Gehetzt und gejagt

Able journeyman director Compton Bennett reveals some considerable cinematic flair by nimbly orchestrating a goodly number of pulse-poundingly exciting scenes in his intense, competently made, consistently gripping 1960s thriller 'Beyond The Curtain'. Fortuitously working from an effectively lean, unfussy text by Bennett, Charles B. Blair and John Cresswell the pacey, frequently dark thriller finds beautiful, latterly emancipated East German-born Karin (Eva Bartok) in a fraught, emotionally complex dilemma, being recaptured by the conspicuously ominous East German police, as due to turbulence her flight was forced to fatefully cross Russian airspace.

Working for an American airline offers poor Karin no immunity, so her handsome fiancé pilot Richard Greene, desperate to be reunited with his beloved bride-to-be must heroically contrive a daring, increasingly dangerous plot to get her back into his loving, tweed-covered arms! Ostensibly a 'get the good German out of the zealous totalitarian clutches of the DDR' potboiler, but is entertainingly performed with exceptional brio by a wonderful cast, with a deliciously duplicitous turn by mean Marius Goring as the traitorous, deeply conflicted Doctor Hans. It must also be strongly noted that plainly talented D.o.P Eric Cross seems most adept at composing crepuscular, doom-laden night shots. 'Beyond The Curtain' comes very highly recommended as some splendidly rousing cold war-era entertainment!

Hammer Films fans might like to know that the delightful Andree 'Brides of Dracula' Melly is no less scintillating as the courageous anti-communist Linda.

Eva Bartok ("Karin") is an erstwhile air hostess who, when her plane makes an unexpected landing, is compulsorily repatriated to her family home in largely bombed-out Dresden where her mother still lives. Her British fiancé "Jim" (Richard Greene) is soon on the trail as he flies to East Germany to try and rescue her.

A competent and a fairly gripping thriller set in the Cold War. It's well-acted, especially by Eva Bartok, who is forced to face the horror of returning to Dresden and is used as a bait to lead the authorities to her brother. Richard Green plays a dashing hero who is determined to bring her out of the country. It's a rather good film which mixes romance, emotion and intrigue rather well.

The passenger plane that Richard Greene is piloting strays out of the air corridor from Berlin. The plane is forced down by Russians. When local authorities let the plane and passengers continue on their way, Eva Bartok, the stewardess and Greene's fiancee, is held as a German national and sent to Dresden in East Germany. Greene determines to go underground and get her out.

There are some good actors in this Cold War thriller shot entirely in England: not only the leads, but Marius Goring as an old friend of Miss Bartok's who is now working for The Authorities. In all, though, this is a mediocre effort, with its roots deep in cinema, from the days when innocent civilians were trying to escape from Germany during the First World War. Eric Cross' camerawork is competent but undistinguished and it looks like the production was shot for speed and not excellence; a couple of American characters do not bother to maintain their accents.

This is another of those cold war thrillers with manhunts in the ruins of Berlin, this one from the year before the Berlin wall was put up. For some reason this one has been neglected and almost ignored, presumed to be outdated and totally overshadowed by the earlier masterpieces by Carol Reed ("The Third Man", "The Man Between"), "The Big Lift" 1948 and others, but this is actually in line with them and not much worse although more modern. Eva Bartok makes a fully convincing character torn between east and west, between her loyalties to her background and family in Dresden and her love for an American in West Berlin - the scenes from the night clubs in West Berlin are almost sarcastically reminiscent of the much earlier very decadent Berlin of the 20s and 30s - little seems to have changed since then. The insights in Eastern Germany and Dresden are also very revealing as not much different from the Nazi days - Eva Bartok's aristocratic family villa has been taken over by a former Nazi Gauleiter now in the service of DDR.

Richard Greene looks curiously much like Tom Hanks,and his character is even similar to most Hanks characters. It's an interesting film, Marius Goring as the doctor also torn asunder by his duties and loyalties and weakness for Eva is perhaps the most interesting character. The final tunnel chase is all too reminiscent of the final hunt in "The Third Man" but totally different.

BEYOND THE CURTAIN is a Cold War thriller that absolutely pales in comparison to that classic of the genre, THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE WORLD, although it does contain a mildly similar, behind-the-curtain type plot. But where SPY excelled, BEYOND THE CURTAIN merely plods along endlessly until a fitfully exciting climax. I'll give this film credit where it's due, however; the early scenes with the plane diversion are quite suspenseful and hide what was obviously a low budget. The ever middle aged-looking Richard Greene (SWORD OF SHERWOOD FOREST) is the solid - or perhaps that should be stolid - hero who gets involved in the life of Eva Bartok (BLOOD AND BLACK LACE), a stewardess with family living in East Germany.

Once the action shifts behind the Iron Curtain it really should be suspenseful and exciting, but instead it just sort of plods along for a little. Don't get me wrong, it's not exactly bottom of the barrel stuff, it's just not particularly exciting. I notice that this film was put out by the unheard-of 'Welbeck Film Distributors' - something to do with the notorious Harry Alan Towers perchance? At least BEYOND THE CURTAIN picks up towards the climax, set in some disused tunnels, which at least has the suspense and action missing elsewhere. Marius Goring (THE CASE OF THE FRIGHTENED LADY) is a good choice for the antagonist although Bartok ends up grating on the nerves throughout with her incessant screaming and stupid behaviour. As Cold War thrillers go, though, BEYOND THE CURTAIN is only average entertainment.