Desperate Moment

A surprisingly neglected and unknown Dirk Bogarde thriller well up to the standard of Carol Reed's war dramas. Dirk is a Polish prisoner accused of having murdered a British soldier, but the case is much more complicated. He is actually Dutch and lives only for the beautiful Mai Zetterling, and when he hears she is dead he doesn't care for anything any more but willingly confesses to the murder to save his friends, four fellow prisoners. This is only the introduction to a very tight thriller, mainly taking place in bombed out Hamburg and Berlin. The settings and atmosphere is very much the same as in Carol Reed's "The Man Between" with James Mason of the same year. Dirk Bogarde is no James Mason, but the thriller here is even more interesting and above all more romantic than in Carol Reed's parallel Berlin film. Both succeed in catching the monumental desolation of Berlin after the war and its fathomless tragedy of ruins and consequently compliment each other perfectly.

This is an engaging and generally well-made drama, much of which is filmed on location in the ruins of bombed-out postwar Hamburg. The extensive photography of those ruins in this film thus has a significant historical value in itself. The story is based upon the novel of the same title by Martha Albrand (1910-1981), which was published in 1951. It concerns a young Dutch citizen played by Dirk Bogarde (an interesting irony here, since Bogarde is by origin a Dutch surname, and this presumably applies to Humphrey Bogart as well) who has been tricked into confessing to a murder he did not commit after escaping from a POW camp. The film begins just after he has been condemned to life in prison. He believes that the girl named Anna DeBurg whom he had desperately loved is dead. However, she unexpectedly visits him in prison and he freaks out, barely able to believe his eyes. A long and complex tale then ensues after he escapes from prison and, with Anna's help, tries to find the witnesses who can prove that he did not commit the murder. But just before he gets to two of them, they are each mysteriously killed a few hours earlier. It becomes clear that there is a conspiracy of some kind, and that he has been 'set up' by the man who lied to him and by telling him Anna was dead. Anna is played by the Swedish actress Mai Zetterling, who had long before taken up residence in Britain and become a British star. Bogarde and Zetterling are both very good at dramatically hugging one another in a slightly histrionic manner, but, as both of them were gay, there is little real 'zing' between them. In some aspects, the film is a bit corny, but it is entertaining and well made, and the story with its twists and turns holds one's attention.

Simon Van Halder (Dirk Bogarde) was imprisoned for a murder he didn't commit...and his girlfriend, Anna (Mai Zetterling) believes him. So, when Simon is able to escape the military prison where he's being held, he and Anna work together to try to prove his innocence and find out who actually murdered this British soldier in post-war Germany.

Having Bogarde playing a Dutch guy wasn't among his best roles, as he sounds about as Dutch as John Gielgud! But he did a competent job otherwise as did the rest of the cast who also lacked the proper accents in many cases. Still, the story is exciting and compelling...much like a post-war European version of "The Fugitive".

Dirk Bogarde is Dutch in this one. Soon after the War ends, he and some acquaintances try to steal some penicillin for their own use. A guard is killed, Bogarde is captured and on being told that his girlfriend, Mai Zetterling is dead, is persuaded to take the blame for the death. When Miss Zetterling shows up, he realizes he's been fooled, but he needs a confession from one of them, so he escapes and, with the lady's help, winds up in the ruins of Berlin, trying to prove his evidence.

It's always quite watchable, but it's pretty much of a programmer for Bogarde, playing on his romantic image of the moment, always dressed in a sailor's cap, which somehow reappears despite his losing it on several occasions. It seems directed more for efficiency than panache, and cinematographer C.M. Pennington-Richards makes some very obvious choices to block out shots -- there's one in a nightclub later in the movie where he uses some bamboo columns for the purpose.

Dirk Bogarde has a "Desperate Moment" or two in this 1953 film also starring Mai Zetterling.

Bogarde plays Simon van Halder, a man serving a life sentence in postwar Europe for the murder of a British soldier. During the war, in a group with three other men, one of them, Paul (Albert Lieven) tells Simon that his girlfriend Anna (Mai Zetterling) has been murdered.

In need of penicillin and in despair over Anna's death, Simon agrees to confess to the murder. The men steal penicillin for him.

Then, while convalescing in a prison hospital after an escape from a train gone awry, Simon gets a visit from Anna. He now know that Paul convinced him to confess by lying.

He and Anna are desperate to get him a new trial, but the men with Simon need to be found. But Paul is still pulling the strings.

Filmed in Berlin, this isn't a very exciting film and drags. Bogarde had been very ill before the movie, and his studio, Rank, supplied him with weight-lifting equipment to buff up.

Bogarde claimed in a health magazine that in order to look buff, he put on extra sweaters and pants and never used the equipment.

Bogarde is in his early thirties here and incredibly handsome. He and Zetterling had great chemistry, as they proved in a play they did together. They were so hot, audience members believed they were involved off-stage.

They're both very good, but both Bogarde and Zetterling made many films well beneath their considerable abilities. Alas, this is one of them. Look for Theodore Bikel in a supporting role.

For Bogarde fans.