Green for Danger (1946) User Reviews

The Marvellous Sim Steals The First Of Many Movies

[henfish · 8/10 · 31 January 2002]

Green For Danger (and how cheeky is THAT title!) is a bravura example of simplicity in the art of movie making. It's a rural whodunnit set in WWII (it was nearly banned in case it frightened soldiers from going to hospital!) wherein a small group of medical professionals soon discover there is a murderer in their midsts after the homicide of a soldier. Enter a Scotland Yard Inspector (Sim) to tidy up the loose ends and swiftly solve the case - before handing in his resignation!!!

This film, despite its whimsical charm, is replete with fine examples of every film-making ingredient. The acting (though a tad stiff) is dead on the ball; the dialogue is always precise and frequently ingenious (Sim's music hall gag about impurities...); the editing is never less than effective and the direction and cinematography constantly inspired (the mood and lighting for the second murder is awesome). It is clear from this type of gem that the ingredients of cinematic success are not always excessive ones - unless it is an excess of skill and talent; and this film has that in abundance. On top of this it also has the gorgon-eyed brilliance of Alistair Sim: a man late to his profession but BOY did he make up for it! Check out his delivery in this film and his constantly out-of-kilter (and surely spontaneous) body language. He is an actor relishing being the fulcrum of every scene he's in - and even those he isn't: The night-time scene in the woods being a perfect example of his equal gift for comedy and scene stealing. And he still makes me laugh out loud!

"Joseph Higgins. I begin with him because he was the first to die..."

[PudgyPandaMan · 7/10 · 14 January 2009]

This film opens with this line and is one of the greatest opening hooks I've heard in film. These words are spoken as anonymous hands are clanging away on a typewriter. And so begins "Green for Danger".

This is a great, quirky British mystery drama that I found quite entertaining. At times it's tense and scary, then its humorous - and then its almost noir. I found this kept the film interesting and the pace was quite energetic. I will say the beginning is a little slow to start after the great opening hook. It starts out looking like it will be just another doctor/nurse soap opera. But hang with it and it gets rolling.

I found the black and white cinematography to be quite accomplished and loved its great use of architectural shapes, shadows, and the mix of light and dark.

Alastair Sim as The Inspector was great. He has an unusual mug of a face and bulging eyes. He's tall and somewhat clumsy. And more than a little goofy. He makes quite effective use of sarcasm. I loved his line when he said "My presence lay over the hospital like a pall."

It was interesting to see some of the old hospital equipment. I noticed there was a coin meter for gas utilities in the kitchen - never saw one before. My only complaint during the film was having difficulty following some of the clipped British accents.

There is a nice twist at the end. The hapless inspector solves the crime, but causes harm in so doing. There is a clever closing line back on the typewriter - " I offer my resignation, in the confident hope that you wont accept it.''

Quirky piece - loved it!

Quintessentially British

[JoeytheBrit · 7/10 · 3 August 2009]

The quintessential 40s British whodunit, Green for Danger satisfies even as it leaves a trail of plot holes that even Alistair Sims' rather self-satisfied Inspector Cockrill would have spotted. Perhaps it satisfies despite its flaws because it embodies all the good things about British films back then. The writers assume a level of intelligence on the part of their viewers and possession of an attention span that would seem unattainable to many of today's MTV generation. Time is taken to develop characters and establish relationships instead of telling the audience everything about a character that is necessary only for the purpose of driving the plot along.

Alistair Sim, sporting a typically smug grin when he's not ducking airplanes, plays Inspector Cockrill, who is called upon to investigate the murder of a postman on the operating table at a quaint hospital full of wooden beams and flagstone floors. He doesn't appear until midway through the film – although his voice can be heard on the narration from the outset – and his dry wit peps things up immeasurably. We are presented with the usual group of suspects: Leo Genn as a vaguely slimy Lothario who wastes no time in pursuing the lovely nurse Fredericka (Sally Gray) the moment she breaks off her engagement to a young Trevor Howard; buxom Megs Jenkins, a matronly figure even then although she was still in her twenties, and a nurse who borders on the edge of hysteria nearly all the time. They were all present at an operation in which poor old Moore Marriott was pumped full of Co2, and are all, therefore, suspected of his murder.

The film keeps you guessing throughout – knowing very little about the film before I watched it, I couldn't even figure out who the second victim was going to be for a while: the plot seemed to be setting up one character for the fall before turning the spotlight on someone else entirely. A couple of red herrings throw you off the trail quite nicely, and Inspector Cockrill's confidence proves to be monumentally misplaced. The twist at the end is truly sublime, and the look on Alistair Sim's face when all becomes clear is one of those cinematic moments that live long in the memory. It's all very quaint and old-fashioned now, but it still provides some solid entertainment.

Lots of fun

[howard.schumann · 14 April 2003]

Directed and produced by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder, the British mystery-comedy Green for Danger is a rare treat. Featuring the incomparable Alastair Sim as Cockrill, a bumbling Scotland Yard detective and the redoubtable Trevor Howard as a suspicious doctor, the plot is a convoluted murder mystery in which five people have motive and means to commit murder -- but whodunit?

Set in a rural British hospital (that looks like an Elizabethan mansion) during the latter stages of World War II, two people are murdered before you can say "buzz bomb". The first suspicious death occurs when a postman suddenly dies on the operating table after receiving an anaesthetic. This is soon followed by the death of Nurse Marion Bates (Judy Campbell) after she announces at a party that she has found evidence to expose the killer. The possible killer includes the uptight Dr. Barnes (Trevor Howard), the emotionally unstable Nurse Sanson (Rosamund John), Nurse Woods (Megs Jenkins), Nurse Linley (Sally Gray), the object of affection from both doctors, and the philandering surgeon, Mr. Eden (Leo Genn). Each one of the suspects looks and acts guilty.

There are many twists and turns and, without giving anything away, a staged mock operation after an attempted third murder ultimately will tell the tale. But the film belongs to Alastair Sim. The word whimsical must have been invented with him in mind. You just cannot take things too seriously when he is around. His capricious charm and impudent smile lights up every dark shadow in the old hospital. Green for Danger is a bit stodgy but lots of fun.

a dark delicious movie

[phil-small · 10/10 · 18 November 2005]

With its darkly atmospheric tones,Green for danger works extremely well.The second murder is incredibly well shot with scenes reminiscent of 'I walked with a Zombie',the noise & movement caused by wind being particularly effective.A stellar cast interact perfectly with a special mention for Sally Gray,on her first role after a 5 year break due to 'a mental breakdown',comes across as a glacial goddess.I'm not worthy.Alistair Sim's lugubrious narration provides a perfect framing device building a sense of anticipation and atmosphere.I don't find the movie slow and I was surprised that people find it 'talkie',maybe its modern audiences with their legendary short attention span!

Whimsical mystery with Sim, Howard, and Gray in top form

[simon_sparrow · 10/10 · 12 August 2001]

From the opening words of Sim's narration, mystery lovers understand that they are in store for a whimsical treat. Who is the murderer in the operating theatre? Sally Gray and Trevor Howard also deliver vivid portrayals of most interesting characters. Leo Genn also adds a nice bit as a head surgeon who is a bit of a lothario. This is marvelous entertainment.

The Who And The Why

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 22 August 2008]

Green For Danger is about a pair of murders that take place in a British hospital in post World War II Great Britain. One was a patient that died on the operating table, the other is of one of the attending nurses who says that she has evidence that the patient's death was indeed foul play. Unfortunately she's stabbed to death before revealing her evidence.

Scotland Yard sends Inspector Alastair Sim to investigate and he's got a closed set of operating suspects that include hospital staff, Sally Gray, Trevor Howard, Leo Genn, and Rosamund John. What could it all be about?

As is usual the motive is kind of far out, but as Sim says we're not dealing with a normal functioning mind here. Sim is the real show in Green For Danger, he's a British version of Lieutenant Columbo thirty years ahead of his time. He's constantly getting under foot and a real annoyance to the hospital staff. But he has a knack for ferreting out information.

Of course he does in the end find out the who and the why, but Sim does manage to fumble the arrest of his perpetrator in an unusual way. But as he says in the end it wasn't his best day on the job.

For those who like the droll characters portrayed by Alastair Sim on the screen, Green For Danger is a must for you.

A black comedy/murder mystery with the wonderful Alistair Sim

[mnbates50 · 10/10 · 19 October 2003]

One of my top 100 British films a must see. Remarkable performances from an ensemble of British acting talent. The depth of the characterisations is wonderful. All of this held together by an excellent performance by Alistair Sim. A blackly comic script and sharp direction all add to this classic film.

Atmospheric medical thriller/mystery

[kolob · 7/10 · 5 October 1999]

Would make an interesting film as a double feature with "Coma". This film impressed me with the way it used lighting and sound to cast certain parts of the hospital in a most sinister light. The scene where a trap is laid for the killer is one of the more scary and suspenseful scenes I've seen in a whodunit in some time. Alastair Sim's presence alone is reason enough to see this film. I felt the suspense was heightened by the fact that he didn't seem to have a "clue" much of the time (and you're expecting him to come to the rescue?) Will he or won't he stop the murderer before he or she kill(s) again? Watch and see! You will become a Sim devotee by the end of the film if you aren't already.

A great WWII era British murder mystery

[AlsExGal · 9/10 · 1 January 2015]

By gum, from the 1940's through the 1960's, when the British put together a murder mystery with a psychological edge, nobody could beat them! This little thriller starts out in WWII as a team of surgeons and nurses are quite busy repairing the bodies of people hit by Nazi planes whose targets are not military but civilian in an effort to beat down the morale of British citizens.

One night a fellow named Higgins is brought in, badly injured by one of these Nazi bombs, and he dies on the operating table. He says something right before he goes under the anesthetic to one of the members of the team - I won't tell you what - and you think "Oh this is easy, THAT person did it." Then you find out another member of the team has psychological issues stemming from her mother's death in a raid while she was away from home, that there are jealousy issues over a woman between the two doctors, and yet another member of the team just likes to cause trouble.

Big tip here - if you suspect that someone is guilty of murder, do not stop a social event in a room that includes all of the suspects and say "I know there has been a murder, I know who the murderer is, and I am now going alone out into the dark of night to retrieve the evidence that will convict that person!" You will wind up dead, and so does that person.

Enter stage left Alistair Sim as a representative of Scotland Yard -in other words a cop - and he is every bit as unlikeable as any murderer could be. He announces that Higgins was murdered, he announces that the five surviving members of the surgical team are suspects, and he also announces that four poison pills are missing from the pharmacy. The implication is that the one of the five that is the murderer plans to kill the other four. On his way to solving the case, Sims' character seems to really enjoy making women cry hysterically and causing the doctors to come to blows with only words and insinuations.

There will be several places right up to the end where you are SURE you know who is guilty and you will be wrong right up to the ironic ending. Watch and find out who did it and why. I guarantee you'll be on the edge of your seat right up to the end, which is when the confusing title of this film is explained.

Classic whodunnit structure with a keen WWII backdrop

[Polaris_DiB · 6/10 · 12 October 2008]

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

Green for greatness

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 19 August 2017]

Love murder mysteries, have always been fascinated by them since reading my first Agatha Christie novel ('And Then There Were None') aged twelve, and with such a great cast on paper 'Green for Danger' had the potential to be a real treat.

Potential that is more than lived up to, if falling slightly short of being surpassed. Not quite a masterpiece of murder and mystery, but for a comedy-mystery thriller it's very near to it and makes one sad that one doesn't see films like this now on the most part. It is a little on the slow side to begin with, picking up the pace from the revelation at the dance that leads to a second murder and especially when Alastair Sim appears midway. The motive for the first murder (the one for the second is easier to follow) comes from nowhere and is rather confusing for anybody, like me, who didn't remember anything like that being mentioned previously, also found it explained in too hasty a way.

However, 'Green for Danger' has an attention-grabbing opening line and the opening narration is the perfect way to draw the viewer in and set things up. It also ends with a very clever and amusing final line, and apart from the underwhelming motive the final twist is one of the most unexpected and most genius personally experienced in any film, was not expecting the murderer's real identity or the outcome.

There are some great scenes in between. Especially good was the suspenseful build up to the second murder, the suitably eerie photography and lighting helped, and the nail-biting tension created in the second murder itself, Inspector Cockrill's introduction and a tense rescue.

While 'Green for Danger' was very engaging for much of its length, much of the film flew by and made the most of the short running time, it particularly comes to life when Alastair Sim arrives on the scene and things get even better. It has been said that Sim steals the film and couldn't agree more. This is quintessential Sim and he is magnificent with his wry, witty line delivery, expressive eyes that tell so much, great energy and deliberately and deliciously contradictory body language (rarely does tremendous energy equal laziness and be so funny).

Rest of the cast also fare well. Trevor Howard plays it straight effectively and he plays an uneasy character with naturalness. Sally Gray is beguiling and charming and Judy Campbell, Rosamund John and Megs Jenkins also make a strong impression. Particularly impressive is Leo Genn, his ambiguity, bringing out very subtle shades of the heroic and the villainous, was perfect for a character that one is never sure whether to trust or not and it really deepened the mystery.

'Green for Danger's' mystery is a thoroughly engaging one, with a delicious dark wit and nail-biting tension in some scenes. It's complicated, with a lot of information being given mainly through dialogue, but rarely overly-so. The script has some wonderfully funny lines with Sim and is very thought-provoking elsewhere.

It's a great-looking film too, the photography and lighting are very stylish and rich in atmosphere. Standing out in particular is the build up to the second murder and the murder itself, which was terrifying even when one knows that it's going to happen. Sydney Gilliat directs beautifully, while William Alwyn's score is hauntingly ominous and jaunty.

Overall, a great film and a near-classic that is primarily to be seen for Sim. 9/10 Bethany Cox

fine British murder mystery

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 17 July 2021]

It's 1944 at Heron's Park Hospital. A buzz bomb flies overhead resulting in casualties. Joseph Higgins is brought to the hospital but dies on the operating table. Anesthetist Barney Barnes (Trevor Howard) is suspected but he refuses to accept responsibility. Sister Bates claims to have evidence but is murdered before revealing it. Scotland Yard Inspector Cockrill (Alistair Sim) comes to investigate.

There has been many iconic literary British murder mystery. I've never heard of this one nor the novelist Christianna Brand. Alistair Sim gives it charisma. He drives the movie but I don't think the character turns into a franchise. He has the potential but it's not used. I do have some minor questions about the mystery. All in all, this is pretty good.

Green for Danger

[d_m_s · 5/10 · 27 March 2014]

Old whodunnit set in hospital surrounds during WWII. A patient dies on the operating table and it turns out to be murder. 2 doctors and 3 nurses, all of whom were present at the time, are the suspects in a classic situation of guess the killer. There is some additional, pointless sub plot about a love triangle between the 2 doctors and one of the nurses but it is nothing more than padding.

I was disappointed in the film as I liked it a lot less than I thought I would and it no where near deserves its current 7.7 rating. While it does have the charm of an old British film, the characters and plot aren't that engaging.

I was also not keen on Alastair Sim's performance as it lacked subtlety and while this may have been the point, it didn't win me over. It feels as if we are supposed to like him just because he is a bit 'different' or eccentric. It was also odd how his character, who sort of becomes the main character, is not introduced until about 20 minutes into the film.

All in all it was OK but I wouldn't bother with a second viewing.

Alastair strikes again

[mosmanic · 12 November 1999]

The British film industry has had a chequered history, but was arguably at its finest in the 40's and 50's when it produced little gems like this.

Straightforwardly plotted convergent mysteries of this genre, with or without a major twist, never fail to give simple satisfaction when acted by such a cast of stalwarts and regular journeypersons as we find here. Some may find the stiff upper lips and well modulated tones of the middle classes a little grating for modern tastes, where nurses all speak naicely and ordinary folk are played by caricature cockneys. Speaking of stiff upper lips, their very personification Trevor Howard is, of course, in it, playing a surgeon with a cloud over his career. Which is why the whole is leavened by the unique figure of Alastair Sim.

No matter how serious the role he must play, his lugubrious features invariably betray an innate whimsicality, that essence of grown-up-naughty-schoolboy that we find so universally engaging, and which is the world's view of Britishness at its best. He makes it possible to insert a pratfall or quip to lighten the atmosphere without losing it.

Films like this were very easy and cheap to make - minimal locations, scenery munching, explosions or car wrecks. Current film makers might take note of their bang-per-buck in an era when nostalgic baby boomers are making their cinema presence felt again. But where will they find another Alastair Sim?

A charming mystery with the great Alastair Sims

[kfo9494 · 8/10 · 16 May 2012]

A great British who-done-it mystery that was charming and entertaining. A great murder mystery for the entire family with historic value woven right into the script.

Alastair Sims plays Inspector Cockrill from Scotland Yard called to a hospital after a set of murders are committed. It appears that someone in the surgical ward of the hospital is killing people and the Inspector is called out to find who and why the kills are happening.

Inspector Cockrill finds more than he bargained when he deals with the lives of the hospital personnel. Each person has some emotion they want hidden from the rest of the public thus making the mystery more interesting.

This movie is a great mystery film. It will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time. And the entire cast really performs beautifully as each character shows the human side of their emotion.

Even with the ending kind of crowded- the film deliveries with suspense and thrills for all viewers. There is a lot of history in this film. From hospital procedures to war time fears, this movie is a gem to watch. A good who-done-it flick.

A wonderful atmospheric British thriller from the 40's

[MIKE-WILSON6 · 9/10 · 15 June 2001]

At a lonely wartime hospital, the local postman, injured in a flying bomb explosion dies unexpectedly during surgery.This isolated incident leads to the chief surgeon,his team of doctors and nurses, becoming suspects in a series of suspicious deaths. When Inspector Cockrill (Alastair Sim) starts investigating, he finds four poison pills missing.... Good performances from Trevor Howard, Leo Genn, and Rosamund John, but the film is stolen by the wonderful Alastair Sim.

Whodunnit Plays Out Pretty Well

[AudioFileZ · 7/10 · 28 June 2021]

Here's a low-budget B-roll flick that has an excellent cast. The story is servicable if "holey", the kind in a few places would be unlikely if pressed hard. The way the casts elevates it is what is worth a look. Overall it is good.

Sadly evocative of a bygone England - but a classic whodunnit!

[glennsouthall · 9/10 · 4 May 2006]

Very mild spoilers below. If, like me, you are British and of a certain age, watching Green for Danger can be a bitter-sweet experience. There are a number of films, made by the likes of Pinewood and Ealing Studios in the 1940's and 50's, that evoke in me a strong sense of loss. Loss of a time when life was much simpler and safe. When men always wore suits and ties and everyone spoke the Queens English. Loss of a time when it was always summer and the sun always shone from clear skies. Loss of a time before motorways, when you could wend your way down endless leafy lanes without meeting a soul, before stumbling upon an ivy-covered inn for lunch.

Green for Danger, for me, encapsulates this sense of a bygone England.

I first saw this film as a young boy, sat comfortably between my parents and I was hooked from the beginning. It started in me a lifelong love for the whodunnit and, considering it is 60 years old, I challenge anyone to find a better one in the classic mould. "The clue is in the title Son", my Dad said....and I still didn't get it.

With the wonderful Alastair Sim framing the story with his narrative before he arrives at the scene, we are introduced to the crime, the characters, the setting and the abundance of clues and red herrings. You almost feel as if you are one of the characters as you follow them around the hospital setting. When Alastair Sim eventually arrives on the scene as the Inspector, we are taken by him through the unravelling, up one or two blind alleys, toward the tense climax where, at any moment, you know the killer shall be revealed. Classic and wonderfully done.

Alastair Sim is...well, Alastair Sim. Marvellously dry and sardonic. Impeccably comedic. A bad movie can be entertaining just for his presence, but for me he is the icing on this particular cake.

A couple of years ago Green for Danger came on the TV and I called my youngest daughter in to watch it with me. "The clue is in the title" I said. "But it's black and white!" she rightly pointed out, and promptly kissed me on the cheek and ran off back to her PlayStation and Internet Chatroom.

Ahh well....

Delicious

[gridoon2024 · 7/10 · 1 January 2022]

Neatly constructed British whodunit with a terrific plot "hook" (right out of the gate it introduces 6 characters and tells you that in a short while 2 of them will be dead and 1 of them is a murderer) and twists & turns down to the last minute, enacted by a first-rate cast with a deliciously wry Alastair Sim stealing the second half of the show. In my single favorite scene, which couriously enough I don't recall having seen in another movie, he is reading a mystery book and, bored, he skips right to the last page to find out the killer! But despite the humor that he injects into the proceedings (some of which appears to have been ad-libbed), the nightmarishness of the war conditions for these doctors and nurses is not ignored. If there is a flaw in the movie, it's that the killer's true motive for the first murder is completely obscured from the viewer. *** out of 4.

The *perfect* comedy whodunnit. (VERY MILD SPOILER)

[moomin-4 · 9/10 · 25 October 2005]

This is a perfectly constructed, beautifully written British comedy whodunnit from the beginning to the delightful end. It belongs in the same class as 'Kind Hearts and Coronets', though less ambitious, and certainly 'The Lavender Hill Mob'. It's a pick-me-up post war film which starts off with Alisdair Sim's delightful narration and then introduces a very tense and quite complicated plot surrounding mysterious deaths at what used to be known as a 'cottsge hospital'. V2 rockets are falling everywhere to add to the tension. A third of the way through Alsdair Sim appears in person as a detective, and lights the whole thing up with sublime comic acting, helped by a wickedly funny script. (IMHO Sim is the greatest comic actor in the whole of cinema.) The only reason I can think why this film isn't more well-known is that it's so perfectly understated that it passes 'under the radar' as it were. The fact that it's only available on video in the US, and not the UK is a scandal.

Green for Danger

[CinemaSerf · 7/10 · 8 January 2023]

Alastair Sim is perfect in the role of the ostensibly bumbling "Insp. Cockrill" who arrives at a rural hospital to investigate the suspicious deaths of two of the patients. When he arrives, he encounters a staff including Trevor Howard, Leo Genn, Sally Gray, Judy Campbell & Megs Jenkins who all appear to be quite capable of being responsible - if, indeed, anyone is actually responsible - for the crimes. With V2 rockets landing all around, the race is on to prevent further killings amongst this mistrusting group of clinicians - and Christianna Brand's hero must sort it out, and pronto! The cast work really well together - even Trevor Howard who does take a while to settle in. Leo Genn is always good value, as is Jenkins and they all help to keep us guessing for much of this cracking little murder mystery. As in the best Agatha Christie tradition, the ending is a bit left field, and almost irrelevant, but that doesn't really matter; it's the performances and detection process that make this film stand out - and stand out it does.

A memorable movie.

[MJBM9119 · 9/10 · 21 October 2001]

I first saw this movie in 1946 when I was only 12 years old, and even though I have not seen it since I remember it vividly. I don't know now what made such an impression on me, but I loved it then and can't wait to see it again. It was my first sight of Leo Genn and he has remained a favorite ever since.

Fine cast, good dialog, B script.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 25 November 2007]

As World War II is ending, a postman is brought into an emergency hospital for a minor operation and dies on the table for reasons no one can explain. Five people were present, including the anesthetist (Trevor Howard), the surgeon (Leo Genn), and three nurses. The death is considered an accident until one of the nurses gets drunk at a party and claims it was murder and she has hidden the evidence. She rushes out and is found stabbed to death in the operating room. Now, evidently, murder has taken place and perhaps the two deaths are related, so Inspector Cockrill (Alastair Sims) is called in to investigate.

The case is a little complicated because of various romantic and professional intrigues. Howard and Genn are in love with the same nurse, and another of the nurses is jealous, and a third has a secret in her past, and all that. In the end, the killer commits suicide and justice is served.

One has a sense of the British film industry struggling to get back on its peacetime feet. What a good cast. Genn and Howard in particular play their roles to perfection and would go on to distinguished careers. And the dialog, especially Sims', is sprinkled with little sparkles. Howard is explaining to Sims that the anesthetic used was nitrous oxide. Ah, says Sims in his proud, knowing way, "laughing gas." Howard explains that the laughter used to be caused by the impurities. "Just like our music halls," cracks Sims. Genn quotes to a nurse some lines about a "lovely night" from a romantic poem, and Sims, who is eavesdropping in the darkness, comes forth to add his own cynical end quote: "He stole her love with his vows/ and ne'er a one were true." These aren't belly laughs and they're not presented that way. The dialog is full of pace and verve and nothing is much lingered over.

The script, alas, could have come straight from a Charlie Chan mystery or any other second- or third-tier feature. It's still enjoyable but it's built along Agatha Christie lines, with a small cast full of suspects and one investigator, and little of Christie's panache. Not a masterpiece but more of a prologue of things to come from the British film industry, over the next decade or so, including some superlative stuff.

Leo Genn, the surgeon, is called "Mister" and identified as a master surgeon, and Trevor Howard, the anesthetist, is "Doctor" and is a member of the Royal College of Physicians. The distinction is a traditional one in medicine. The word "surgeon" comes from the same Greek root as the word "chiropracter". Surgeons didn't have the status they have today. They began as a kind of barber's cousin. (The red and white stripes on a barber pole are symbolic of blood and bandages.) They were the people who pulled teeth, lanced boils, cut off warts, and did the dirty work. Physicians were doctors and had far more prestige because they were able to sit at the bedside of the wealthy and prescribe all sorts of salubrious procedures and remedies, such as bleeding, the black draft, and eyes of newt.

A soufflé of convention

[onepotato2 · 4/10 · 3 March 2009]

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.