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When charismatic Nick Talbot (second billed Robert Beatty) disappears after flying into a storm after his partner Richard Van Ness (gravel-voiced Zachary Scott) has ordered the plane to be grounded, it seems not unlikely that (a) he's up to no good and (b) that we'll see him again before the movie's over. Made on a shoestring at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith but supposedly mainly set in Guernsey, this is quite a clever thriller with lively dialogue, though Richard's liability to black out when flying is too irrelevant. For nostalgic film buffs it's good to see naughty lady Kay Kendall a year before her breakthrough performance in 'Genevieve', Diane Cilento (at one time Mrs Sean Connery) as Nick's fiancée and camp Harold Lang as a blackmailer, but Naomi Chance is a boring heroine. I'd lost track of the malarkey before the end, but the finale has action and excitement.

Zachary Scott stars with Robert Beatty and Kay Kendall in a 1952 British quota film, "Dead on Course."

During the '50s, many American actors went to Britain and made these films: Cesar Romero, Dane Clark, Dennis O'Keefe, and others. Some are better than others, but mostly, like this one, are fairly routine.

Scott plays Richard Van Ness, part of an airline service. His girlfriend's brother, Nick (Beatty) insists on flying in bad weather in order to deliver unimportant cargo.

Van Ness tries to ground him, but Nick threatens to tell their boss that Van Ness has intermittent blackouts, which will ground him.

Nick's plane crashes near the Channel Islands under odd circumstances. The police ask Van Ness for help, telling him of a smuggling operation that they've connected with the airline. Van Ness pays a visit to his boss' girlfriend (Kay Kendall) and acts interested in order to find out what he can.

One of the plot points seemed obvious from the beginning; it was just a feeling I had but somehow, it was telegraphed in the script.

The acting is so-so, with Robert Beatty quite charming and Kay Kendall a good femme fatale. Kendall was a rising star who married Rex Harrison after they did a play together in 1955; when he realized she was dying of leukemia, Harrison divorced his current wife, Lili Palmer, and married Kendall.

Kendall did not realize she was terminally ill. Their story was the basic plot for a Terence Rattigan play, "In Praise of Love," which Harrison did on Broadway with Julie Harris.

Zachary Scott said all of his lines in a very aggressive manner, absolutely no shading. I always liked him -- he was good as a sleaze, a weak man, a Henry Fonda-ish role in The Southerner - here he just seems hostile all the way through.

Just okay.

Taking advantage of arrangements favoured by the UK's Eady levy (a state film subsidy established after the war) in 1950, American producer Robert Lippert formed a business alliance with Hammer studios. Under the agreement, Lippert would provide American acting talent - frequently shop-worn stars or just supporting actors who fancied a profitable trip out of the country - while Hammer would supply the rest of the cast and the production facilities. Together they would split the profits. Famous for his concern with the bottom line, Lippert produced over 140 films between 1946 and 1955, characteristically genre pieces such as I Shot Jesse James or Rocketship XM. For the British deal, most of the films were noir-ish thrillers - and include WINGS OF DANGER.

Zachary Scott does a professional enough job as a pilot who faces disaster through suffering unpredictable blackouts. To add to his woes, when his girlfriend's brother appears lost in a cargo plane accident, he falls into a police investigation over blackmail, counterfeiting and smuggling. Robert Beatty and Kay Kendall support in a solid tale never less than watchable, even if not ultimately memorable. Light tramlines from the source print are evident at some points - unusual for a set with generally good picture quality. Kendall seems out of place as a minor femme fatale, too nice to communicate the double-crossing her character demands. Scott's most important noir roles previously were probably Ulmer's Ruthless and Mildred Pierce; here the actor is not helped by fairly anonymous art direction and by a story never really bringing out his internal conflicts.

"Wings of Danger" is a disappointing Hammer film directed by the cult-director Terence Fisher. The plot of blackmailing and smuggling is messed and weak despite the expectations of the fans. There is nothing to highlight in this forgettable film. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Asas do Perigo" ("Wings of Dnger")

Maybe it could be a contradiction, but none Noir picture walks under 7 out 10, because this genre is quite unique, enough to be on high level taking account their greatness, in this American-British co-production they took the notable Zachary Scott to leading role, in my opinion Zachary is to Noir as Lee Van Cleef is to Western pictures, such similarity between them, the plot circles around a counterfeit money made somewhere at United Kingdom and smuggling through a small Air Cargo Line, which Van Ness ( Zachary Scott ) was in charge on the ground, after his closest friend a Company's pilot insist to fly under bad weather condition end up disappearing on storm, the police attachs him, track down his footsteps to finds a hint to links him with the his mastermind Boss, low bugde?? Quite sure!! Second class casting?? Perhaps!!! The plot has some flaws?? Very possible!!! Uninteresting ??? Absolutely not!!! even having a poor copy without restoration yet a great pleasure to watch!!

Resume:

First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7

The first Hammer noir I saw was the excellent Hell is a City; and it's a good job too because if the first one I saw was one of the ones I saw after Hell is a City, I probably wouldn't have bothered watching any more! Wings of Danger is directed by Hammer veteran Terence Fisher, who also directed the disappointing Hammer noir The Stranger Came Home. This one is actually slightly better, but there's not a lot in it. Wings of Danger focuses on cargo plane pilot Richard Van Ness. He tries to stop another pilot from flying due to the weather, but is blackmailed into allowing it. The plane crashes and this leads the police to begin questioning Richard about his own affairs. The film is very short at only seventy minutes, and I do have to say that's a good thing because any longer and I've have gotten really tired of it. The plot is always at least fairly interesting and the film does manage to present a handful of interesting characters. The dialogue can be a little suspect at times, but that's not such a bad thing as it's often unintentionally comedic. The film holds the audience's interest for the duration and boils down to an interesting and satisfying conclusion. Overall, I really wouldn't recommend this film, though I wouldn't say it's awful either.

Zachary Scott comes over from across the pond to star in this British noir film about a pilot investigating the crash of another pilot whom he supervised that he let go up in a storm over the English Channel. As it turned out Scott was between a rock and a hard place, he has to let Robert Beatty fly because Beatty knows that Scott suffers from occasional blackouts and the Board of Trade wouldn't like that if they heard about it.

Why does Beatty go up. The more Scott digs on his own he uncovers, blackmail, counterfeiting, and smuggling. And a few more surprises before this film ends.

Although Hammer Films before it started doing horror films and became known for same, they turned out some decent low budget noir films that the British call quota quickies. This isn't one of them it drags in many spots and such talented folk as those already mentioned are wasted. Even Kay Kendall who plays the gangster's moll in this and well doesn't spark this film at all.

I think most will be bored with this one.

For the most part drab and talky, it shows evidence, however, of Hammer upgrading their product. This particularly shows in the female contingent with Diane Cilento receiving an 'Introducing' credit and the funniest line going to Kay Kendall: "It's your own fault. You shouldn't go around murdering people!"

Another early Hammer studio film watched for context on the "House of Hammer" podcast. "Wings of Danger" was actually on a classic movies channel in the UK, so I didn't have to use YouTube this time. Unfortunately, it didn't help much with a film that I struggled to follow.

Richard Van Ness (Zachary Scott) loses his friend Nick Talbot (Robert Beatty) to a plane crash, when Talbot insisted on leaving and ignoring a weather warning. Confused as to why Talbot was so keen to leave, Van Ness begins to investigate his friend and discovers his part in smuggling organisation. With the customs officers involved, Van Ness tries to investigate the company he works for and convince them that he's not involved.

So, as I said above, I struggled with this film. Previously I may have struggled because of an issue with the audio recording, or film stock but here both those are decent. The performances are OK too, though I didn't ever feel I got a handle on the actual personality of the lead character Van Ness and that did mean I never really understood the motivations behind the character. For example, Talbot was supposed to be his friend but in their only scene together at the start of the movie, they're very antagonistic towards each other.

But it's the plot that I never actually got to grips with, perhaps on multiple viewings I would do but ultimately, I feel it's a film that suffers with a "show, don't tell" problem. I did get the basics of the plot; I don't put spoilers in my reviews, but I understand the twist and the reasons for it. I understood that the gay coded heavy, Snell, played by Harold Lang was not the brains of the operation but I honestly couldn't tell you how any of the other characters fit into it, or what the smuggling/counter fitting scam actually was.

If it was more interesting, I might be inspired to give it a few more watches to nail down that plot, but it isn't, so I'm not.

"Dead on Course" is sort of like an American film noir movie but made in the UK. And, like many European films from the 1950s, they lured an American actor (Zachary Scott) to star in the film-- presumably to give the film greater international marketability. Unfortunately, it's still a relatively bland film.

Richard (Zachary Scott) is a pilot working for his small air transport company. His friend, Nick, knows Richard's secret--that he occasionally blacks out due to some old injury! So using this as leverage, Nick takes off in a plane during crappy weather---and the plane crashes. What follows is a dark story involving smugglers and Richard trying to sort out who his real friends are.

The best thing about this film is Zachary Scott and his dialog. It's pure noir--and works very well. But the rest of the cast all seem very dreary--with limp dialog and an almost complete lack of menace. Not terrible...just not all that interesting.

AKA ..."Dead On Course" or "Wings of Danger"

File this Movie Under "Pre-Horror-Hammer", with Ingredients...Directed by Terence Fisher...Written by John Gilling...The File is Filled with Hammer-Studios Exploits before Discovering Classic-Horror-Monsters...Dracula...Frankenstein...The Mummy...The Wolf Man...Phantom of the Opera.

Their Contribution in Resurrecting the Universal Studios Icons of Print and Screen...is the Embellishment of Color and Sex (cleavage)...Providing and Matching the Previous Top-Notch Productions at Universal.

But Before the Soon to be World-Worshipped Studio, the Movie-Making "Hammer" was, well, Making Movies.

A Lot of Norish Styled Crime Thrillers with Occasional Trips Exploring other Genres.

A Word of Warning...Newbies to "Hammer" and "Film Noir"...

While the Ever-Elusive Agreed Upon and Otherwise Defining Characteristics of the Film Noir are Present (as they were in non-Hammer Movies that Capitalized on the Noir-Zeitgeist) are...

Often Sub-Par, Mediocre, and Basically Basic Quick and Easy Movies made for Quick and Easy Bucks. Lacking Determination and Heart for the "Art".

Director Terence Fisher "Cutting His Teeth", by 1952 when "Wings of Danger"...American Title "Dead on Course"...is a Foreshadowing of "Better Things to Come"...

Hammer and Fisher Saw the Light and the Light would be Very Bright in just a Few Years. The Rest is Solid-Gold "Cinema History".

Zachory Scott, Plays a Good-Guy, where a "Lee Van Cleef" Semi-Devilish Scowl Permanently Etched, Accompanied by a Voice as Sharp as Any Weapon, was always More Successful Playing Villains, or a Least a Character with "Something Up His Sleeve', here is OK but seems Miss-Cast.

The Story with its Noir Tropes such as Returning-Vet (almost always with a PTSD problem), Scott a Pilot Suffering Black-Outs, and a Sort-Of Femme-Fatale, is Here, Neither to Interesting or Explored for that Matter.

It's Over-Complicated but the 73 Min Run-Time is Over Before it has a Chance to be Really Intolerable.

Terence Fisher on Auto-Pilot is Still Terence Fischer, whose Latent Greatness has Yet to Be Fully-Born.

The Movie, with All its Mediocrity and Pedestrianism is "Hammer-Before-Horror" and if it's a Hammer Film, it's...Worth a Watch.

In England, American air traffic controller Zachary Scott (as Richard Van Ness) orders his playboy pilot pal Robert Beatty (as Nick Talbot) not to fly, due to an approaching storm. The warning is ignored and a mishap occurs. This results in Mr. Scott, who suffers from blackouts, to discover illegal smuggling is suspected at the airport. Scott's blackouts are the reason he won't marry girlfriend Naomi Chance (as Avril Talbot). She is Mr. Beatty's sister and expects Scott to look after the reckless man. None of this is very exciting, as even Terence Fisher's characters seem disinterested. Although it doesn't help much, things pick up with a fight and car crash near the end. Also, beautiful Kay Kendall (as Alexia La Roche) appears, on the verge of fame; she later married actor Rex Harrison and died, way too soon, of leukemia.

**** Wings of Danger (4/1/52) Terence Fisher ~ Zachary Scott, Robert Beatty, Naomi Chance, Kay Kendall

After a bit of counter-play with "Van Ness" (Zachary Scott) - the brother of his girlfriend, "Nick" (Robert Beatty) sets off on a routine flight in horrid weather near the Channel Islands. The plane crashes and the ensuing police investigation starts to uncover evidence of a network of criminal activities and it falls to "Van Ness" to schmooze "Alexia" (Kay Kendall) and try to find out just who is pulling whose strings. It's all rather pedestrian, this. Scott and Kendall deliver well enough with the rather clunky script but Beatty is as wooden as his aircraft and the sense of menace that we get a hint of at the start, peters out quickly leaving us with a rather ordinary afternoon feature from Terence Fisher that just about fills seventy minutes with little jeopardy or story of note and a rather stage-bound look to it.

Oh, I won't say this film is a crap, not at all, on the contrary. It is tense, sharp, gritty, with good directing skills to admit on screen, but I am happy that Terence Fisher did not proceed on this kind of films but on something else; you know what folks...The big, big surprise here for me, as QUANTRILL'S RAIDERS with a Steve Cochran as the good hero, here, - oh my God, I can't believe what I see, am I dreaming? - Zachary Scott is the good guy too !!!! ZACHARY SCOTT the good guy.... It is so incredible for me, and I guess for many of you too. Especially in this kind of movie. Zach Scott has played in comedies or light hearted dramas, and in this kind of movies, there is no need of a bad guy, so I don't care. But in an adventure, crime or western movie, where there must be a villain at all cost, Zach as the good guy is absolutely exceptional.