Danger Within

[poliphilo]

Every so often one of the forgotten movies my mother watches on the Talking Pictures channel snags my attention. Yesterday it was Danger Within (1959)- a prison camp escape drama-cum-whodunnit with an ensemble cast headed by Richard Todd, Richard Attenborough, Bernard Lee and- best of all- Denis Price as the self-deluding actor chappie (with a pin-up of John Gielgud over his bunk) who indulges himself in the world's worst production of Hamlet while his audience escapes down the tunnel under his stage. Brian Forbes had a hand in writing the script- which is almost always an indication of quality- and Don Chaffey- best known for Jason and the Argonauts- is the director- suppling the kind of sweet little touches (like that pin-up of Gielgud)- that prove him to be something rather more than a journeyman. There's comedy, suspense, the odd shock- and finally the blissful release of watching the surviving cast disperse into the sunny Italian landscape.

Comments

[sovay]

Yesterday it was Danger Within (1959)- a prison camp escape drama-cum-whodunnit with an ensemble cast headed by Richard Todd, Richard Attenborough, Bernard Lee and- best of all- Denis Price as the self-deluding actor chappie (with a pin-up of John Gielgud over his bunk) who indulges himself in the world's worst production of Hamlet while his audience escapes down the tunnel under his stage.

That sounds delightful! I'll try to find it.

[poliphilo]

I believe you'd like it.

[chochiyo_sama]

I saw Jason and the Argonauts when I was a child--those nasty little skeleton warriors totally freaked me out!

[poliphilo]

The skeleton warriors are amazing.

Nowadays they'd use CGI.

[ocean_pearl]

Eh. I'll pass. I like old movies but ...