The Master Plan (1955)
Following WW II, a U.S. army officer stationed in West Germany is assigned with keeping classified information away from the Communists. Unfortunately, Red spies know that he suffers from sudden black-outs and use this to hypnotise him, and make it appear that he is a traitor.
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Too much of everything
A Major Disappointment
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Directed by Cy Endfield under the name of Hugh Raker (Eureka?) 'The Master Plan' is a mainly pedestrian movie about the leaking of military secrets at a part British, part American facility in Germany. A US major flies in specifically to assist a British colonel who is the head of security. The plot meanders this way and that but the last twenty minutes are quite suspenseful leading to the unmasking of the culprit.It was based on a television play called 'Operation North Star'. Norman Wooland as the British Colonel and Wayne Morris as the American major are OK and the rest of the cast are....OK. A lot of stock music is used which adds no tension or excitement throughout most of the film. Not an ordeal to watch but lacking a bit of energy.
What a deception from this Cyril Endfield movie. I expected much more. I nevertheless know that our director made it under a pseudonym, during the fifties and the witches hunt - the anti red era everyone had heard about.So, he was not so free. I know that. But this movie is talkative, boring, nothing more than a sleepy espionage yarn. Wayne Morris seems lost in the middle of this tepid story. The only interesting thing is that he is not the lead, and his character is rather unusual.But besides this, you can forget it. The other films made by Endfield are better than this one.