Desperate Moment
Desperate Moment is a 1953 British thriller film directed by Compton Bennett and starring Dirk Bogarde, Mai Zetterling and Philip Friend.[1]
| Desperate Moment | |
|---|---|
.jpg.webp) British quad poster | |
| Directed by | Compton Bennett |
| Produced by | George H. Brown |
| Written by | George H. Brown Patrick Kirwan |
| Based on | a novel by Martha Albrand |
| Starring | Dirk Bogarde Mai Zetterling Philip Friend |
| Music by | Ronald Binge |
| Cinematography | C.M. Pennington-Richards |
| Edited by | John D. Guthridge |
Production company | George H. Brown Productions (as Fanfare) |
| Distributed by | General Film Distributors (Uk) |
Release date | 17 March 1953 (London) (UK) |
Running time | 88 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
It was made at Pinewood Studios and on location in Germany including scenes shot at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate. The film's sets were designed by the art director Maurice Carter.
Plot
In the years immediately after World War II, a Dutchman, ex resistance, is sentenced to life imprisonment for a murder, committed during a robbery, that he confessed to but did not commit. After discovering that the girl he has loved since childhood is not dead, as he had been told, he escapes from prison and goes on the run through a devastated Germany in search of the witnesses who can clear him, with her help. But the witnesses begin to die apparently accidental deaths shortly before he finds them...
Cast
- Dirk Bogarde as Simon Van Halder
- Mai Zetterling as Anna DeBurg
- Philip Friend as Captain Bob Sawyer
- Albert Lieven as Paul Ravitch
- Fritz Wendhausen as Warder Goeter
- Carl Jaffe as Becker
- Gerard Heinz as German Prison Doctor
- André Mikhelson as Polizei Inspector
- Harold Ayer as Captain Trevor Wood
- Walter Gotell as Ravitch's Servant-Henchman
- Friedrich Joloff as Valentin Vladek
- Simone Silva as Mink, Valentin's girl
- Ferdy Mayne as Detective Laurence
- Walter Rilla as Colonel Bertrand, Dutch consulate
- Antonio Gallardo as Spanish Dancer
- Paul Hardtmuth as Wharf Watchman
- Theodore Bikel as Anton Meyer
Critical reception
The New York Times wrote, "the sum and substance of this production...is a great deal of panting exercise within and all over two cities, offering little about which to care"[2] whereas TV Guide found it "quite suspenseful, with Bogarde turning in an exceptionally fine performance." [3]
References
- "Desperate Moment". BFI. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009.
- https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C04EFDA153EE53BBC4953DFBF668388649EDE
- "Desperate Moment". TV Guide.