Le complot du silence

Inquisitive, unflagging schoolmaster in London chases down the driver of a car which ran him off the road to a secluded manor in the woods; sneaking in the back window, the teacher comes across a secret sect of gentleman bankers who appear to be unaware of his presence when a shooting occurs. Complicated, endlessly intriguing film from Universal was distributed straight to television, though it has the look and feel of a theatrical feature (and may have eventually been pared down to TV-movie length, unfortunately). There simply isn't enough time on the clock to expand on all the twists and turns in Trevor Wallace's script. This would make the perfect mini-series, as each unfolding episode holds a small surprise. Louis Jourdan is terrific in the leading role--smart, sure-handed, resourceful. Mary Tyler Moore plays his romantic interest who may or may not be what she seems, and she's well-matched with Jourdan (but why can't the women in these movies ever run from Point A to Point B without falling down?). The concluding events seem a bit rushed, and Jourdan's escape from a locked room near the climax is right out of James Bond. Still, the film is a good one; improbable, perhaps, but tightly-paced, intelligent, and highly enjoyable.

Great movie! Intelligent plot and a treasure chest of acting talent in the likes of Holloway, Howard, Naismith, et all. I saw this movie upon its release and it still rivets me to my seat. The magic of this movie whisked me away from the tedium of 1960's mid-America to the beautiful European locations on which it was shot and allowed me to escape into intrigue, suspense and danger for a few hours. This might have been considered a mid-budget level British production, but my biased opinion is that their mid level movies beat most of our A-productions in quality. It is my hope that this fine production is released on DVD very soon.

An English school teacher (Louis Jordan!) witnesses what he calls a murder (actually, one man was defending himself from being attacked by a chap with a gun that discharged accidentally in a struggle, so I can't imagine what rational being would call that a murder). Naturally, the police don't believe him, especially when he reaches the place where it happened and it's all changed.

Hiring a sleazebag private detective (Terence Alexander, in a great but small bit) he gets a lead but then gets thunked on the head following it up.

When he wakes up he's living in a palatial villa outside Geneva, married to a young Mary Tyler Moore. I should have such a bump.

So, was his past a delusion caused by a polo playing accident, and has he lost his mind? Or have a lot of people in conspiracy set him up in a wonderful new life? And why is he complaining about it?

But for some reason he's determined to get to the bottom of it all, and that means more danger from the conspirators. If any.

A truly first-rate cast, mostly in small roles, gives the star more than adequate support. One stand-out (as always) is the great Wilfred Hyde-White.

I can't figure out if it's a droll comedy. It's filled with some unexpected laughs. For instance, when he looks at a photo of his new wife, Moore, it looks like a goofy publicity shot left over from "The Dick van Dyke Show." And Jordan's attitude to his new surroundings strikes me as so incongruous as to be funny. A serious-minded teacher is suddenly Gaston from "Gigi."

His quest to find out what happened should satisfy conspiracy buffs. The rest of us can enjoy some fine performances by some of Britain's top supporting actors. It's nice, silly, cozy fun to kill an afternoon.

When I saw some of the comments the other week about the film not being released on VHS or DVD, I got out my copy of the film on VHS. I taped it back in the late 1980s and have watched it at least once a year! It hasn't been played for ages here in Australia and as I have a new DVD HDD recorder AND a VHS recorder still hooked up, I have copied it on to the disc drive, edited it and included a scene selection and can burn copies any time on to DVD. The quality from the near 20 year old tape is still pretty good and very watchable. I have edited out the old ad breaks but you will see the station logo at the beginning of scenes coming back from the break but there are no watermarks during scenes. There is a little bit of a voice-over on the end credits but it only goes for about 10 seconds. If any one wants a copy, I would be happy to oblige.

I really loved this film when I saw it on TV back in 1983, and always hoped I could see it again one day - but it never seemed to get repeated on UK tv after that for some reason.

So I was delighted to see it was on YouTube, and it was so good to see it once more.

It's quite a Hitchcockian story, with the main character witnessing a murder at an elite meeting at a semi-derelict mansion near the start - and how then he is silenced by the elite group to keep the murder hushed-up in a most unusual and extraordinary way.

I don't want to give too much of the story away for anyone who's never seen it, so that's all I'll say - you'll have to see for yourself!

I loved all the locations too, some not far from where I live, including the long-gone Wooburn Green village train station.

Louis Jourdan is solid as the lead, and Mary Tyler-Moore perfect as the co-star, as well as a whole host of famous faces in supporting roles.

It's an intriguing story full of twists and turns, and a very entertaining and unusual film.