Dusty Ermine

A sort-of-young Margaret Rutherford shows her comic potential in this early appearance as a member of a shady counterfeiting ring in this entertaining if slightly muddled comedy-thriller. Ronald Squire is a reformed forger who discovers that his talented nephew has been drawn into the same racket by a gang operating out of a sports hotel in the Swiss Alps and travels there to sort things out. He's tailed by dashing, Germanic-looking Scotland Yard cop Anthony Bushell, who wastes no time wooing Squire's niece. The Alps provide an unusual location for a British movie from the '30s and there's a lengthy but decent climactic chase sequence down the side of a mountain, but the film suffers when Squire is off-screen (which he is for a lengthy spell).

Ronald Squire is released from prison after a term for forgery. He is approached by some folks who include Margaret Rutherford (in her screen first credited role), who point out the profits, but he's already experienced the losses, so he turns them down. Instead they approach his nephew, Arthur Macrae, who has abandoned the legal profession of his ancestors for the unprofitable trade of painter. When forged notes start turning up, Squire is summoned by the police. He's innocent, but realizes who is responsible, so he takes Macrae's sister, Jane Baxter, on a trip to Switzerland to follow Macrae and urge him to the straight and narrow. There, they run into Scotland Yard investigator Anthony Bushell.

There are some lovely sequences shot in Switzerland and the Tyrol; producer Julius Hagen was trying to get out of the Quota Quickie trade into more profitable A pictures. This would prove to be a financial mistake as the market for A pictures in Britain were limited and his distributors cut off the American markets. In the meantime, director Bernard Vorhaus shot some nice pictures in the snow, including an exciting chase sequence, and the script provides a very clever ending. With Katie Johnson, Felix Aylmar, and Wally Patch.

A forget gets out of prison determined to go straight, however he's intercepted by a crime network.

I rather enjoyed this, it definitely develops well, and gains pace, the early stages are very slow, but stick with it, ultimately it really is rewarding.

The acting is very, very solid, ahead of its time, if like me you're here for Margaret Rutherford, you won't be disappointed, even if she perhaps isn't in it a huge deal, she is marvellous though, hard to believe she's 44 here. The acting in general is great.

It's very well made, with nice locations, it's very solid, and again defies its years. I love the style of it, it has bags of charm and appeal.

Funny, and enjoyable, 7/10.

The title might actually have been explained in Neil Grant's original play, which sadly seems typical of the inattention to mundane details which pushed producer Julius Hagen into bankruptcy within a year of this film's release. Hagen seems actually to have splashed out on sending to the Austrian Alps leads Anthony Bushell, the delightful Jane Baxter (whom I saw in the flesh along with director Bernard Vorhaus at a screening of this film on the South Bank in 1986) and writer/actor Arthur Macrae for the James Bond-style finale.

The cast also includes slightly younger versions than we are accustomed to of Ronald Squire before he grew his moustache (the film ends with a wonderful gag reminding us of his resourcefulness as a forger), Katie Johnson (nearly twenty years before 'The Ladykillers'), and Margaret Rutherford making a priceless film debut as a master criminal (a role not in the original play).

Most of the best parts are in the second half (as another reviewer states). It opens well, which includes a great exchange at the prison gates. It then settles into an English 1930's type film that is slightly askew, in that the crook is accepted back into the Middle Class family fold, and not much is said about the miscreant.

The plot develops, and could be quicker, but then by half way through the film, it takes off in style. It involves counterfeiting, mountain scenery, a love interest and general chicanery. It must be important case I thought, as there were undercover policemen operating in the UK as well as in Switzerland.

The Swiss scenes fooled me, as it looked like most of them were shot on location in Switzerland (?). Yes, there were backdrops but there were none for the marvellous ski chase scene, which was very realistic in that skiers fell over, unlike the Olympic skiers in Jame's Bond's OHMSS.

It all moved along at a very entertaining pace in the second half and for me was worth the first half. It must be said that the acting is staid in parts (it is the 1930's after all), and very warm in others thank goodness.

For me? I like this kind of film, and my time was not wasted here, as it unlike other movies of this period. I hope that I have given you an idea whether to view or not (I leave the finer details to others to identify).