Midnight Oil:Movies and More

In “The Deadly Affair” (1966) IMDb, John le Carré’s spy novel turns into a cinematic adventure for everyday secret service man, Charles Dobbs (played by James Mason). Even though he has a nymphomaniac wife at home, Charles Dobbs’ career as a British intelligence officer is nothing like that of James Bond. A suspicious looking suicide after an apparently unfounded accusation of communist sympathies leads down a trail of cold war intrigue. As the plot thickens, Dobb’s finds the answers in places that strike close uncomfortably close to home.

See a very interesting SNAM “Interview” that includes material on John le Carré’s more famous spy novel, “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold”, a film starring Richard Burton, also screened on the same evening on Saturday Night at the Movies.

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Catch the opening credits and opening scene for “The Deadly Affair” (1966) here.

“The Who Never Was” (1956) IMDb with Clifton Webb spins an intriguing yarn about British military intelligence during WWII. Apparently based on actual events, Lieutenant Commander Ewen Montagu (Clifton Webb) finds himself with the challenging and somewhat gruesome task of diverting the attention of the German High Command away from a planned invasion of the continent through planting misinformation on a dead body. Montagu and his team are indefatigable in their efforts to serve the national interest. In contrast, the cost of the war in terms of personal loss is depicted through the part of the grieving father of the dead man and the distraught girlfriend (Gloria Greene) who is told that her beloved is dead. Though perhaps not the greatest spy thriller every made, I find this film to be interesting enough to be watchable. The fictionalized account of actual spy stuff certainly makes this movie of historical interest for WWII film buffs.

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See the TVO SNAM preview for “The Man Who Never Was” (1956)

Catch the video trailer for the opening credits of “The Man Who Never Was” 1956. I believe that the dramatic reading in the opening is from a poem by H.G. Wells.

"Witness for the Prosecution" (1957IMDb) Billy Wilder's classic court room drama features Tyrone Power as the accused, Leonard Vole, and Marlene Dietrich as his wife. Charles Laughton is at the top of his form as defense lawyer Sir Wilfred Robarts. You never can tell with a wily old fellow like Sir Robarts up to his old tricks in the court room. Not to be missed in this production is the irrepressible Mrs. Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester. Lanchester plays the rather shrill Nurse Plimsoll to the hilt, running after Sir Wilfred with her sharp hypodermic syringe and a wit too dull to perceive crafty old coot’s concealed flask of brandy. Thoroughly entertaining fare derived from a successful Agatha Christie play.

Catch the TVO preview of the movie “Witness for the Prosecution”.

Also presented on on SNAM on the same evening highlighting legal wrangling were films previously featured on Midnight Oil, "The Ox-Bow Incident" (1943)and "Compulsion"(1959).

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A must see is this short video scene of the irritating Miss Plimsoll plying her trade with the irascible Sir Wilfred.

Catch the original movie trailer for "Witness for the Prosecution" (1957) here.