Counterblast (1948) User Reviews

Nova Pilbeam a little older

[howardmorley · 6/10 · 4 June 2009]

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 Few Lapses of Credibility, But Not Bad

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 8 March 2007]

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.

"It's the next war - undeclared, and in the dark".

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 6 December 2012]

The title of this film didn't come up when I typed in "Counterblast", so I used actor Robert Beatty's name who's listed at the top of the credits for this surprisingly effective mystery story. I'm not sure why he's got top billing because Mervyn Johns appears to do all the heavy lifting in his role as Dr. Bruckner, the 'Beast of Ravensbruck'. As an escaped Nazi war criminal, Bruckner assumes the identity of Australian microbiologist Dr.Richard Forrester after killing him in his London hotel room. Bruckner's mission is to develop a germ warfare concoction that can eventually be used to secure Nazi victory.

For a Nazi on the lam, a couple of things puzzled me. Why for example, in his haste to leave the hotel after killing Forrester, did he stop to pay his room bill? And what conceivable purpose could there have been to lugging around a set of golf clubs other than to arouse the suspicion of his new lab assistant Rankin (Beatty)? Finally, for a world class bacteriologist himself, Bruckner should have been slick enough not to get tripped up on that little detail about his preferred lab chemical being exclusively German made.

But I guess none of that really matters because the overall story is a fairly intriguing one, with Mervyn Johns donning a sinister countenance in direct contrast to the character of Bob Cratchit from my favorite version of "Scrooge", the 1951 Christmas classic. Uncharacteristically, this Nazi softens up enough over the course of the story to fall for his lab helper (Nova Pilbeam) and mingle with the aristocrats of British high society. You almost get to the point of liking the guy, but come on, he's a Nazi. So it's fittingly ironic that Bruckner meets his end in a manner suited to his profession - one could say it was a gas.

Pretty interesting post-war Nazi-on-the-loose drama/thriller

[Red-Barracuda · 6/10 · 28 October 2017]

A Nazi war criminal on the run after the end of World War II, assumes an Australian scientist's identity and sets up shop in England where he develops germ warfare experiments which he and his masters hope will return the Nazi regime to prominence. His plans are complicated though when he develops feelings for his pretty lab assistant.

This British dramatic thriller was made very close to the end of the war, so its story revolving around an ex concentration camp commander who was notorious for carrying out sadistic experiments on inmates is one which must have been touching on a grim subject which was extremely recent at the time. The Nazi is played by Mervyn Johns who was familiar to me from the brilliant Ealing anthology horror film Dead of Night (1945) and he is once again very good in a character who is not presented as one dimensionally evil as you might expect. His feelings for his lab assistant bring out the humanity within him, which most probably is his downfall ultimately too. The story perhaps could have had more suspense in it and it is also maybe slightly over-long but I thought it was definitely an interesting one nevertheless. It ends on a blackly ironic ending, which finished things off on an appropriate note.

Unexpected pleasure of a Nazi thriller, in British Hitchcock-lite!

[talisencrw · 7/10 · 11 April 2016]

I have to admit that one of my greatest cinematic guilty pleasures is the horror of the Nazi film (unfortunately, certain political trends recently in my neighbour to the south, the United States, make me unfortunately feel that similar ways of thinking have yet to be eradicated). Thankfully, being born as I was in the late 60's, I didn't have to experience such terror firsthand, but it's fascinating to see, through the wonders of cinema, examples of that fascist type of thinking, carried out to its fruition (some of my favourites in this area are quite controversial films, like 'Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom', 'The Night Porter' and 'Dr. Strangelove'). At least in my estimation, I have no idea how I would have acted in either polarity of the situation: either being a German and told to act accordingly, or being a concentration camp inmate. I am simply thankful I didn't have to experience either horrific scenario.

This film was an unexpected pleasure. Though no star power is behind it, or budget to speak of, and though there is suspense and a good script, it could have been a lot better handled, both in terms of direction and cinematography (it has 'British 40's B-picture' written all over it, while it's crying out for a capable helmer such as Sir Carol Reed, Sir Alfred Hitchcock, or The Archers, each of which would have made a minor masterpiece out of it). I am very thankful that it was included in my Mill Creek 'Nightmare Worlds' 50-film pack, or honestly I would have never heard of it. Now my main ambition is to get all of their sets, and see what other cinematic hidden treasures I can discover!

Mervyn Johns Against Type

[boblipton · 6/10 · 28 May 2020]

Nazi doctor Mervyn Johns has escaped from Allied arrest. He murders an English scientist who is about to take over a new position where no one knows him and takes his place. He's working on a vaccine afainst germ warfare, with assistants Nova Pilbeam and Robert Beatty. They think it's humanitarian work. He plans to use it to conquer the world.

It's a rather fanciful thriller, mostly interesting for being Nova Pilbeam's last screen appearance, and for Johns being cast so strongly against type. He was expert at playing small, ground-down men in more than seventy movies, it's sometimes hard to realize that he wasn't what he appeared to be on screen. He was a fine actor, and, given the chance to play this sort of character, did so very well.

As for Miss Pilbeam, her fourteen-year career as a child actor and ingenue were ending at age 29. It seems rather young to retire, but she had had a busy and rather distinguished career. Her second marriage was beginning, and she retired to a thoroughly private life. She died in 2015, age 95.

How did this film get included in a 20 pack of generally bad films?

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 7 August 2011]

A Nazi scientist escapes from a British POW camp. Instead of rushing back to Germany, he oddly sets up a lab in London and assumes the identity of an Australian researcher. There, he works on a biological warfare experiment. However, when the murdered Australian guy's niece arrives, the Nazi's plans could be in jeopardy.

The biggest problem I had with this film was the ill-explained lack of a German accent in the Nazi (Mervyn Johns). He sounds 100% British. Had they said he had escaped to the UK from Nazi Occupied Europe it would have made a lot more sense. On the other hand, it is odd that "Counterblast" (also known as "Devil's Plot") is included in a cheap 20 DVD pack from Mill Creek, as this film is way too competently made. The acting (aside from the missing accent) is quite good and the story isn't bad. Well worth seeing and quite original.

Solid Period Piece

[junk-monkey · 4/10 · 7 June 2007]

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.

Heil Oxford!

[Bezenby · 5/10 · 8 March 2017]

If you were an escaped Nazi criminal on the run in England, what would you do? Go deep underground? Try and Swim the channel? Or murder an emigrating scientist, take over his laboratory, and continue the unholy germ warfare experiments that you were doing back there during the war whilst pretending to be British and restraining yourself from screaming "Mein Furher!" As he was sort of brought up in England as a child his British accent is flawless, but the Nazi criminal is such an arrogant, ill-tempered, moaning bastard that he immediately attracts suspicion from everyone around him! It doesn't help that he's got a dead body in a trunk, won't let anyone into his secret germ warfare lab, shouts at the help, and falls in love with the daughter of the murdered scientist friend when he should have probably killed her instead (he was going to!).

Our Nazi scientist also spends a lot of time avoiding a woman who knew the guy he killed, replacing his house staff with suspicious teutonic accented women, and preventing the girl he didn't kill from falling in love with his assistant (who's is highly suspicious mainly due to a set of golf clubs).

This all sounds jolly exciting, but it kind of isn't for the most part. It's hilarious watching this guy barely restraining his Nazi tendencies (he even 'puts down' a German for decrying the Third Reich!) whilst trying to be a jovial Englishman, but a lot of this drags a bit, especially the ironic ending, which surely would have had many a surviving Jewish person saying "Er...too soon." Still....etc.

Who thinks up these movie titles?

[Bernie4444 · 5/10 · 5 March 2024]

The version I watched was from the DVD 50 movie boxset from Mill Creek called Nightmare Worlds, disk 3 side A.

A German scientist Dr. Bruckner - the Beast of Ravensbruck (Mervyn Johns) working on bacteria and immunology escapes Gillington P. O. W. Camp at the end of the second world war. With the help of what should have been called The ODESSA File (1974), he gets to usurp the identity of an Australian scientist Dr. Richard Forrester (Anthony Eustrel.)

Luckily, Dr. Bruckner learned to speak English (supposed no accent) as a child. He does not sound Aussy to me, maybe Welsh. Talk about weird, if you have your head bashed in why add to it an obscure poison. Looks line Forrester has been truncated.

I am afraid we have to listen to background music (if you can call it that) constantly. With a few breaks

Now the story begins. As our Dr. Richard Forrester (now Mervyn Johns) seems a little strange. Golf clubs but never golfs. And lots of other enigmas. Looks like Dr. Forrester has to have heart; that is Tracy Hart (Nova Pilbeam) as a willing assistant.

On the side they dance the Paul Jones. The meaning of PAUL JONES is a method of changing partners during a dance whereby at a signal the dancers form a circle and execute a grand right and left until at another signal each man resumes the original dance taking as his new partner the lady who is opposite him. See this again in the movie Green for Danger (1946). Watching the Paul Jones in Counterblast, you will see a scarry encounter.

The plot thickens. Someone may be looking in his trunk. Or worse.

Will the Beast of Ravensbruck succeed and deliver to the cabal or is it curtains with a gas-tronomic surprise.

Over half a century before COVID-19 and still relevant.

Is There a Doctor in the House?

[wes-connors · 5/10 · 16 June 2008]

"A Nazi scientist escapes Germany prior to its surrender at the end of World War II and sets up a lab in England using the identity of an Australian scientist he murdered. Hoping to complete his germ-warfare experiment, in the hopes of its use by Nazis in a future war, the scientist's agenda becomes complicated when he falls in love with his lab assistant," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Mervyn Johns is terrific, deftly playing "Dr. Bruckner", who poses as "Dr. Anderson", to kill and take the place of "Dr. Forrester". Still, Paul L. Stein's "Counterblast" is unnecessarily slow moving, and simply refuses to get mileage out of suspenseful situations. For starters, the film should have begun with Mr. Johns' murder of "Dr. Forrester". Previous events are easily filled in during subsequent scenes; and, an air of mystery would be added to the unfolding events.

Counterblast

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 23 November 2022]

Born in Austria and settling in England, Paul L. Stein directed a ton of movies over his career and this was his next to last, a spy movie which was one of the two genres he worked in most, the other being female-friendly movies. One of its writers, Jack Whittingham, was the screenwriter that worked with Kevin McClory to create the script for Thunderball that was also filmed as Never Say Never Again.

This movie predates the disclosure of Operation: Paperclip by telling the story of a Nazi scientist who finds his way to the West, murders a professor, takes his place and plans a biological attack on England. It's a good thing that the evil scientist falls for a lab assistant and starts being all handsy around her or the war would be lost.

Distributor Herbert Bregstein changed the title to Devil's Plot and played it in theaters, despite the fact that it was already playing on TV under its original title. I love when that happens but if I had seen this twice - and paid once - I probably would not love it so much.

This has a lot of talking, is longer than it should be and really is a rough watch. You know what that means? It's perfect for a Mill Creek box set.

The Precursor Of Dr Strangelove?

[malcolmgsw · 4/10 · 9 August 2014]

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.