Direzione Nord

Is this Hitchcock incognito or the Hitch you have when not having Hitch? I'm not always a fan of Hitch but I could imagine him wishing he might have made this movie. Mr Denning certainly offers more than a fair share of suspense and visual challenges to keep the viewer intrigued, and just when it looks like it's all sorted it rolls backwards to challenge us over again. There's also a smart script by the original story writer Alec Coppel (Vertigo)

It offers nice touches, excitement, good performances (from a fine cast), and some stylish direction and cinematography to keep the mind and eye alert. Whether it ends quite right is up to your own thoughts, but it's so well done you can hardly mind. The new Netwerk transfer to DVD is most pleasing with sharp quality B/W and reasonably priced.

Don't be taken in by the nondescript title, behind it lies a highly offbeat drama adapted from his own novel by the man who collaborated on the screenplay of 'Vertigo'.

When as a teenager I first read the plot précis in Gifford's 'Catalogue of British Films' I watched it wondering if he was kidding. He wasn't, and straight from the spoken credits, immediately followed by a bizarre dream sequence inhabited by people from his waking life we were plunged into a story surprisingly similar to Chabrol's 'La Femme Infidele', which had a similarly perverse but satisfying outcome with the hero, his wife and daughter bonded by the secret they now share.

I'm a big fan of John Mills, he's made some masterpieces in his time. Sadly, "Mr. Denning Drives North" isn't one of them. The plot can't seem to decide whether to focus on Mills and his mental strain after the tragic events from the film's beginning, or on Sam Wanamaker as the ambitious solicitor who's determined to unravel the truth about John Mills's plight. Frankly, I grew quite irritated with the film. The opening 15 minutes offered a vague hint of something which might have been good. Alas, this was not the case. The conclusion is one of the most ridiculous I've ever seen - and there are plenty to choose from! The supporting cast are wasted. The likes of Raymond Huntley, Wilfred Hyde White and Herbert Lom have little to do. Why couldn't the scriptwriter incorporate their characters into the story properly? John Mills does his best with such bland material and he's the only reason to give this film so much as a side glance.

Perhaps it's in part because the acting is so fine - playing characters we like, yet in a very unsavory situation - this movie stays with me these 20 or so years since I saw it on television.

This is also one of the relatively few movies before the late 1950s that I can recall that really (purport to) go out into the British countryside: The Clouded Yellow is another example - and a similar style of movie to this (and also very good). Aside from these, I can think of only the Scottish scenes in The 39 Steps, I Know Where I'm Going, How Green Was My Valley, The Stars Look Down. (Suddenly in the late 1950s/1960s, British movies exploded out of London and went a-venturing - in such as This Sporting Life, Look Back in Anger, Tunes of Glory, A Kind of Loving, Room at the Top, Billy Liar, Whistle Down the Wind, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Becket, The Lion in Winter, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Tom Jones, Get Carter, Alfie).

Like The Clouded Yellow, this is the kind of movie patented by Hitchcock - filled with psychological suspense, fast moving plot, attractive actors, physical danger, significant looks, deception.

I've never seen a video or DVD available - but it's definitely worthwhile seeing it if you get the chance (perhaps on television).

John Mills stars in this excellent suspense picture, very reminiscent of Hitchcock, infact, you'd think it was Alfred directing this, it features some of his trademarks!

John Mills is excellent, as is the entire cast.

The screenplay in parts is a little disappointing but overall the picture works. I quite enjoyed the finale, classic stuff!

Check this film out!