Counterblast (1948)

Sadly Over-hyped

Great Film overall

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

If in 1949 you were casting for a German leading part whom would you chose if it were not a German actor?Maybe Anton Walbrook or Curt Jurgens but not Mervyn Johns.It is bad enough that this escaped German POW has a Welsh accent,but he then kills an Australian doctor but still has the same voice.At a dance he meets the commander of the POW camp from where he escaped but is still not recognised.He is helped throughout by this Nazi cell which somehow exists in London despite the war having been over for 4 years.At ever twist and turn the illogicality of the plot hits you squarely in the face.The ending of course is pure irony.However at 99 minutes the film is far too long for one to give it the benefit of the doubt.Little wonder that it has not been shown on TV here.

I first became aware of Nova Pilbeam in Hitchcock's "Young & Innocent" with Derrick de Marnay and in "The Man Who Knew Too Much" with Peter Lorre, both filmed in the 30s.Intrigued by her performance in these two films, I sought out this film from 1948.She is older by say 10 years or so and more mature but still attractive and adroitly plays the heroine as in the afore stated films.The other reviewers have covered the basic plot, so I will not risk giving out "spoilers" but confine myself to a few chosen words.Canadian Robert Beatty effectively plays the handsome hero while Nova shows misplaced loyalty to her boss.I noticed Alan Wheatley in the cast as a Nazi dentist (did he ever play a sympathetic role?).I first became aware of him playing the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1950s ITV children's TV series of "Robin Hood" starring Richard Greene.My copy was a little bit muddy which I put down to the age of the original print but sound quality was fine.Another cameo of the nursing sister was played by Margareta Scott.She never seemed to get to play the lead.I saw Margareta in two Margaret Lockwood films playing supporting roles: "Girl in the News (1940) and "Quiet Wedding" (1941).Mervyn Johns of course played the lead role as the bacterial scientist and I agree with a previous reviewer, he played a sort of latter day anti-hero.I also agree that much more tension could have been injected into the plot by the director Stein but of course Hitchcock was firmly established in Hollywood at the time.The result is a slightly above average thriller and I therefore rated it 6/10.

A good solid piece of British movie making of its period. No classic but watchable. In the hands of a director like Hitchcock, and there are some very Hitchcockian themes here, this material would have made a minor classic. The former Concentration camp doctor's comeuppance (he is gassed in the hold of a ship being fumigated) is wonderfully ironic.The DVD watched was part of a 50 movie boxset from Mill Creek called Nightmare Worlds and the transfer is far from good. The image was fuzzy and broke up from time to time towards the end, and, somehow, presumably to save space on the disc, the frame had been cropped on all four sides. This was especially apparent during the opening credits and in a scene on a train where the evil Doctor and a padre are seated facing each other in a carriage having a conversation - all we see is their noses peeping out from the sides of the frame.

I've always like Mervyn Johns, especially his portrayal of Bob Cratchit in the Alistair Sim "A Christmas Carol." Here's an about face where he plays a ruthless post war Nazi, attempting to find a cure for the plague. His motive is to find a cure so that this horrible disease can be unleashed on the enemy, but his people will continue to prosper. He kills a famous biologist and assumes his identity. He holes up in a small English town, though he is wanted throughout England. The problem is that he is so lacking in people skills that he draws all kinds of suspicion from his co-workers. A little kindness, a little compassion, and he could have pulled it off. He, of course, would take on the typical view of the Nazi hierarchy, humorless, godless, vicious. Johns is fantastic in his role. He tempers his anger by covering things up, but he becomes emotionally attached to what he can't have, the young woman who is his lab assistant. Still, he comes across as a humanitarian and is able to move around, doing noble work. He is forgiven for his eccentricities because of this. Watch this for some nice acting and a world that has just stepped out of a horrible war.