Hidden Fear

There's something extremely rotten in Denmark, and as a Late Film Noir, it's actually a few rotten things and they're people, in this case counterfeiters in André De Toth's jazz-soaked, hard-edge HIDDEN FEAR, where John Payne isn't a Wrong Man but his sister could very well be a Wrong Dame...

So it's up to her tall, tough, distant, moody, gritty-handsome, totally indifferent cop brother to figure things out...

Even if he knows his little sister's prone to trouble wherever she winds up, and might not be so innocent, given the company she kept, which gives his mission a more ambiguous edge...

Making him a complete stranger, lost and aloof on foreign soil that is hardly New York's, Chicago's or Los Angeles's shadowy urban landscape...

From the Danish city lined with neat looking apartment buildings in an antique, dollhouse fashion to the sparse waterfront boatyard, director Toth makes such ample use of the country's genuine exterior, even the studio-shots within the usual dark atmospheric nightclubs or restaurant feels like a far away place...

As a (Late) Noir, HIDDEN has a more suspenseful, edgy title than premise and turnout. There's not that many dark moments and yet the pace is brisk (Payne climbing across a titled apartment building roof is a standout). And the story can be confusing unless you pay very close attention to expository detail...

His sister's charged with murder and upon investigation her deceased boyfriend's crowd are deadly counterfeiters slowly crawling out from the shadowy woodwork. That's the baseline...

And once things are more clear, the locale-to-locale investigation is extremely engrossing, scored with vibrant beatnik jazz: A kind of swinging bop sound, and even at times providing a flaunting horn like the future James Bond films...

Also, Payne has that smooth spy ala 007 aura more than a tough cop. And like Bond, he's hardly alone (he even owned the rights to the Ian Fleming novel MOONRAKER for a while)...

Our subtle, local nice girl is played by an extremely beautiful Anne Neyland, who's far more than eye-candy with eyes that really pierce into the men she's speaking to, while talking or listening, while her chemistry with Payne is genuine and sexy despite their lack of physicality, taking away from everything else...

After a little while you might ask yourself: What Murder? For HIDDEN FEAR is a movie that's even better (and deeper) than its often meandering plot that takes second-fiddle to the characters on board: Instead of wielding a backstabbing last-minute gun, her voluptuous body and full-lips makes for a dame the bad guys want instead of the usual vice-versa...

Meanwhile, the counterfeiters are led by a former war hero Alexander Knox (resembling James Mason) who owns a small yacht that's a pivotal location...

When Payne's Mike is trapped inside, surreal music is heard, sounding like an underwater funhouse ride: subtle, softly strange, awkward and eerie, lending a KISS ME DEADLY vibe...

In fact the entire journey is also somewhat Mike Hammer-like, and Payne would have been fantastic playing him: Only there's no slow-burn, twisty conclusion as things shape-up with an action genre helicopter-upon-car-upon-motorcycle chase...

And although it can be convoluted, FEAR provides a cool dose of thrilling entertainment.

Before deciding that television was a good career move and leaving feature films, John Payne did this last one Hidden Fear for which he got a trip to Copenhagen. I've heard of worse reasons for a movie and worse films that came from them. Hidden Fear will never be ranked in his top 10 nor of the top ten of Andre DeToth the director.

Payne plays a homicide cop who's in Copenhagen because his sister Natalie Norwick's got herself in a nice jackpot with the Danish police. She's accused of murdering her boyfriend who was a dancer/musician and something of a lowlife. Payne starts running his own investigation and it turns out that the boyfriend was trying to horn in on a counterfeiting scheme that Alexander Knox and Conrad Nagel are running.

Truth be told Payne's truculent attitude probably cut a few corners, but the Danish cops probably were well on the way toward learning the truth. For that reason I can't really rate this noir film very high. In fact it could have gotten another notch in the ratings had we some color cinematography of Copenhagen and the Danish countryside.

These kind of films were disappearing and Payne probably made a right choice when he left feature films.

Very satisfying American Noir shot in Denmark in the late 1950s. Many of the exteriors were clearly shot on location and make very good, atmospheric use of the city. The interior set pieces, however, are where the film really separates itself from the standard "Noir look". Noir had always been influenced, one might even say descended from, German Expressionism, but the set pieces and lighting here are almost Caligari like, the characters moving through dark rooms like wraiths.

The film culminates with a spectacular chase scene that makes extensive and impressive use of helicopter shots, perhaps the most ambitious use of such angles since Nick Ray's innovative "They Live by Night", released only a few short years before this film.

This movie strikes me as almost unwittingly feminist. The much slapped around and manipulated female characters might be "bad women", but unlike true femme fatales they're not pulling any strings. These are active, if not entirely willing, participants in an amoral, patriarchal game.

Natalie Norwick is arrested for murder in Denmark. This makes her brother, cop John Payne fly over. It turns out to be not a simple murder, but a matter linked to a counterfeiting ring that is being controlled by Alexander Payne and Conrad Nagel -- the latter without a toupee.

It's one of those tough guy 'tec movies in which the hero -- and Miss Norwick -- is knocked out at least occasionally, and yet survives to win the day, amidst betrayal, car bombs, and such issues. Director Andre de Toth was clearly given a B movie script, and somehow stretched the budget to shoot in Denmark and somehow include a few interesting shots along the way. Payne does a decent job, yet as with so many of his leading roles, I am struck with the conviction that any of a dozen other actors could have done as much. He would not appear on the big screen again for more than a decade.

Hidden Fear (1957)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

An American cop (John Payne) arrives in Denmark after his sister is arrested for murdering her boyfriend. It doesn't take long for the cop to realize that there's something more going on and that his sister wasn't behind it. One could argue that I watch way too many movies but what can I say? It's a passion of mine and something that I really love. I alway say my favorite genre is horror and that my favorite kind of movies are those with great acting (those two favorites really never go together) but I think I've seen more mystery, noir or crime films, whatever you want to call them. Each time one is on Turner Classic Movies, it get recorded and watched. Each time one gets thrown on Netflix, it gets watched. HIDDEN FEAR is exactly what you'd expect from a crime film as it features a tough good guy, an evil bad guy and the girl who is part good and part bad. HIDDEN FEAR is without question one of the worst films I've seen from the genre as it features one bad moment after another and in the end it never adds up to anything interesting. One could argue that you should never put logic into a film like this and I usually don't but I simply couldn't get around the fact that this American comes to Denmark and their police just start giving him all sorts of information about the case. This isn't believable for a number of reasons not to mention the fact that he's the brother to a murderer so why would they just release anything to him? Payne seems absolutely bored by everything going on as his performance has no energy and it's hard to tell that he's even alive. His line delivery makes it seem as if he's falling asleep and the supporting players, including Conrad Nagel, add very little. The entire plot is just one big bore and director Andre De Toth adds very little excitement or energy to the material.