Der dreizehnte Gast

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.

Jacques Tourneur directed this postwar British mystery film very well, and the cinematography by Ossie Morris and camera operating by Arthur Ibbetson were superior, and added to the film's atmosphere considerably. Ray Milland is the lead actor, playing an American who visits England and wants to find out how and why his younger brother had died during the War. The brother (not seen in the film) had joined up as a British commando in 1940 and was mysteriously killed on a commando raid 'with not a German in sight'. Was he murdered by a comrade? Milland sets about visiting in turn all of the 12 men of the commando unit, only to discover that many of them are dead and one died only two weeks before his arrival in England after suggesting that the brother had been a murder victim. One of the surviving men is an East End wide boy played by Naunton Wayne, who is usually a bumbling gent but on this occasion is a convincing used car salesman. His girl friend 'Bubbles' who even does a singing number is played by the ever-effervescent Dora Bryan. A deeply sinister performance is contributed by Marius Goring, as a gay ballet dancer who knows how to handle a gun and whose role in the story only becomes clear at the end. Patricia Roc is the love interest, who alternates between being bouncy and adorable and being the most horrible spoilt brat who pouts if kept waiting for a few minutes and accuses Milland of not being dressed properly when he is in a mere suit and tie (she snottily points out that he has 'ruined her evening' because he hasn't had time to change into black tie). She really needed several good spankings, but does not get one, unfortunately. Milland is very effective in this mysterious tale, exerting extraordinary self-control in the face of extreme provocation from the uncommunicative and rude former comrades of his brother. There are some fine shots of the Scottish highlands as Milland pursues the truth north of the border, where the whistling of a folk tune called 'White Heather' takes on significance in terms of identifying the killer. This is a fine film without pretensions, where the intrigue is unravelled like a thread and leads Milland to strange discoveries about what really happened.

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.

Although I had not intended this current noir marathon to be a tribute to any one particular actor, this will be my fourth Ray Milland movie in a row! Originally hailing from Wales, this sees the Hollywood star making a welcome return to his homeland (and its environs) – albeit playing an American! – for a rather unusual Hitchcockian post-war thriller. The story deals with a salvage captain leaving Florida to go all over the United Kingdom (Wales, Scotland and London) – the roundabout nature of the route anticipating the Hitchcock classic NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) – to seek out the surviving members of a commando team who operated in France during WWII and unravel the mysterious events surrounding his younger brother's death.

This largely reticent and unhelpful bunch includes a wonderful turn by Marius Goring (who has now become a celebrated ballet choreographer), Hugh Sinclair (the former commando leader who is now a brooding baronet), Naunton Wayne (a clear nod toward Hitchcock right there, having acquired a reputation playing one of two cricket-crazy twits in THE LADY VANISHES [1938] – now a chatty, crooked car salesman) and Edward Rigby (playing a Welshman, thus obviously a miner!). Notable support, then, is provided by the lovely Patricia Roc (as Sinclair's intended, and whose 'meeting cute' with Milland precipitates a bumpy affair – again a' la NORTH BY NORTHWEST – but with the expected happy ending) as well as the ever-reliable Reginald Beckwith (from director Tourneur's later NIGHT OF THE DEMON [1957], as Goring's long-suffering partner).

Despite the rather glum aura of the proceedings, this is less a noir than a whodunnit and, as if to emphasize that very difference, we are regaled with celebrated cinematographer Oswald Morris (and equally notable camera operators Gilbert Taylor and Arthur Ibbetson)'s breathtaking location shooting – the downbeat revelation at the climax, taking place in an open field, is particularly masterfully handled – as opposed to the claustrophobic studio sets usually associated with the former genre. For the record, Milland himself had starred in Fritz Lang's superb wartime thriller MINISTRY OF FEAR (1944) boasting a famously inaccurate Hollywood rendition of London!

Another link to "The Master Of Suspense" is the presence of co-producer Joan Harrison (a longtime Hitchcock collaborator), even if the 'whistled tune' giveaway device immediately reminds one of Lang's child-murdering masterpiece M (1931)! In the end, one should be grateful Jacques Tourneur's first working trip to England here worked as well as it did – since, in six years' time, this would be followed by his last great (and one of his best-ever) film i.e. the afore-mentioned NIGHT OF THE DEMON.