From the title, I was expecting a gambling yarn along the lines of "The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo", but instead I got a very British suspenser directed by the late, venerable British film critic Barry Norman's old dad Leslie. It's got a good cast too of top British talent, including Michael Redgrave, Sylvia Sim and a young Denholm Elliott and just-as-young Michael Hordern, who actually looks pretty much like his later, much older self.
The story has the hallmark of the much later Hollywood "Final Destination" series as Hordern's non-traveling R.A.F. commander reveals to Alexander Knox's ambitious Far Eastern diplomat a weird dream he had the night before of a particular group of people including Knox, on a particular flight flying into a terrible life-threatening storm over Japan. Knox has never flown and dreads the thought when he's corralled into the aerial mission but is comforted when the personnel details Hordern provided don't match up to the expected passengers, but that all changes when the ducks all line up in a row overnight as the aeroplane type and planned passenger list eerily changes to match the related dream.
That list, which prominently includes Redgrave's senior Air Marshall and his P.A. Elliott, a former pilot now reduced to ground duties after suffering a nervous breakdown from his war-time pilot duties, is expanded to include initially two late-returning soldiers, then a young woman, Sim, a lordly government V.I.P. Ralph Truman and to complete the fateful eight (passengers) a spivvy, gobby businessman and his elderly male secretary who, added to the crew of five, headed by pilot Nigel Stock, take the total personage on board to unlucky 13. As the story of the dream leaks out, mostly from the terrified Knox, the passengers start to fear the worst, especially when the plane flies off course and straight into an almighty storm...
I found the first hour of the movie rather slow-moving, with stereotypical character types demonstrating the familiar British traits of reserve and stiff-upper-lip. The little model plane used for the exterior shots is hardly convincing either as it takes a supposed battering and just how or why Hordern dreams his dream is left unexplained. I also kept expecting some sort of emotional outburst from Elliott's obviously damaged character while Sim's character and that of the two working-class squaddies seem just like so much padding.
However, the tension ratchets up nicely as the film hurtles towards its destiny, there's a pretty effective crash scene and a neat pay-off joke as Hordern's character reveals the outcome of his latest sleep to his next acquaintance on the ground.
Overall, this was a good under-the-radar movie to get on board and if not an absolute high-flier, certainly made for an interesting and entertaining journey.
The story has the hallmark of the much later Hollywood "Final Destination" series as Hordern's non-traveling R.A.F. commander reveals to Alexander Knox's ambitious Far Eastern diplomat a weird dream he had the night before of a particular group of people including Knox, on a particular flight flying into a terrible life-threatening storm over Japan. Knox has never flown and dreads the thought when he's corralled into the aerial mission but is comforted when the personnel details Hordern provided don't match up to the expected passengers, but that all changes when the ducks all line up in a row overnight as the aeroplane type and planned passenger list eerily changes to match the related dream.
That list, which prominently includes Redgrave's senior Air Marshall and his P.A. Elliott, a former pilot now reduced to ground duties after suffering a nervous breakdown from his war-time pilot duties, is expanded to include initially two late-returning soldiers, then a young woman, Sim, a lordly government V.I.P. Ralph Truman and to complete the fateful eight (passengers) a spivvy, gobby businessman and his elderly male secretary who, added to the crew of five, headed by pilot Nigel Stock, take the total personage on board to unlucky 13. As the story of the dream leaks out, mostly from the terrified Knox, the passengers start to fear the worst, especially when the plane flies off course and straight into an almighty storm...
I found the first hour of the movie rather slow-moving, with stereotypical character types demonstrating the familiar British traits of reserve and stiff-upper-lip. The little model plane used for the exterior shots is hardly convincing either as it takes a supposed battering and just how or why Hordern dreams his dream is left unexplained. I also kept expecting some sort of emotional outburst from Elliott's obviously damaged character while Sim's character and that of the two working-class squaddies seem just like so much padding.
However, the tension ratchets up nicely as the film hurtles towards its destiny, there's a pretty effective crash scene and a neat pay-off joke as Hordern's character reveals the outcome of his latest sleep to his next acquaintance on the ground.
Overall, this was a good under-the-radar movie to get on board and if not an absolute high-flier, certainly made for an interesting and entertaining journey.