Der dreizehnte Gast

This British drama directed by Jacques Tourneur threw me for a loop: for over an hour the story written by Philip MacDonald meandered, resembling the traditional shaggy-dog story, a type of movie I detest. Postponing getting to the point, with loads of tangents instead of an involving adventure.

It is initially structured just like my favorite British movie, Mike Hodges' "Get Carter", which I attended several times in 1971 when it came out, so enthralled with its style and detail. Here we have Ray Milland with a tough-guy accent/vocal delivery, travelling to UK in search of the real story behind his younger brother's death as a commando in World War II. He doggedly pursues the facts, but is repeatedly stonewalled as he approaches and interviews the fellow surviving members of his brother's squad.

Meanwhile, a romance develops between him and Patricia Roc, girlfriend of a Scottish officer he questions, replete with a "meet-cute" scene in which Roc literally accidentally bowls Ray over (physically) when they meet for the first time. The motif of him repeatedly late or standing her up for dates while he goes on his important search for answers about his bro underscores the shaggy-dog aspect of the storytelling.

Finally, in the last reel or so the movie comes to a head, with the revelation of who killed bro and why, and in a rather moving and unexpected fashion, British civility and honor creates a nonviolent and most satisfying ending.

Quite offbeat in its treatment of the thriller genre, it's another example of Tourneur's skill.

Sandwiched between two Technicolour swashbucklers comes this modest, understated and absorbing black and white whodunnit from the stylish Jacques Tourneur, now working freelance.

In the course of trying to discover how his younger brother died during a commando raid in occupied France, the Clay Douglas of dapper Ray Milland travels the length and breadth of the British Isles and comes across a varied assortment of characters who supply him with snippets of information. He thinks he has pinpointed his brother's killer but he is in for a surprise..........

The casting here is spot on and there is a marvellous turn by Marius Goring as a 'camp' choreographer named Sholto whilst Naunton Wayne, this time without Basil Radford, is superlative as a car salesman named, naturally enough, Reggie Sinclair. The female interest here is supplied by the enchanting Patricia Roc whose chemistry with Milland is palpable. The only piece of bizarre casting is that of Dora Bryan as a cabaret artiste who sings with an obviously dubbed American accent the splendidly suggestive 'I've got a buttonhole for my baby'!

The cast is lucky enough to have the dialogue to speak of Philip MacDonald whilst the cinematography and editing are by two of the finest in their respective fields, Oswald Morris and Alan Osbiston.

The scene that lingers longest in the memory is that in which Milland confronts Goring and Hugh Sinclair in a bleak Scottish landscape and finally learns the truth. Masterful direction here by Tourneur.

I was gripped by this piece from the outset and what I was fully expecting to be a grevious disappointment turned out to be a jubilant surprise.

In case anyone's interested the fabulous motor that Milland gets to drive is a 1920 Mercedes Benz. They certainly don't make cars, or indeed films, like that any more.

Ray Milland stars with Patricia Roc and Marius Goring in "Circle of Danger" from 1951.

Milland plays an American, Clay Douglas, who travels to England in the hopes of finding out what happened to his younger brother during World War II - his brother had gone to England when war broke out to get in on the action. Supposedly, he was killed in action, but during this particular offensive, he was the only one who died.

Clay tracks down the soldiers who are still alive, and as he does, his brother's death becomes more mysterious. There is a reluctance of people to talk. When he learns what he thinks is the truth, he's ready to take action.

Good movie with a nice performance by Patricia Roc as the love interest of one of the ex-soldiers, Hamish (Hugh Sinclair), whom Clay falls for. Excellent denoument. Recommended.

An American World War II veteran Clay Douglas (Ray Milland) comes to Scotland in order to conduct an investigation concerning death of his brother during a special mission in France during the war, the mission where he was the only casualty what appears to be very strange to Clay. Travelling through Scotland, one by one he meets former war mates of his brother and tries to inquire them as about circumstances surrounding his death. But everyone pretends to know nothing or very little about what happened back then, the fact that makes Clay Douglas more and more sure that it's in fact one of them, his former colleges, is guilty of his death. The question is: which one of them?

Circle of Danger marked Jacques Tourneur's return to Europe, namely Great Britain where he went in order to make this movie. Though the Circle of Danger doesn't belong to the Film-Noir genre it might be considered the bleak shadow of Jacques Tourneur's Film-Noir classic Out of the Past. Parallels can be drown especially in terms of the story, which in both cases concerns the main character's past, only in Out of the Past Robert Mitchum's character Jeff Bailey tries to forget it, to hide from it, which ultimately proves to be impossible and results in tragic ending, while in Circle of Danger Ray Milland's character Clay Douglas decides to travel back in time and uncover its mysteries related the unclear circumstances of his brother's death in world War II. Only in Circle of Danger everything is much more `primitive', much more simplistic in terms of the story and character's development and their interactions as well as in lacking of that great wittiness of dialogs which is one of the main masterpiece ingredients of the Out of the Past, and finally the film's ending, a time where a question might arise in our minds: Is it was worthy the time we invested in seeing it? 6/10

Ray Milland (born in Neath, Glamorgan, Wales) keeps his transatlantic accent playing an American searching for the reason for his brother's death during a commando raid attached to the British army in 1940 (before America entered the war) in Brittany, France.Ray leaves his diving team searching for precious metal off the coast of Tampa, Florida, takes his share of the profits to date and travels to the UK in his aforementioned quest.Along the way he meets up with the few surviving members of the commando team travelling to Covent Garden, London; Teddington Lock on the Thames; Hammersmith west London; and up into the Scottish Highlands where he meets Patricia Roc a children's book authoress and illustrator.Her character seems to blow hot and cold with Ray but at least she does not have to compete for Ray's attention with Margaret Lockwood (who was busy filming elsewhere).Also there, is Hamish (Hugh Sinclar) who was the commanding officer in the raid and who loves Patricia Roc's character (although she only likes him).Ray even buys a used car off wide boy Naunton Wayne (who for once is without his screen companion Basil Radford) in return for information - at least it saves Ray having to "cadge" lifts.

Marius Goring plays a sinister character who since the war end has gone into producing ballet (and I am sure he got the role after playing the composer in Powell & Pressburger's acclaimed " The Red Shoes" (1948).The director, Jacques Tourneur is most notable in my collection for "Out of the Past"(1947) and "Experiment Perilous" (1944) and here directs an exciting "whodunnit" which takes Ray back & forth as he gradually unravels the truth.As another reviewer has stated we get to see some good locational shots which makes a change from hidebound studio interiors.Another curious thing is there is no noticeable mood music in the film.The final scene is unexpected and you are led down several blind alleys first.Enjoyable, I rated it 7/10.