Cone of Silence aka Trouble in the Sky ( 1960 )

Captain Gort ( Bernard Lee ) has just been on trial for crashing one of the new Pheonix jets on takeoff. The verdict was pilot's error. Gort is in disbelief, as is his daughter Charlotte ( Elizabeth Seal ) who knows that her father always flies "by the book" and would never endanger the passengers or crew. Both believe that there was a fault with the new aircraft but the scientists investigating the crash are not convinced. After several months, Gort is allowed to return to his regular flight schedule but his flying ability is once again called into question when he has another low take-off in a Pheonix jet. This time, Captain Dallas ( Michael Craig ) begins to question the safety of the aircraft and investigates the matter, hoping to uncover the cause before another crash takes place. 

Cone of Silence is one of a multitude of aircraft-disaster pictures that were filmed in the 1960s. It seems like a film that Jack Hawkins would have starred in but instead it featured Bernard Lee ( best known for playing M in the James Bond films ). He does a great job of playing the dishonored pilot.

The script was based on the 1959 book of the same name by author David Beaty, which was loosely based on the de Havilland Comet crashes, much like the superior No Highway in the Sky ( 1951 ). 

Cone of Silence has some moments of excitement but overall it is more dramatic than adventerous. Michael Craig himself commented that "it wasn't much of a film and did nothing for anyone's career". However, it is worth checking out just to see the cast which was composed of a bevy of famous Brit actors. George Sanders portrays the prosceuting attorney at the trial, Charles Tingwell ( Murder She Said ) is a fellow pilot, as is Peter Cushing and Gordon Jackson; Andre Morrell and Geoffrey Bayldon have brief parts, and there is a small part for the beautiful Delphi Lawrence as well. 

The film was issued as Trouble in the Sky in the United States, but both titles have little to do with the story because most of the trouble is on the landing field at takeoff! Quite frankly, a film about Get Smart's "Cone of Silence" would be much more entertaining to watch.

Mysterious Island ( 1961 )

A world beyond imagination! Adventure beyond belief! 

A band of Union Army prisoners, a Confederate soldier, and a journalist escape in a hot air balloon during the Civil War and are carried off by a storm to an uncharted island populated with giant creatures. This same storm blows in two ladies who were the only survivors of a shipwreck. They band together to survive, staving off giant chickens, bees and pirates before making an attempt to escape the island with the aid of Captain Nemo. 

Jules Verne's 1874 novel "Mysterious Island" was used as a basis for this marvelous adventure film. Special effects maestro Ray Harryhausen teamed up with producer Charles Schneer for the sixth time to create this dandy fantasy film that Time magazine declared would "thrill the geewillikers out of anyone!"

It does indeed! Mysterious Island combines a great cast with a fine script, a fantastic Bernard Herrmann score, and great special effects, making it a winner all-around. Even though it was released by Columbia Pictures, it is a British-made production with a primarily English cast playing Civil War soldiers. Michael Craig heads the cast as Captain Cyrus Harding. He quickly takes command when the balloon party lands on the island. Harding is your quintessential cookie-cutter captain who does things by the book. Even though he seems like the kind of character who would be given a love-interest, he remains single the entire film. 

Gary Merrill is excellent as Mr. Spilitt, an engaging journalist who enjoys jesting with Lady Fairchild, one of the shipwrecked ladies, played by the impeccably British Joan Greenwood. Percy Herbert plays a tough-talking Confederate, Dan Jackson is the loyal strongman Corporal Neb and, to draw in the teenage crowd, Michael Callan plays a young soldier who overcomes his cowardice when he attempts to rescue his new sweetheart, the miniskirt clad Elena Fairchild ( Beth Rogan ). 

Let's not forget Captain Nemo.....Herbert Lom plays the famous inventor. He adds a bit more gruffness to the character than James Mason did in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea ( 1954 ). A dash of humor and more showmanship would have given greater interest to his character, but he was in keeping with Verne's description so we're not complaining. 

Mysterious Island was shot at Shepperton Studios, England, and on location in Sa Conca Bay, Spain. Unlike some of Harryhausen's other films, this picture uses a number of matte shots and they really help to create the storybook-like setting of the island. Check out the site Matte Shot to see more screenshots of the mattes used in the film. 

Harryhausen must have had a ball creating the miniatures for Mysterious Island. He made a fantastic model of the Nautilus, a truly frightening giant bee, a giant baby chicken, man-eating crab, and an octopus. It took him months to film these creatures in stop-motion, moving each armature a little bit at a time until the scene played out just right. 

Impressive as these creatures are, my favorite of his creations was the miniature air balloon. As you can see from this behind-the-scenes photo, this miniature was not as tiny as you would think. The soldiers make their escape in the balloon during a heavy storm and Harryhausen had to create this setting within the confines of Shepperton Studios. It is amazing to see the balloon tossed about in the storm over the ocean, forgetting that there was no storm or ocean in reality!

Mysterious Island premiered in the theatres Christmas Week 1961 and was a huge box-office success. It played to packed theaters worldwide and the film received glowing reviews critically as well. It is currently available for viewing on DVD and in an excellent newly restored blu-ray edition from Powerhouse packed with special features. 

Nor the Moon by Night ( 1958 )

"The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night." - Psalm 121:6 

After years of caring for her mother, gentle nurse Alice Lang ( Belinda Lee ) decides to fly out to Kenya to marry gamekeeper Andrew Miller ( Patrick McGoohan ). Alice has never met Andrew but they have been corresponding with each other by mail for years and she feels she knows him inside and out. She picks an inopportune time to come to Kenya, for a vicious game poacher ( Eric Pohlmann ) is stirring up trouble on the reserve and Andrew is out on the job trying to catch the culprit. Since he will not return for several weeks, his younger brother ( Michael Craig ) decides to be host to Andrew's mail-order bride and falls in love with her himself.

After Andrew is attacked by a lion, Alice nurses him back to health and then must decide whether to marry him out of loyalty or choose his brother, whom she now loves.....

Nor the Moon by Night was based upon Joy Parker's novel of the same name which was originally serialized in a woman's magazine in the 1950s. As a pulp fiction romance adventure, it is a witchdoctor's brew of all of the elements one would expect to find in such a story: elephant stampedes, cobra attacks, a romantic quadrangle, jealousy, dangerous villains, jungle fever, bush fires, and, of course, native superstitions. 

Director Ken Annakin, who had a success with the similarly themed The Planter's Wife ( 1952 ), never lets the 90-minute film get dull and follows each exciting event with something new and different. It was sumptuously filmed on location ( by cinematographer Harry Waxman ) in the beautiful Valley of the Thousand Hills in Natal, South Africa and also within Kruger National Park. Unlike many jungle films of the era, Nor the Moon By Night has no stock footage of crocodiles scurrying into the lake or blurry hippopotamuses fording a river. All of the animal scenes was clearly shot with the cast and crew on location.

Behind the camera, events were just as exciting as on-screen with Belinda Lee attempting suicide, Patrick McGoohan incurring a concussion, Michael Craig nearly drowning, Anna Gaylor falling ill with dysentery and the crew being constantly bitten by snakes and spiders. 

"Most people think Africa's a zoo, where you chuck a monkey under the chin and then go off for a martini."

The principal players of Nor the Moon By Night all give very good performances, especially Michael Craig and Belinda Lee, two extremely popular actors of the 1950s who are underrated today. Also in the cast is Anna Gaylor, a lovely French actress, Joan Brickhill, and Lionel Ngakane.

This post is our contribution to the 6th Annual Rule Brittania Blogathon being hosted by Terence Canote on his blog, A Shroud of Thoughts. Click here to read more reviews of classic British films!

Eyewitness ( 1956 )

"A young woman lies dangerously ill in a hospital bed. Concealed in the shadows outside her window is a ruthless killer, ready to murder again to silence this woman, the only eyewitness to his crime..." 

So reads the press release to Eyewitness, a grand little thriller from Rank Studios. It was a Muriel Box film produced by her husband Sidney Box ( brother of the famous British producer Betty Box ). Janet Green penned the script, which was brisk and clever, albeit a bit far-fetched. 

Lucy Church accidentally witnesses a robbery at a movie theatre one evening and, while she is attempting to run away from one of the robbers, gets hit by a bus. Hard luck! She is taken to a hospital, suffering from a minor concussion. There, instead of getting much-needed rest, her life is in danger by the very same robbers. One of them wants to smother her before she comes to and can describe them to the police. 

Most of the action takes place within the hospital or on the grounds outside it. This facility, with its modern architecture, is predominantly glass - which at night time, with a killer on the prowl, can make it seem doubly dangerous. 

One of the patients at the hospital is "Granny", an old lady with two bulging eyes that see everything that goes on around her. Ada Reeve portrays this character and steals every scene she is in. "Nurse! Nurse! There's a man! I saw a man trying to come in!" she hollers. "She's always seeing men. Wishful thinking," the staff respond. 

Muriel Pavlow ( Murder, She Said ) was not a well-known actress but certainly a capable one, as she proves in her portrayal of Lucy... brief as it is. Belinda Lee, who plays the nurse at the hospital, was a lovely British bombshell whose life and career ended much too early. Michael Craig has a minor role as Lucy's husband, but the real stars of the film are Donald Sinden and Nigel Stock, who portray the two amateur crooks. Dangerous as they are, they are quite likable, which adds to the film's appeal. 

The film rarely appears on television but is available on DVD and through streaming on Amazon Prime.