Actions certainly speak louder than words in this Cold War espionage drama produced by 'B' studio Eagle-Lion, directed by Russell Rouse and starring Ray Milland. Should you be counting the minutes until somebody actually speaks you will be disappointed.
Physicist Allan Fields, who works for the Atomic Energy Commission, is handing over top secret documents to enemy agents. We never discover his motives or what sort of hold they have over him but it does not take us long to realise that his heart is not in it. Through a freak accident involving one of the agents the ring is discovered by the FBI and Fields, now under constant surveillance, is obliged to flee the country. The tension becomes almost unbearable and the sequence on the Empire State Building is spellbinding.
The film is so technically proficient and its leading man so outstanding that after a while the absence of dialogue ceases to matter. Film, after all, is a visual medium. Rouse's taut direction, Sam Leavitt's cinematography, Chester Schaeffer's editing, Herschel Burke Gilbert's score and Ray Milland's performance combine to make this an intriguing and mesmerising experience. Milland is called upon to register so many emotions here and his expression when setting eyes on Rita Gam across the hallway is priceless. Who needs words? For this viewer at any rate the word that immediately springs to mind is: 'Phwoar!'
Physicist Allan Fields, who works for the Atomic Energy Commission, is handing over top secret documents to enemy agents. We never discover his motives or what sort of hold they have over him but it does not take us long to realise that his heart is not in it. Through a freak accident involving one of the agents the ring is discovered by the FBI and Fields, now under constant surveillance, is obliged to flee the country. The tension becomes almost unbearable and the sequence on the Empire State Building is spellbinding.
The film is so technically proficient and its leading man so outstanding that after a while the absence of dialogue ceases to matter. Film, after all, is a visual medium. Rouse's taut direction, Sam Leavitt's cinematography, Chester Schaeffer's editing, Herschel Burke Gilbert's score and Ray Milland's performance combine to make this an intriguing and mesmerising experience. Milland is called upon to register so many emotions here and his expression when setting eyes on Rita Gam across the hallway is priceless. Who needs words? For this viewer at any rate the word that immediately springs to mind is: 'Phwoar!'