Der grüne Sturzhelm

Although it sounds like the sort of film an anonymous sounding government department might release to educate the public about a particularly nasty type of sexually communicable disease, THE GREEN HELMET is, in fact, a rather ordinary flick about motor racing; while not exactly earth-shattering, it has to be said that the movie is nowhere near as unpleasant as the aforementioned disease. The storyline is strictly second rate and rarely manages to grab the attention, while those characters marked for tragic ends are obvious from the outset. The racing scenes are quite well-filmed (for the time – there's none of the one/two second cross-cutting that would be used today to crank up the suspense) and there are a couple of effective crash scenes, but we have to spend far too long on the test track before getting down to the real nitty-gritty. The use of real-life racing drivers, while perhaps boosting audience figures in the early sixties, adds little to the film now, as they are mostly names long since forgotten to anyone without an interest in motor-racing.

Race car driver Greg Rafferty (Bill Travers) crashes during a race which sends him to the hospital. After recovering, he becomes more reluctant. His younger brother wants the action, but their mother refuses to let them both race at the same time. His mechanic Richie Launder (Sidney James) has made a new car. Tire manufacturer Bartell (Ed Begley) is trying to hire him to a couple of dangerous races. Diane (Nancy Walters) is Bartell's daughter.

This is a British action drama. The story isn't much of anything. Sidney James is probably doing the best work with Ed Begley as the other veteran. The lead couple isn't that good. The best aspect may be the little bits of racing action. It is not much to hang their hats on.

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.

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.

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.