Circle of Danger – 1950 | 86 mins | Mystery, Drama | B&W

Plot Synopsis

Hollywood director Jacques Tourneur came to Britain for the first time to direct this dark military conspiracy thriller, adapted by Philip Macdonald from his own novel. It’s one of his more routine assignments and builds slowly to a disappointing conclusion. There’s a strong British support cast, effective camerawork by Oswald Morris and fascinating use of UK locations.

American salvage expert Clay Douglas (Ray Milland) comes to England to discover the truth about the suspicious circumstances surrounding his younger brother’s death during the war. His brother was in the commandos,and Douglas’ search leads him from England, to Wales, and finally to Scotland to talk to the commander of his brothers unit, Major Hamish McArran (Hugh Sinclair).

McArran offers no clues as to Jnr’s fate, but writes a list of the surviving members of the commando raid, and sends Douglas back south to Hammersmith to talk to Shotto Lewis.

His search appears to be reaching a dead end when one of the commando veteran’s mentions that one name is absent from the list of those involved in the fateful raid – an intelligence officer named Reggie Sinclair (Naunton Wayne). The only clue Sinclair provides is that one of those involved in his brother’s death was a Scottish officer singing an old Highland tune – Douglas immediately drives back to Scotland to grill McArran.