High Treason

HIGH TREASON was originally issued in both sound and silent versions, but for many years, only the silent version was known to survive. A few years ago, a copy of the abbreviated sound version, issued by Tiffany in the US was discovered and restored. However, it is still difficult to see, and so this review is based on the silent version.

The year is 1950 -- a popular year for science-fiction films in the 1920s -- and tensions are rising between the Federated States of Europe and the Atlantic States. A car carrying liquor breaks through a border guard and is shot down; the Atlantic States send an ultimatum to Europe, whose President, Basil Gill, wants war; although he is not implicated, arms manufacturers are shown bribing people. Only the World League of Peace, led by Humberstone Wright, and his daughter, Benita Hume, stand in the way of war. Miss Hume's boy friend is Jameson Thomas, an officer of Europe, ready to carry out his orders. Thus the conflict is not only a matter of the world and politics and money, but of love.

Visually, the movie is an Art Deco feast, pitched halfway between METROPOLIS and THINGS TO COME (Raymond Massey, who starred in the latter, has a small but prominent role and can be clearly seen at about the 30-minute mark). Clothes follows the sleek design, with a lot of shiny fabric and hats midway between cloches and skullcaps. Neither does Elvey neglect the technological touches, with autogyros and biplanes flying about London, television broadcasts, sliding doors and the other paraphernalia beloved of screen sf. Percy Strong's camerawork is limber, with many a tracking shot to focus the audience's attention, and a couple of moving crane shots. British film-making may have long been considered a backwater of the industry, but British Gaumont had the resources and will to make this spectacular.

The weaknesses of this movie are twofold. First, it is very talky for a silent picture, with a lot of title cards of dialogue, doubtless reproducing speech in the sound version. Second is the rather clunky utopianism of the plot, reducing the issues of politics and economics in a theoretical world to melodrama, where singing a song can stop a military action, and national leaders can be isolated from their guards. In my rather cynical view, Realpolitik guides the powerful, who are isolated and protected from the consequences of their follies.

Still, that's no way to make popular entertainment now, and was less so in 1929; and while this movies shows flaws that an examination of the sound version might more fully explain, it remains visually quite beautiful, with the lovely 23-year-old Miss Hume a high point.

Ther actor Basil Gill was famous in his time for his fine voice. He was an accomplished stage actor before starting work in the early cinema. There were numerous press reviews of his performances that commented on his voice, and those that accompanied the release of this film, the talking version, in 1928, were no exception. "Basil Gill as President Stephen Deane has far and away the best recording voice we have heard, a lesson to everyone in clearness and beautiful quality." What a shame that the sound is no longer audible. However, his voice can still be heard in such films as "Knight without Armour", "Rembrandt", "St Martin's Lane" and "Wings of the Morning".

The landmark British sci fi film made in 1936 by Korda had many prophecies about a world war which would commence in 1940.This film,made in 1929 was forecasting a war between Europe and the USA based,somewhat oddly on a border incident.Itforecast war in 1950 and mass destruction by bombers.so I wonder if either H.G.Wells or Korda saw this film and were influenced by it.The sets and the costumes are very stylish and also very art deco.In reality in 1950 it would be austerity.This film was made on the cusp of sound.The version I saw was silent so I wonder if a sound version exists.The fact that there are a lot of explanatory sub titles indicates that it was probably filmed as a talkie with silent copies issued to cinemas who had not installed sound equipment.In any event by 1930 the silent film was to all intents and purposes dead.This is therefore a real curiosity.

THE STORY & GENRE -- Munitions scumbags start war with agitprop and false flags, peaceniks block aerodrome & shoot hawk President. Not the most sophisticated film but provides plenty of food for thought. Futuristic sets (cities, travel, Chunnel) & technology (war, communications, household).

THE VERDICT -- Having seen both the silent and sound versions, I recommend you should watch the silent, by far the better experience. Maurice Elvey's frantic direction suffers too much from the weak technicals and dialogue delivery in the sound version.

FREE ONLINE, the Gaumont print at 75 minutes, which may be just a fast running of the 82-minute IMDB duration.

I have read that BLACKMAIL (directed by Alfred Hitchcock) was the first British talking picture. I was sure surprised when I learned that HIGH TREASON came out several months earlier. In both cases, they made sound and silent versions because most British theaters were not equipped for sound. I found the silent version and would love to see the sound version if I can find it.

The story is a natural outgrowth of WWI, which just ended a decade earlier. Millions of men were needlessly slaughtered in a war which had no 'good guys'...just victims. Because of this, many anti-war films were made in the 1920s and 30s...all hoping to convince everyone that war was avoidable and useless. Too bad they hadn't anticipated the rise of Naziism and, unfortunately, these films actually HELPED the Third Reich to gain control over Europe, as the films were particularly popular in Britain (such as with this film and THINGS TO COME) and France (such as with both versions of J'ACCUSE).

The film is set in 1950. Europe and North America have each formed a separate union--with the Federated States of Europe and the Atlantic States each representing many millions of people. A small border incident* occurs and instead of dealing with it like adults, the leaders begin preparing for war--fomented by evil industrialists who will profit from death. The only thing standing in the way is a large group of peace-lovers who are members of The World League of Peace....with 25,000,000 members who are willing, in some cases, to give their lives to maintain peace and prevent another senseless war. How this war is averted is fascinating....and gives an interesting twist to the notion of passive resistance!

This is a cool film to watch, as their view of the future is amazingly dated--with everyone flying about in dirigibles, auto-gyros and airplanes. The look of all this is pretty silly in some ways (sort of like THE JETSONS) but also is fascinating to see. Overall, a fascinating look at what if....and well worth seeing, particularly if you are a history buff like me.