Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

An airline pilot called Nick Talbot (Robert Beatty) is presumed dead after his plane, destined for Guernsey, seemingly crashed into the English Channel as a result of severe weather conditions. Nick's best friend and fellow pilot Van (Zachary Scott) discovers his girlfriend, Nick's sister, Avril (Naomi Chance), is being blackmailed by a guy called Snell (Harold Lang) and he learns that during the war Nick had run a smuggling ring. Snell got Nick his job with the airline and he tells Van that its owner Boyd Spencer (Arthur Lang) runs an outfit smuggling gold and forged currency. Van visits Alexia (Kay Kendall), a former girlfriend of Nick's, on the pretext of buying some counterfeit dollar bills on someone else's behalf and he discovers that Boyd Spencer keeps an incriminating code book locked away in his office. When he breaks in, Van is ambushed and knocked down by another intruder who escapes on a motorcycle. Van chases him in his car but suffers a blackout and crashes. He awakes to find himself in a remote country cottage attended upon by - guess who? - Nick and his girlfriend Jeannette (Diane Cilento). Nick explains that he faked his death because Boyd Spencer had blackmailed him into smuggling forged currency and gold in his plane. He is a wanted man in France and Boyd Spencer used that to his advantage. Van encounters Boyd Spencer and his gang at their hideout in a martello tower and endangers his life in the process...An early offering from the legendary Hammer studio and celebrated director Terence Fisher made a few years before they shot to international fame with gothic horrors such as The Curse Of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy. The screenplay is by John Gilling whose own career would peak at that studio in the 60's where he co-wrote The Gorgon and directed notable chillers like The Shadow Of The Cat, The Plague Of The Zombies and The Reptile.Alas, fans of Hammer should prepare to be disappointed, as although some of their pre-horror stuff is excellent, this is a hackneyed little crime thriller in which its tale of currency and gold smuggling and an implicated pilot faking his death has all be done before. Gilling, who could be a versatile writer and director, simply rehashes tired situations from the b-pic playbook here. Terence Fisher's direction is not surprisingly lifeless here since it gives him very little to do. People wanting better examples of his early work at Hammer should check out Stolen Face and Four Sided Triangle, which both have strong links to his subsequent greatest works for them like the Frankenstein movies. It has to be said that what little action there is here is both slackly and clumsily executed.Zachary Scott, the obligatory imported American leading man, is competent in his role as the hero and something of a heavy too, but his relationship with his on screen girlfriend, Naomi Chance, herself a very competent performer, isn't sufficiently developed in the script so as to have that much of an emotional impact upon the audience. He is hesitant to marry her since he suffers from blackouts as a result of a war injury, which could wreck his career as a pilot if it came out and he fears that he is not good enough for her as a result of that. In addition, Robert Beatty's character, the disappearing airline pilot, simply wants to escape the country with Diane Cilento in order to both to escape Arthur Lang's gang and to keep his father from ever finding out the truth. He has always believed his son to be a great war hero and if he ever found out about his smuggling activities it would destroy him.All in all, Wings Of Danger (USA: Dead On Course) will be a disappointment to fans of Fisher and Hammer who are seeking out their frustratingly obscure early works due to the routine plot, its predictable development and indifferent direction. Funnily enough, this film is only very briefly mentioned in Wheeler Winston Dixon's marvellous book The Charm Of Evil: The Life And Films Of Terence Fisher who clearly felt that it did not warrant detailed analysis.

Zachary Scott comes over from across the pond to star in this British noir film about a pilot investigating the crash of another pilot whom he supervised that he let go up in a storm over the English Channel. As it turned out Scott was between a rock and a hard place, he has to let Robert Beatty fly because Beatty knows that Scott suffers from occasional blackouts and the Board of Trade wouldn't like that if they heard about it.Why does Beatty go up. The more Scott digs on his own he uncovers, blackmail, counterfeiting, and smuggling. And a few more surprises before this film ends.Although Hammer Films before it started doing horror films and became known for same, they turned out some decent low budget noir films that the British call quota quickies. This isn't one of them it drags in many spots and such talented folk as those already mentioned are wasted. Even Kay Kendall who plays the gangster's moll in this and well doesn't spark this film at all.I think most will be bored with this one.

The first Hammer noir I saw was the excellent Hell is a City; and it's a good job too because if the first one I saw was one of the ones I saw after Hell is a City, I probably wouldn't have bothered watching any more! Wings of Danger is directed by Hammer veteran Terence Fisher, who also directed the disappointing Hammer noir The Stranger Came Home. This one is actually slightly better, but there's not a lot in it. Wings of Danger focuses on cargo plane pilot Richard Van Ness. He tries to stop another pilot from flying due to the weather, but is blackmailed into allowing it. The plane crashes and this leads the police to begin questioning Richard about his own affairs. The film is very short at only seventy minutes, and I do have to say that's a good thing because any longer and I've have gotten really tired of it. The plot is always at least fairly interesting and the film does manage to present a handful of interesting characters. The dialogue can be a little suspect at times, but that's not such a bad thing as it's often unintentionally comedic. The film holds the audience's interest for the duration and boils down to an interesting and satisfying conclusion. Overall, I really wouldn't recommend this film, though I wouldn't say it's awful either.

Taking advantage of arrangements favoured by the UK's Eady levy (a state film subsidy established after the war) in 1950, American producer Robert Lippert formed a business alliance with Hammer studios. Under the agreement, Lippert would provide American acting talent - frequently shop-worn stars or just supporting actors who fancied a profitable trip out of the country - while Hammer would supply the rest of the cast and the production facilities. Together they would split the profits. Famous for his concern with the bottom line, Lippert produced over 140 films between 1946 and 1955, characteristically genre pieces such as I Shot Jesse James or Rocketship XM. For the British deal, most of the films were noir-ish thrillers - and include WINGS OF DANGER.Zachary Scott does a professional enough job as a pilot who faces disaster through suffering unpredictable blackouts. To add to his woes, when his girlfriend's brother appears lost in a cargo plane accident, he falls into a police investigation over blackmail, counterfeiting and smuggling. Robert Beatty and Kay Kendall support in a solid tale never less than watchable, even if not ultimately memorable. Light tramlines from the source print are evident at some points - unusual for a set with generally good picture quality. Kendall seems out of place as a minor femme fatale, too nice to communicate the double-crossing her character demands. Scott's most important noir roles previously were probably Ulmer's Ruthless and Mildred Pierce; here the actor is not helped by fairly anonymous art direction and by a story never really bringing out his internal conflicts.