Touches You

Blistering performances.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Its World War II and those Nazi night raids are driving the British country folk balmy. When a postman is injured and rushed into surgery, he looks suspiciously at one of the doctors and one of the nurses taking on his case whom he recognizes. The next thing you know, he's gone onto that great post office in the sky and the entire staff is under suspicion for deliberately causing his death. One of the nurses (Judy Campbell) is extremely jealous of colleague Rosamund John and doctor Leo Genn (whom she discovers kissing), and at a hospital function, she denounces the postman's killer without mentioning a name, only hinting about hidden evidence that will unleash their identity. She too ends up dead, leading to a showdown with the five suspects and Inspector Cockrill (Alastair Sim), a know-it-all detective who is in for a few surprises of his own. The Inspector is the film's narrator and reveals enough clues to get the intrigue started.Tension builds at the party during a dance to "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" which later becomes as dramatic a theme music as Alfred Hitchcock used with "The Merry Widow Waltz" in "Shadow of a Doubt" and "The Strawberry Blonde" in "Strangers on a Train". The film can be rather slow in spots, but as the surprises explode, the film just gets more and more amusing. It is astonishing to note that the film seems technically advanced beyond its release year as some British films tended to seem compared to the studio controlled product in Hollywood. Director Sidney Gilliat doesn't give us a slower paced narrative for no reason; Every detail is explored. The film's photography is outstanding. Other than Trevor Howard, Alastair Sim and Leo Genn, the cast may not be familiar to a lot of American viewers, but everybody is fine and each of them have great moments to shine. Stick with the film and you'll be greatly amused by the twists and turns in the plot that you don't see coming. Sim, best known to American audiences for perhaps the most popular version of "A Christmas Carol", plays a role I thought might be a continuing character in other films, but I was mistaken. He seemed very comfortable in the part for this to have been a regular role for him. He has a great final surprise and his response to it is ingenious.

Even the presence of master thespians Leo Genn and Trevor Howard can't solve this 1946 film,which was nothing more than a rather cheap take-off on Alfred Hitchcock's types of films.Mayhem seems to break out at a remote British hospital when a patient dies suddenly and a nurse who realized this was murder soon follows him.Everyone concerned are counted as suspects. The ending is ridiculous with carbon dioxide the culprit, used by the killer instead of oxygen. The real murderer is briefly psychoanalyzed. That's what's needed for this film.Alastair Dim is sent in to investigate this madness. By film's end, he has erred and submits his resignation, which he hopes shall be accepted. This film's makers should have submitted theirs as well.

This movie has everything going for it: good cast, good cinematography, good story, but Alastair Sim (who plays the inspector) is a wildly overrated actor and really ruins this movie. The odd way in which he portrays the inspector breaks the mood of the film and is a major distraction. Perhaps not surprising: Alastair Sim was an odd character in life too (see Wikipedia), so perhaps to be expected, but it's a shame: Trevor Howard and the rest of the cast do a great job. This could have been a mystery treat with a better actor cast in Sim's role.See it if you're a fan of Brit mysteries, otherwise, don't waste your time.

Thoroughly entertaining, this whodunit is set amid the bombing raids in London in 1944, but the plot only tangentially touches on the War. Most scenes take place in or near a hospital. And all of the suspects are hospital staff, identified early and efficiently. As the camera slowly pans an operating room, the story narrator identifies six main characters, doctors and nurses, all dressed in surgical gowns, masks, and caps. "Two of these people (will) be dead, and one of them a murderer".Into this setting comes Inspector Cockrill (Alastair Sim), quick-on-the-uptake, self-assured, and humorously pompous. He learns the details of the crime, interviews the suspects, and then, at the end, recreates the operating room setting wherein the first person was murdered, hoping to trap the killer.The film abounds with subtle clues and red herrings. That's what makes the film enjoyable. Yet, in reviewing the film, I can see that one of the most important clues is really too subtle. And that's my main criticism. Nevertheless, viewers can find all the clues they need to solve the mystery, in the first 20 to 25 minutes of the film, if they really pay attention.B&W cinematography is effective in creating a suspenseful, taut, noir atmosphere, particularly in the operating room scenes. The cinematography is less effective outdoors. But outdoor scenes were actually filmed inside a studio.Good acting amplifies the high quality production. Leo Genn, Judy Campbell, and Megs Jenkins are all quite effective. And, of course, Alastair Sim is terrific."Green For Danger" presents viewers with a murder mystery attended to by a humorously eccentric inspector. It also conveys a realistic look at civilians trying to cope amid the stress and uncertainty of wartime, and thus has thematic value beyond the whodunit element.