NR | 1h 37m | Drama, Romance, Thriller | 1950
The more films that I watch and review, the more I realize just how many filmmakers use the flashback method in their productions. The technique usually entails starting in the present day during some sort of harrowing scene, then backing up to an earlier point in time to show the events that led up to the initial, present-day scene.
In the British-produced geopolitical thriller “The Great Manhunt” (originally titled “State Secret”), director Sidney Gilliat offers an entertaining man-on-the-run yarn with many twists and turns that should keep genre fans engaged.
The film opens with Dr. John Marlowe (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), an American doctor being kept against his will in the fictitious European country of Vosnia. Col. Galcon (Jack Hawkins), who is in charge of the country’s internal security apparatus (he’s also the Minister of Public Services and Minister of Health) has plans to have Marlowe killed and make it look like an accident. Marlowe sees that state security forces, weapons at the ready, have completely surrounded the building he’s in; his situation seems dire, indeed.
We then regress a couple of weeks in time to find Marlowe enjoying his stay in London. He receives a request from a Vosnian envoy to travel to the country so that he may receive a prestigious award recognizing some of his groundbreaking medical applications. The Vosnian government, including its leader Gen. Niva (Walter Rilla), would also like him to showcase his unique surgical skills on one of the government’s terminally ill patients.
Although Marlowe’s British cohorts are suspicious of the invitation (Vosnia is a dictatorship, after all), the doctor’s ardent altruism compels him help the Vosnians. Besides, he’s only supposed to be there for a couple of days.
When he arrives in Vosnia, Marlowe is greeted by several men, the aforementioned Col. Galcon, and a sinister-looking character named Dr. Revo (Karel Stepanek), who usher him around through the itinerary they’ve planned for him.
All seems fine and dandy leading up to the operation, with Marlowe being escorted around and treated like some sort of visiting royalty. However, as the surgical operation begins in earnest, the Vosnian medical team assisting Marlowe begins speaking to each other in Vosnian, instead of the English he’s accustomed to. It’s then that the kind-hearted surgeon realizes that something wicked may be amiss.
One Poor Directorial Decision
First off, I must commend the actors in this production. For the most part, the characters were unique and the talented cast seemed to embrace them well. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is convincing as a philanthropic-yet-naïve physician Dr. Marlowe, and Jack Hawkins plays his primary escort, Col. Galcon, with enough subtlety that you can’t quite tell when he’s being polite, and when he’s utilizing vague threats.I also enjoyed seeing Glynis Johns play music hall girl Lisa Robinson, one of the only English-speaking people the good doctor encounters while he’s on the run. Unfortunately, she shows up much later in the movie, but this delayed leading lady shines while she’s on the screen.
One of the things that struck me as an odd element of the film is its incorporation of a fake language—many of the Vosnian characters essentially speak in a silly-sounding fabricated language. Perhaps the filmmakers were trying to be overly politically correct by not having the movie set in a specific country, but the outlandish mumbo-jumbo coming out of their mouths sounds like something out of a Star Wars or Star Trek film, not a classic thriller. The “language” is also inconsistent when listened to with a trained ear.
For instance, the humorous barbershop proprietor (Nelly Arno) clearly incorporates quite a bit of Italian into the other fake jargon. Other characters slip in words and phrases from other real-world languages, as well. It’s somewhat amusing at first but becomes redundant and farcical later in the film.
On the plus side of things, the movie moves along at a snappy pace and there’s never a want for action or suspense. The more that the kind doctor’s life is imperiled, the more enthralling the narrative becomes.
The film benefits from being partially shot in Italy, specifically, the mountainous northern regions of Trentino and The Dolomites. These exquisitely beautiful locales provide breathtaking backdrops for some of the movie’s more inspired chase scenes.
Although this isn’t quite up to the usual high standards of British filmmaking that I’ve become accustomed to, it’s overall an enjoyable Saturday afternoon flick that should keep you engaged.
