionally isolated by the loss of his father. I'm surprised that no one decided to remake it the U. S., as it's very much the kind of movie that would come out at the end of summer.
Is it a giallo? Mitigating factors: Pino Donaggio did the music and the spy in it is played by David Brandon, who was in Stagefright, Delirium and Olga O's Strange Story.
About a boy
ben-chevalier20 January 2003
Warning: Spoilers
*SPOILERS*
I have seen this movie on TV in France where it was called "meurtre sur la fréquence", following french annoying use of always changing the movie titles.
The plot deals with a lone man in a TV station lost in the swiss or italian mountains watching on one of the channels he transmits the image of a murder shot by a CCTV system.
While he has no idea where in the world this happened, he manages to contact on the air a little boy connected to his late father's CB radio et the top of a lighthouse in the US.
Together, they try to discover the truth about that murder, and to avoid being caught by the spies.
What impressed me much about Qualcuno in ascolto is that it sounds to me as quite realistic, for a spy story. Quite far away from James Bond & Co, where the spies are really dangerous, the main character (the TV station operator) is really in danger and the boy, though smart, does not manage to be better than both the spies and the police. This is quite a relief after so many films like Spy Kids or Home Alone.
Though not the best movie I ever seen, I would recommend it strongly.
7 out of 10
I have seen this movie on TV in France where it was called "meurtre sur la fréquence", following french annoying use of always changing the movie titles.
The plot deals with a lone man in a TV station lost in the swiss or italian mountains watching on one of the channels he transmits the image of a murder shot by a CCTV system.
While he has no idea where in the world this happened, he manages to contact on the air a little boy connected to his late father's CB radio et the top of a lighthouse in the US.
Together, they try to discover the truth about that murder, and to avoid being caught by the spies.
What impressed me much about Qualcuno in ascolto is that it sounds to me as quite realistic, for a spy story. Quite far away from James Bond & Co, where the spies are really dangerous, the main character (the TV station operator) is really in danger and the boy, though smart, does not manage to be better than both the spies and the police. This is quite a relief after so many films like Spy Kids or Home Alone.
Though not the best movie I ever seen, I would recommend it strongly.
7 out of 10
Great movie with plenty of action and intrigue.
colinimdb1 December 2000
Alone at a satellite monitoring station in the Alps, Peter accidentally taps into a secret spy station and watches a man get killed, but he has no idea where in the world it happened. Thousands of miles away, a boy's ham radio hobby puts the boy in touch with Peter and together they solve the murder. Lots of action, with plenty of twists and turns.
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