Desperate Moment
| Desperate Moment | |
|---|---|
.jpg) British quad poster | |
| Directed by | Compton Bennett |
| Written by | George H. Brown Patrick Kirwan |
| Based on | Desperate Moment by Martha Albrand |
| Produced by | George H. Brown |
| Starring | Dirk Bogarde Mai Zetterling Philip Friend |
| Cinematography | C.M. Pennington-Richards |
| Edited by | John D. Guthridge |
| Music by | Ronald Binge |
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 |
Desperate Moment is a 1953 British thriller film directed by Compton Bennett and starring Dirk Bogarde, Mai Zetterling and Philip Friend.[1] It is based on the 1951 novel of the same title by Martha Albrand.
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[edit]
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[edit]
- 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[edit]
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[edit]
- ^ "Desperate Moment". BFI. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009.
- ^ "Movie Reviews". The New York Times. 7 October 2021.
- ^ "Desperate Moment". TV Guide.
External links[edit]
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- 1953 films
- British thriller films
- Films directed by Compton Bennett
- 1950s thriller films
- Films set in Germany
- Films shot at Pinewood Studios
- Films shot in Berlin
- Films set in Berlin
- Films set in Munich
- Films set in Hamburg
- Films set in the 1940s
- British black-and-white films
- Films with screenplays by Patrick Kirwan
- Films based on German novels
- 1950s English-language films
- 1950s British films
- Films scored by Ronald Binge
- 1950s British film stubs
- Thriller film stubs