Green for Danger

1947 "Murder... weapon or clue?"
7.4| 1h31m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 07 August 1947 Released
Producted By: Individual Pictures
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

In the midst of Nazi air raids, a postman dies on the operating table at a rural hospital. But was the death accidental?

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Reviews

Executscan Expected more
MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant
Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.
Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
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.
gcraft This film is filled with little absurdities and improbable plot elements, the most salient being the willingness of Nurse Linley at the end to submit to an operation when she knows that she is in mortal danger.But 'Green for Danger' is tremendously entertaining and goes a long way to rehabilitating the tired whodunit genre so familiar to aficionados of 30s movies. Alastair Sim is a bit mannered, but his teasing and irony spice up many a scene. The atmosphere is threatening and engrossing: dark shadows, V-1 bombs flying overhead, the knowledge that there is a murderer in our midst, and above all the disquieting ambiance of the operating room -- helpless patients wheeled about on gurneys, bright lights, lots of masked people hovering over the patient, the focus on the dials and canister used in the anesthesiology of the period. Not to mention the attractive (Sally Gray) and capable (Trevor Howard) cast.The result is that the viewer cares about what happens and is greatly amused keeping up with the clues and speculating about the guilty party. In my opinion a lot more fun than the 30s Hollywood product. Strongly recommended.
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.
Polaris_DiB I only have a very brief review for this one, as most of the details are in the mystery and the plot and most of those details are spoilers. This is a rich and whimsical British mystery, the type popular with fans of Agatha Christie, for instance. It's set during the German blitz of Great Britain during World War II, and Gilliat backdrops the rather personal mystery held within an insular community with the Pavlovian terror of the bombings and the issue of world affairs in the heart of many a character's motivations. Otherwise, the motive behind the movie is kind of a let down, but don't let that stop you from enjoying the fun behind "whodunnit". The movie really gets started when Alastair Sim arrives as the quirky, wry investigator. He's a scene-stealer in every way, surrounded as he his by the usual in characters with strong personalities too involved in their own ways to be more than just a little truthful.--PolarisDiB