Echo of Diana

This is quite an enthralling little low budget British thriller as "Joan" (Betty McDowell) starts to investigate the suspicious death of her husband in a plane crash on the Turkish border. Was he a spy? We set out to discover with the help of journalists "Pam" (Clare Owen) and "Bill" (Vincent Ball) what exactly happened - is he actually dead? Ernest Morris was an old hand at keeping these moving along a-pace and does so adequately here, too, with plenty of double-crosses to keep it interesting. The jungle-drums music is of the time, and no less annoying for that - it is no substitute for taut writing.

After learning that her husband Philip has been killed in an air crash in Eastern Europe, Joan Scott is disturbed to read a mysterious in memoriam notice inserted in a newspaper under the signature, Diana . With the help of her journo friend, she sets out to find out who she is ....

Echos of Diana is a British thriller that has an intriguing storyline, the plot adequately keeps things interesting enough to keep you watching, but things that happen appears like a tickbox exercises and the direction is rather pedestrian -nothing happens that jumpstarts the good ole ticker. It's well-acted though, loved its Britishness, the overcoats, the cars, the upper crust accent and politeness and the clean-wow! Streets and shops.

Like most Cold War thrillers the plot is largely incomprehensible. But like most British 'B' movies of the early sixties it doesn't really matter as one savours the cool black & white photography, old cars and buttoned-down Jackie Kennedy-style elegance of Betty McDowall and Clare Owen as the ladies caught up in a rather dream-like web of intrigue (which even requires the former to go beguilingly blonde at one point). Plus an even more than usually weird little cameo from Marianne Stone in glasses like bottle bottoms.

It's all oddly haunting to experience; aided by a guitar & bongo drums score by Martin Slavin more suited to a film set on the Mediterranean and seldom paying much attention to what's actually going on but which lingers on when the film is over...

A cheap British spy effort from those hard-working fellows at Butcher's Film Service, ECHO OF DIANA offers something a little different for fans of the genre. For a start, it's not a film with a clear-cut plot; most of this one takes the form of a mystery that slowly unravels over the hour-long running time. It's an intriguing little thing in places, following a wife's determination to solve the mysteries surrounding her husband's death in a plane crash in Turkey.

A friend and reporter help her to uncover the truth about what happened, and the authorities also take a keen interest. However, there's also a murderous kidnap gang at work, and each of these factions works against the other as the running time unfolds. Part detection, part kidnap thriller, part hostage drama; ECHO OF DIANA is always sedate and a little genteel, but it kept me watching from beginning to end, which is more than can be said for some.

Australian actress Betty McDowall is the erstwhile lead and pretty good with it too; her character grows on you and she evokes sympathy as the storyline progresses. The casting director had an eye for talent with lots of good little roles for the likes of Geoffrey Toone, a funny Michael Balfour, a quirky Marianne Stone, and even a pivotal cameo from Dermot Walsh. Director Ernest Morris made this back-to-back with SHADOW OF FEAR and it's by far the superior of the two films.

Kind of surprised at the 5.5 rating. It's definitely not. It's a simple story but with some interesting twists and turns. The acting is very good and at no time did I disbelieve what was going on. At the time of writing (2023) the lead actor is still alive, about to turn 100 this December. The others have all long since passed. As a Canadian I get to see many British movies here in Austria by watching a British channel on my TV courtesy of my giant satellite dish capable of capturing faint signals from abroad. This film was above the average of the ones I've seen over the years and enjoyed the way it ended.