Flight from Vienna

Other reviews here have quite rightly highlighted what a poor film this is. The fault lies pretty well entirely with the production and direction. It is potentially a good story - but this story had been done before and since always to better effect. The screenplay is pedestrian and makes nothing of the opportunities for tension and character development. Direction seems to be non-existent with the poor actors doing the best they can with poor material. Nothing is made of the iconic Viennese setting, the drama of the border crossing or the constant tension of the protagonist being a hunted man. If this were not bad enough the cinematography, lighting and sound are distinctly amateur.

Is there anything of value in this then? . Well Theodore Bikel shows early signs of the genuine talent that would become more apparent as his career developed. John Bentley gives a dependable performance in line with his more famous "Paul Temple" role. Of interest is Donald Grey who became better known on screen in the TV series "Saber of the Yard" where as a one-armed actor he chose to play the detective with an empty sleeve. In this he wears a prosthetic arm carefully turned away from the camera. Probably because of his disability and distinctive voice, in his later career he became known for voice overs, most notably in Gerry Anderson's Captain Scarlett.

Finally, anyone interested in film composers may detect the uncredited early work of Edwin (Ted) Astley here. This is from the beginning of Astley's career, before he developed the distinctive ITC style that provided the scores for The Saint, The Baron, Danger Man and many other great TV series of the 70's. Here, his style is complex and orchestral, borrowing ideas and actual cues from "Scotland Yard" an early 50's TV series by him.

Another boring film from quickie producer E. J. Fancey. Fancey seemed to have the uncanny knack of turning everything he made into the most tedious fare imaginable and FLIGHT FROM VIENNA is no exception. The storyline concerns a Hungarian defector who escapes from the Iron Curtain but is coerced into going back to rescue both his wife and a top scientist by the British intelligence.

Sadly for a Cold War thriller this film is almost entirely devoid of thrills and merit. The main character, played by Theodore Bikel, is one of the dullest imaginable and has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. The reliable John Bentley is a little better in support but has very little to work with.

FLIGHT FROM VIENNA is only an hour long but it feels at least twice that thanks to the slow pacing and talky nature of the script. In fact the production values make this look so dated that it could pass for a film made in the 1930s given the right storyline. Even fans of British B-films from the 1950s will struggle to enjoy this one.

A tinny but reasonably engrossing Cold War quickie largely shot in Vienna with mainly post-synced dialogue (of which there is plenty) centring on the exploits of a Hungarian defector; released the same year things in that poor country got really ugly.

We rarely see Viennese star Theodore Bikel the folk singer in movies; but he here briefly appears strumming a guitar in the opening sequence before he gets down to the serious business of spiriting his wife and the usual World Famous Scientist from behind the Iron Curtain.

It's only an hour long, slickly cut together and it's incredible age makes it interesting today as a period piece.

Theodore Bikel is Colonel Sandor Kosice. A Hungarian government agent who fears for his safety as his political masters have been replaced.

Kosice manages to scramble to Vienna but the communists are on to him. The British in Vienna are unsure if Kosice is a plant. To test his loyalties they want him to go back behind the Iron Curtain and smuggle out a scientist. Kosice even gets his wife to escape this time.

However Kosice is not out of danger. As the British deliberate whether to grant him asylum, the Hungarians send an agent to assassinate him.

Flight from Vienna is cheaply made B thriller that runs for less than a hour. It does not have much of a story and also lacks thrills. Kosice is fired upon so many times as he escapes to the west and they all miss him.

Bikel gives a sincere performance in what is a slow moving film with lots of filler scenes. The British operatives also come across as incompetent who unduly put Kosice's life in danger.

This E.J. Fancy production has a good script for the first thirty minutes, decent actors, good night photography, obvious day-for-night shots. It also has abysmally awful production values that are not helped in the least by the shooting at night and the combination of stock shots and ham-handed post-production that make you notice them instead of what's going on.

The first thirty minutes are about a high-ranking Communist spy -- Theodore Bikel -- who wanders into Vienna and tries to defect -- but no one seems to want him. After half an hour, some one suggests that there's a scientists behind the Iron Curtain that would be welcome in the west, so he heads back to Hungary and we spend some time watching him try to get himself, his wife and the scientists across the border. A few warm moments of decent, underplayed acting are inserted into undercranked MOS sequences punctuated by very dramatic music. That, however, takes only fifteen minutes and there's still another fifteen minutes to go....