Der grüne Sturzhelm

Reasonably entertaining British film.

Follows the ups and downs of a fading champion race car driver and his antagonistic relationship with his younger brother who wants to take over the wheel.

Includes some solid racing footage from Sebring, Goodwood and various European tracks. Sid James portrayal of an Australian is a bit shaky (count the number of times he says "sport" .. it seems to be in every second sentence).

Special guest appearance by real life Australian world champ Jack Brabham adds a touch of nostalgic interest.

Not exceptional but enjoyable enough.

As a child, I read Jon Cleary's novel THE GREEN HELMET in 1955, and was glad to see it as a film in 1961. My sports car racing interest in its postwar golden age was strong, and this novel and film reflects that era well.

I have had many years of racing experience now, amateur and professional, to include employment with national championship teams and wins at the Daytona 24-Hour, Sebring, Road Atlanta, etc. The team/sponsor politics, dread and anticipation of crashes, test and practice sequences, are all good, for a movie.

THE GREEN HELMET will take you back to a day when driver's suits were cotton, roll bars were optional, and a guy with a garage special could win against the big factory teams.

This movie still crops up on British TV from time to time. Watched it just yesterday in fact. A goof not mentioned before is when the twin headlamp racing car crashes. As it rolls over and off the track, it suddenly becomes a single headlamp model! A passable film, but obviously very dated now. It is useful of course to those who are interested in motor racing history. Some good shots of the famous marques close up, and a rare appearance by the legendary Jack Brabham. Nostalgic memories stirred by names like Hillman, Singer, Humber, Sunbeam advertised around the Siverstone track. Never quite understood how Bill Travers did so well in his career. Always seemed a bit wooden to me. Script calls for Sid James to use the Aussie word 'Sport' in almost every sentence, which gets a bit boring.

I don't think the other reviewers do justice to this movie. The racing scenes are excellent, plenty good enough to give you a feel for how terrifying it is to drive at high speed. It's second only to 1966's "Grand Prix" which had the luxury of color, a bigger budget and newer technology.

Plot-wise, you can only do so much with a racing story. No one avoids the cliches. This plot is at least as good as "Grand Prix". The real attraction here is the cast and the cars.

Bill Travers is excellent as the older racing driver, Syd James is always top-notch, and Ed Begley for once is not over the top in his acting. The supporting cast is all fine and believable. We even get a cameo of Jack Brabham, real life three time formula one champion.

All the cars shown are fun to see nowadays. There are lots of Triumph Heralds, which were even sold in the USA in the 60's, a Triumph 2 or 3, what look like Jaguar D-types, and many more I don't recognize.

The climactic race at the Mille Miglia has a lot of hair-raising scenes of racing on regular roads through towns and along cliffs. I looked on Wikipedia and the race was discontinued in 1957 after one too many fatal crashes, so the movie does not exaggerate the danger.

Well worth a watch.

THE GREEN HELMET is an entertaining film for auto racing devotees, but might not be of more than passing interest to anyone else. I viewed the film when it was released in the United States in 1961, and found it engrossing. Unfortunately, it is rarely shown on television and is not available (as far as I know) on video media. I have not seen it since its original theatrical run. The story involves the testing of newly designed racing tires, and includes the obligatory romantic subplot between the driver hired to do the testing and the daughter of the tire manufacturer. The most notable feature of the film is the pioneering use of cameras mounted on the front of the test vehicle, that give an unobstructed view of what a racing driver actually sees and hears when operating a racing car at extremely high speeds. This photographic technique was used to great effect in the much more famous film GRAND PRIX, released five years later. This feature makes the film a must-see (if one can find it) for anyone interested in the sport of auto racing.