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Have been watching a lot of the Youtube movies lately. You'll be amazed at the sheer amount of content thats there.

This gave me the opportunity to see an England in the post war period and also explore what a Thriller genre did back then. I must say this was a rewarding watch.

A secret Service agent on the lose after his last assignment, picks up a country job to document Butterflies and lands up in a murder mystery with a sinister family and a damaged girl in tow. Has all the ingredients for a thrilling watch and the director does a good job of building up the suspense. Very satisfactory watch.

Sort of paint-by-numbers Hitchcock. But still, it probably comes closer to the style of the master than any other pretender with the exception of "Niagara".

Hitch always liked a story with some odd eccentricities to the plot. This story has a butterfly collector, a taxidermist, and some shady Chinese Liverpudlians.

But you can tell it's not Hitch easily enough. I believe it's the pacing, which never reaches a nail-biting pitch of intensity -- more like nail-drumming. I hope someone more astute than I will analyse precisely what marks this film as ultimately un-Hitchcock.

The film's ending is very abrupt and more than a little unsatisfying, with the loose ends being tied up in a slip knot.

An important element in many a great Hitchcock film is the pursuit sequence through imaginative locations. At least we are not disappointed in that respect. Besides Liverpool, our hero and heroine are hunted through night-time Newcastle which is made to resemble Vienna in an earlier Trevor Howard film, "The Third Man". Some of the best chase scenes take place among the hills, lakes, and waterfalls of the English Switzerland -- the Lake District, at that time in Cumberland (hence the name of the bus line) and Westmorland.

Our beautiful English Swiss Miss, Jean Simmons, seems to be more voluptuous here than she would be later in her career, but perhaps I'm mistaken.

The film's mysterious title refers to a variety of butterfly found in a meadow near the collector's house.

If it weren't for good old Trevor Howard, this film would not be nearly so interesting. He is always enjoyable to watch, as he is always convincing and we want to see what he will get up to. Here he is thrown out of MI-6, the foreign secret service, rather unceremoniously after years of brilliant service in the field, and has to find some work. He ends up taking a temporary job cataloguing butterflies, of which the Clouded Yellow is a particularly pretty one which comes across the English Channel in a good summer and flutters around as delightfully as Jean Simmons. And yes, she is living in the rambling country house where the butterfly collection is. She is the psychologically disturbed and mysteriously orphaned niece of a rather creepy aunt and uncle. Or at least they say, rather too often, that Jean is psychologically disturbed. But is she really? Did she witness as a very young child what really happened to her parents? They say she 'found them'. But did she see who killed them? Clearly there is some vintage mystery material here. Jean Simmons at this stage in her career had very bushy eyebrows and looked more like a trapped wild animal than a girl. Alas, she did not have the magically convincing wildness of Jennifer Jones in GONE TO EARTH (1950, see my review), or this film could have become something of a classic. The direction by Ralph Thomas is also rather uninspired and pedestrian. So this film never really rises to the level of a butterfly's flight. Come to that, the story is pretty contrived and corny. The film is a tasty amuse-bouche, but should never be confused with a main course.

CLOUDED YELLOW is a favourite from my schooldays because of its basic ingredients - a haunting mystery, a fascinating chase across England from a deceptively-drowsy Hampshire to the bustle of Liverpool docks, a rousing climax and the only on-screen teaming of two great British stars. Hitchcock was the obvious model, a factor utilised in the marketing of the recent DVD and the director Ralph Thomas actually remade THE 39 STEPS - very flatly - at the end of the decade. Thomas was a prolific journeyman of variable competence, turning out thrillers, war films, adventure stories, historical dramas and comedies (most notably DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE) but lacked the personality to conjure a classic.

David Somers (Trevor Howard) is an M.I.6 agent - a sort of low-key James Bond without the glamour - who's put on the back-burner after botching an operation. He opts for a job cataloguing butterflies (hence the title) at a rural retreat where he involves himself in the troubles of Sophie (Jean Simmons) the young ward of the house who's suspected of murder when the local bad-lad (Maxwell Reed), with whom she'd been quarrelling, is found with a knife in his back. Somers takes it upon himself to extricate this trapped butterfly from police hostility (very Hitch) and smuggle her out of the country with the help of his contacts. Despite the presence of Kenneth More on the sidelines (waiting for the big break so soon to come) there's no (conscious) humour in the film at all and no Hitch-tension between the leads. Though motivated by a romantic attachment as well as the urge to atone for past mistakes Somers seems more a father-figure than a potential lover. No teasy-weasy handcuffs and wet stockings here, it's all very stiff upper-lip and he never questions her innocence though the girl remains an enigma until near the end. As a child she'd witnessed the violent death of her parents but has blocked out the memory (very SPELLBOUND). When she starts to get it back the real perpetrator of crimes past and present turns up in Liverpool to silence her. What follows is like watching MIDSOMER MURDERS turn into THE PERILS OF PAULINE complete with cliff-hanger. Wildly over-the-top and completely illogical it's great hare-brained fun and very gripping. Whether this startling gear-change was originally planned or came about during production is unclear. The film certainly terminates very abruptly with the pair in long-shot walking away together over the rooftops, arms around each other, though the gentleman at this moment looks about a foot taller than Mr. Howard. Hitchcockery is catching. In the changed ending to SUSPICION we're given a back-of-heads shot of Grant and Fontaine where the heads quite obviously aren't theirs.

Ralph Thomas does bring off one nifty Hitch trick quite well. Somers appears to capitulate to pursuing cops and sends them into a restaurant to pick the girl up. When they reach her table she's no longer there and a brassy blonde greets them instead while Somers too has cleared off. Nice one. Hitch would smile.

The Clouded Yellow is directed by Ralph Thomas and written by Eric Ambler and Janet Green. It stars Trevor Howard, Jean Simmons, Sonia Dresdel, Barry Jones, Kenneth More and Geoffrey Keen.

Taut British spy thriller with Hitchcockian flavours, The Clouded Yellow finds David Somers (Howard) as an ex-secret service operative working as a butterfly cataloguer who finds himself neck deep in a murder plot. Set in the North of England, with some good locations to be spotted by the keen of English eye, the story revolves around the murderous goings on at the stately home where Somers now works. With Sophie Mairaux (Simmons) the chief suspect, Somers comes to believe she is innocent and sets about proving so.

It follows a reliable formula, where the set-up introduces the main players, the hero in waiting takes it upon himself to use his skills to prove he's right, which builds to an odd couple on the lam final quarter of film. The strength is in the characterisations, particularly Somers with his past hanging heavy on his mind, and Mairaux and her current predicaments which involve her being surrounded by vile people. Thomas directs assuredly, mixing the drama with humour and affection, and the suspense and mystery elements are maintained up until the dramatic conclusion. Cast are suitably in good tune with the material, with Howard and Simmons making a compelling and complex coupling. 7/10

A young woman (Jean Simmons) is convinced by her scheming and dangerous aunt (Sonia Dresdel) and uncle (Barry Jones) that she's losing her mind and in very delicate condition that requires their supervision which turns out to be more like manipulation, as they try to keep her as far away from outside human contact as possible. The only other person she sees is the estate caretaker, a lascivious character played by Maxwell Reed, whose caught the wayward eye of the middle-aged aunt. All of this, the aunt and the caretaker, the butterfly expert uncle who has a serious underside to him, and the susceptible niece in the middle, would have made for a darker and more sinister film. As it is, a frame-up for a murder sends Trevor Howard (a fired government secret service agent who took a job at the estate cataloging butterflies) and Simmons across the countryside escaping police, catching headlines of "Police Net Closing In" over her front page photo, hopping on buses, and winding up in Liverpool, where they meet some wonderfully cast characters, and finally face down the greedy and murderous aunt and uncle.

... which quite frankly would be a mediocre five star film if not for Trevor Howard and Jean Simmons.

Major David Somers (Howard) is fired from his job of secret agent, and since you can't put secret agent on your resume you'd think he'd have a hard time getting a job because of the gap in said resume. But he finds something just perfect for him. It's a job on a country estate cataloging butterflies in a collection. He wanted something quiet, away from the rough and tumble of city life - oh boy was he ever wrong.

The man of the house is a middle aged milquetoast, and his wife is trying to fight off middle age with an affair with a laborer on the estate who is a hideous human being half her age. He better enjoy his youth because his muscles are all he has going for himself. The Fentons have a niece, Sophie (Simmons), who "gets muddled" because she found her parents' murdered bodies as a childand she has been troubled ever since. And for some reason her aunt is trying to gaslight her. And then one night the laborer is found murdered and all evidence points to Sophie.

Now Somers has been an onlooker in all of this except for one big thing -he has fallen in love with Sophie. This is hard to swallow. Sophie is half Somers' age, looks it, plus she has been isolated on her aunt and uncle's estate since childhood, so what could she know of love? Somers, allegedly a man of the world, never stops to think about this or the fact that maybe Sophie DID kill the laborer when he sneaks out of the house with her in the middle of the night and they decide to make a run for another country.

So most of the film is the chase, Somers and his formerly discredited powers of allusion against the police trying to find them. This would get boring if it wasn't for the fact that Howard, as Somers, seems to be having such a good time winning his good name back by sidestepping every police barricade and trap, and Simmons as the enigmatic Sophie, seems more and more like somebody who could have done the crime after all.

I'd mildly recommend it.

This is a film that has a lot going for it:

--a typically excellent, nuanced and three-dimensional performance from Trevor Howard as a forced-into retirement espionage agent encountering a surprising new adventure back home while at times revisiting aspects of his own past.

--Jean Simmons in her radiant younger days in a role of mystery, range and substance.

--a highly intelligent script that expects viewers to think and rewards their patience.

--stylishly and confidently directed, and photographed with great distinction by the later-legendary Geoffrey Unsworth.

--excellent use of locations, well-paced, filled with surprises.

Those who are comparing it to British Hitchcock are partially right, but it also has the erudite touch of a Sir Carol Reed about it. It's visually quite satisfying, naturalistically shot for the most part, but with well-thought-out process shots when necessary. This story eventually covers a lot of ground, and each new location and situation is shot with a real eye for the distinctive look or texture of where they are next. While the visual choices are rarely "flashy," there is a real sense of location and imagery. Outdoors and nature compete with urban or more claustrophobic settings, and all the myriad parts add up to a polished and satisfying whole. It starts a little slowly, but once the wheels begin to turn, it gradually takes you on quite a journey, narratively, emotionally and geographically. I found myself very invested in the main characters.

Another plus is the excellent score by Benjamin Frankel -- it hits its full marks not only in the dramatic or suspenseful passages, but also in some unusual and subtle piano music played by Simmons' character.

No complaints about this movie! It's a gem.

Hitchcock was of the opinion that audiences aren't really interested in what puts protagonists into danger - only that they ARE in danger, and need to escape.

This film proves Hitchcock was not 100% correct. Police believe Jean Simmons is guilty of a crime, when she plainly isn't. Trevor Howard decides their best course of action is to run for it. And so, the body of the movie has our charismatic pair dodging on and off trains, buses and coaches - jumping across rocks at the top of a waterfall - scrambling across dockyard roofs.

All good exciting stuff - but I couldn't get out of my mind that it was all unnecessary. They should have stayed put.

In other words, the MacGuffin wasn't strong enough.

A delightful little thriller opens with Trevor Howard in his Jag convertible and ends on a dockside in Liverpool. It's all thrills and spills as the ex-spy has to restart his career just as he's getting some serious R & R cataloguing butterflies (how British is that?).

Trevor Howard and Jean Simmons frolic from London to Newcastle-upon-Tyne to Liverpool (via Ullswater) - he's just been thrown out of MI5 or something, and she, you guessed it, is on the run, wrongly accused of murder. There's seedy docks, rolling Lake District hills, sheep, country pubs, coppers getting lost, waterfalls, a bunch of amateur cyclists, rooftop chases, and lots of Chinamen (don't ask), and it's all very Hitchcocky and Hannayesque...

..and a smashing example of British Noir...

If The Clouded Yellow had been made by Alfred Hitchcock, it would be hailed as one of the great classic thrillers. As it is, Betty E. Box produced the film, and no one has remembered it. I found it just as enjoyable as a Master of Suspense movie, and in fact, better than most of his films.

Trevor Howard, practically unrecognizable in his youth and mustache, plays a retired Secret Service agent who takes a quiet job in the country categorizing butterflies. While his employers and landlords seem nice enough, their niece Jean Simmons seems a little off—and not just because of her ridiculous bangs. She forgets things and has mysterious amnesia of key memories from her childhood, or so she says.

Because of his previous employment, Trevor has a naturally curious mind, so he can't help but notice that Jean's aunt isn't as fond of her niece as she claims, and the local handyman is paying an unhealthy amount of attention towards his married employer. As in every great Hitchcock, when the chips fall down, suspicion is thrown in every direction! For a very entertaining, classic thriller, rent The Clouded Yellow on a foggy afternoon.

The Clouded Yellow is a compact psychological thriller with interesting characterizations. Barry Jones and Kenneth More are both terrific in supporting roles in characters that both have more to them than what meets the eye. Jean Simmons is quite good, and Trevor Howard makes a fascinatingly offbeat suspense hero.

Faced with problems of finance, not uncommon in the world of Film, producer Betty Box put her own money into this feature directed by Ralph Thomas which not only proved a commercial success but cemented a professional partnership that continued into the 1970's.

Janet Green's brisk screenplay moves imperceptibly from psychological thriller to fugitive story and the chase segment in North Yorkshire is more than a passing nod to Hitchcock. Interestingly, amongst a cast of familiar faces, Kenneth More plays the pursuer and would later play the pursued for Mr. Thomas in his remake of 'The 39 Steps'.

The film stars Trevor Howard, an exceptional actor and somewhat unconventional leading man who always had a simpatico with his leading ladies and here the enchanting Jean Simmons is no exception. This was to be her last British appearance before going off to La-la Land.

Geoffrey Unsworth is behind the camera and the score is by Benjamin Frankel whilst the direction, albeit reliable, lacks the indefinable touch of a master. Ralph Thomas described himself with refreshing humility as 'a sort of journeyman director, generally happy to make anything that I felt to be halfway respectable.'

I like the idea of David Somers being fired from his job and forced to register with an employment agency to secure a new job cataloguing butterflies. It shows how a career person can fall from grace and end up following the agency route. What makes this stand out is that even though Somers has friends he can speak to about his unemployment, even his friend, Kenneth More, is spying on him and reporting back to HQ. It shows that you can't trust anyone because whoever you speak to will either block your pathway, or speak to people who can block your pathway. The fact that Somers ends up in a dull job is just a macguffin because it puts him in contact with Jean Simmons whom he goes on the run with because she is accused of a murder.

This is an average thriller with good performances all-round. Trevor Howard is excellent as an ex-spy, David Somers, taking a break to work on cataloguing butterflies in the Fentons' country house. There he meets their highly-strung niece, Sophie. The film plot in some ways resembles the plot of 'Gaslight' when we see her strict aunt Jess is intent on convincing Sophie that she is losing her memory.

When the police suspect Sophie of murder, she goes on the run with Somers. This gives us an excuse to take a trip around early 1950's Britain. Somers makes full use of the contacts he made during his previous spying experience.

After a short stay in Newcastle the couple travel on to the Lake District and we have an opportunity to indulge in the scenic beauty of Ullswater, Patterdale as well as the waterfall at Sourmilk Gill.

In contrast to the countryside scenes, the denouement takes place in Liverpool. There is a small final twist, but anyone watching carefully will notice that this twist had been hinted at some time beforehand. Nevertheless the film is enjoyable and doesn't put too many demands upon the viewer. 6/10.

It was issued by Columbia I suppose on a double bill which accounts for the cuts. The beginning is cut and the chase is cut and there are small cuts throughout. the cuts might be alright if you dont see the original - once you do you'll understand how vile Columbia were. basically it was a louis b. mayer tribute film.

I rated this film only 6/10 which agrees with the overall IMDb.com average rating.As other reviewers have aptly pointed out above, this Ralph Thomas directed film does not have the quirky comedy, pace or nail biting finish of a Hitchcock.However It has some similarities enough to show Thomas was at least influenced by that great master.

Jean Simmons was 22 when she made this film and was at a stage in her career when agents were casting her in roles where she had psychiatric problems.One only has to think of her "Ophelia" in Laurence Olivier's "Hamlet" (1948) and "Angel Face" (1952), the psychotic daughter of Herbert Marshall.Much as I admire Trevor Howard I do not see him as a romantic lead (unless he is wooing Celia Johnson. i.e. an older woman); so I would have preferred a younger looking and more handsome leading man.The final scene (as pointed out above by another reviewer) showed them walking along the rooftops of the Liverpudlian warehouse, arm in arm but it looked more like father and daughter!! (Note: I know Trevor Howard always looked older than he really was).I guess he obtained this cloak & dagger type part on the strength of his army officer cracking down on black market traffickers in Carol Reed's "The Third Man" (1949).

Barry Jones often appeared in professorial type roles and he made a menacing "baddy".I love spotting character actors in films of this vintage such as Sam Kydd as a police wireless operator and the actor Richard Wattis who played the employment consultant (the same year he played the maths master in "The Happiest Days of Your Life" with Alistair Sim).Also I spotted Dandy Nichols as a harassed mother on the train, long before she would rise into public awareness as Mrs Garnett in the 60s TV comedy series " 'Till Death Do Us Part" with Warren Mitchell.Kenneth More was really serving his film acting apprenticeship and before long he would play a lead in "Genevieve" (1953).

Have a look at Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps" (1935) with Robert Donat & Madeleine Carroll and particularly compare the chase scenes over the wild countryside, then compare the pacing, humour and interplay between the principal actors and you will see why this film ,although good, only warrants a 6/10.

Trevor Howard botches his assignment for Intelligence, so he's retired. He takes a job in the country, helping Barry Jones catalogue his butterfly collection. Jean Simmons is a troubled young woman in the house, the niece of Jones' wife, Sonia Dresdel; she found the corpses of her parents after they killed themselves.

Yet something odd is going on. Miss Dresdel seems solicitous of her niece, yet does things to keep her muddled. When a nasty gamekeeper is murdered, all the evidence points to Miss Simmons, but Howard doesn't believe it. The two of them go on the run.

It's a topnotch movie, with producers Box & Cox (Betty and Vivian) supervising, Gerald Thomas directing -- he's better known for comedies like DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE -- and a plot that seems to borrow liberally from THE 39 STEPS: the Buchan novel, rather than the Hitchcock film. It's a good mystery, with fine camerawork of the north English countryside and cities by Geoffrey Unsworth, The one issue I have is with Trevor Howard as the lead. Although he was in his late thirties when he made this film, he looks to be fifteen or twenty years older, and not a very suitable romantic partner for Miss Simmons.

"The Clouded Yellow" from 1950 stars Trevor Howard and Jean Simmons. The title refers to a rare European migratory butterfly. The clouded yellow in this case is Sophie Malraux (Jean Simmons).

The film's beginning over the years has been cut. In the opening scene, Major David Somers (Howard) returns to London with no luggage and looking the worse for wear. He is a British spy and narrowly escaped a bad situation in Eastern Europe.

The next day (most likely) Somers is fired, having bungled whatever his assignment was. He goes to an employment agency and gets a job out in the country cataloguing butterflies for a wealthy man.

There, he meets the head of the house, Nicholas Fenton (Barry Jones) and his wife Jess (Sonia Dresdel). Both warn him to be wary of Jess' niece, the fragile Sophie, who found her parents after they killed themselves. "She gets things muddled," he's told by everyone, including Sophie. However, they enjoy spending time together and eventually fall in love.

When.a salacious gamekeepe (Maxwell Reed) is murdered, Sophie becomes the main suspect. The police order her to stay in the house, but Somers has an uneasy feeling and wants to get her to a lawyer in London.

And off they go, running from the police and Somers' colleagues as they take trains, buses, climb ladders, go up hills, tread waterfalls until the film's denouument (which was fairly obvious). However, that doesn't keep the film from being exciting. The good performances help.

Moving pursuits and awesome protagonists in this run-of-the-mill sub-Hitchcock thriller that stars the elegant and charming Trevor Howard who's top-notch , as well as the delightful Jean Simmons , both of whom submitted to continuous escapes . Dealing with a Secret Service agent David Somers (Trevor Howard) who is fired , then he takes a quiet job, being employed at the Fenton country estate owned by an eccentric man (Barry Jones) and his wife (Sonia Desdel) and where lives Fenton's niece , Sophie (Jean Simmons) . Then David helps Jess Fenton's niece, in eluding the police after she's unjustly accused of murdering a local gamekeeper named Hick . A bit later , David spirits the girl away being framed for the murder the nasty handyman and sets about hunting the real murderer. Along the way, they are pursued at the same time by the police and other people . They confront united several risks , odds and misfortunes.

Tense , exciting , ordinary mystery thriller with usual ingredients . Eric Ambler had a hand in the storyline for this unsurprising , but watchable thriller in Hitchcock style . Picture contains ordinary elements in Hitchcock films , such as the wrong guilty , chases and tension enough . The movie combines thriller , suspense , action and evocative landscapes . At the end takes place a thrilling and breathtaking pursuit from Newcastle to the Lake District to Liverpool while the hapless fugitives attempt to catch a ship for France . Stars Trevor Howard as a former British agent spy getting himself into hot water after he goes off to catalogue the butterfly collection , hence the title insect. While the beautiful Jane Simmons plays a fragile , fey young woman accused for killing . Here stands the support cast who's frankly excellent, such as : Sonia Dresdel , Barry Jones , Kenneth More , Geoffrey Keen , André Morell, Maxwell Reed , Eric Pohlmann, among others.

It contains evocative and atmospheric cinematography in black and white by cameraman Geoffrey Unsworth . Being shot on various locations in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne & Wear , County Durham, Cumbria, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, Coventry Street, Newsagents in Bigg Market, Newcastle upon Tyne, Quayside, Street by St Nicholas Cathedral, Newcastle, Lake District, Soho, London, England, and , of course , in Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK. Adding a thrilling and moving musical score by Benjamin Frankel. The motion picture was well directed by Ralph Thomas in mid-budget produced by Betty Box and Carillon Films . Thomas was a good Brit craftsman who directed in England nice films such as ¨Island rescue¨, ¨Above us the waves¨, ¨Doctor in house¨, ¨The wind cannot read¨, ¨Upstairs and downstairs¨, ¨Conspiracy of hearts¨, ¨Nobody runs forever¨, ¨Percy¨, ¨Percy's progress¨, ¨The love ban¨, ¨Quest of love¨ and a Hitch remake : ¨39 steps¨ . Rating 6/10 acceptable and passable, but neither notable , nor exceptional , but simply decent . Well worth seeing for Trevor Howard and Jean Simmons fans .

Well, it was okay especially for the first half and I thought it was a bit like Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935). Afterwards I realised that the director, Ralph Thomas had made the remake in 1959 and with Kenneth More who has a smaller part in this one. It is lovely with Jean Simmons and there are some great bits with the location shots in Newcastle and Liverpool. It should have been wonderful but the problem is that although we have Trevor Howard, his ex-spy action and his butterflies with the worrying Simmons and her piano and killing it is more about a past event. The other problem is that Howard is much too old to be a lover, with the 20 year old Simmons.