Wordiezett So much average

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

gridoon2018 An involving, tight little thriller that should be better known, and is in need of some print remastering (though I consider myself lucky to at least have a copy). Although the decision to open the film with a sort of flash-forward is, in this case, a questionable one, since the viewer from that point on knows that the hero will eventually get caught, writer-director Sidney Gilliat manages to milk a lot of suspense out of the situations and the incidents that occur while Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is desperately trying to escape. The fictional language created especially for this film is a masterstroke, familiar-sounding enough to be believable but also alien-sounding enough to be impossible for a foreigner like Fairbanks to understand more than a word or two. All the actors give fine performances, and there is some very well done first-person point-of-view camera-work. The ending may strike you as a little too "deus ex machina"-ish. *** out of 4.

RogerTheMovieManiac88 'State Secret' opens with a scene that shows Douglas Fairbanks Jr. being held captive in a cabin and closes, in the last reel, with the conclusion of this scene. The story that unwinds in the intervening ninety minutes, between these intriguing book-ends, is a thrilling and fast-moving diversion in the best tradition of classic comedy thrillers.Based upon the absorbing novel 'Appointment With Fear' by Roy Huggins, Fairbanks Jr. plays the famed American surgeon Dr. John Marlowe. Our debonair hero finds himself embroiled up to his neck in the cut-throat workings of Vosnian politics when he accepts an invitation to demonstrate his techniques in the country. He is duped into treating the state's ailing dictator. When his charge suddenly conks out after delicate surgery, escape becomes necessary as the dashing doctor is confronted with the very real prospect of elimination. Striving to elude the tentacles of the oppressive regime, Marlowe has the good fortune to engage the help of a half-English dancer played by the zestful Glynis Johns. Having bribed shady Herbert Lom to help them, they travel towards the border with the police hot on their tails.The touches of Launder and Gilliat are delightfully evident. An effective sense of place is created, thanks to exemplary studio and location work by Robert Krasker, featuring exciting scenes of car chases on hilly, winding roads and treks across imposing mountains. The cloak-and-dagger mood is in some ways reminiscent of 'The Lady Vanishes'. The real sense of intrigue is wonderfully balanced by their twinkling sense of tongue-in-cheek humour. Jack Hawkins and, especially, Herbert Lom go to town with their roles. Lom steals the movie as the shifty and incredibly jittery crook-with-connections Karl Theodor. The scene where Fairbanks Jr. and Johns hide and surprise him in his luxury apartment is a real highlight of the movie. The palpable sense of relief that Theodor feels when he realises that he is only dealing with blackmail, and not the police, is hilarious. Hawkins' Colonel Galcon is a veritable Machiavellian. He is scheming and ruthless but also urbane and quite dispassionate in the discharging of his considerable duties. He is aptly summed-up by Hawkins' departing words to Fairbanks Jr.: 'If you should happen to hear of a vacant chair for political science anywhere, try to get in touch with me'.'State Secret' is a rattling good tale delivered with all-round competence and skill. It is a classic of its genre and it definitely merits an official DVD release.

jdworetzky This is a wonderful film and well worth seeing; if you can find it! It used to be on TV all the time, but I haven't seen it in years and cannot find a copy. One very interesting fact about the movie is that it was, to the best of my knowledge, the first film to make use of Esperanto. In the film, all the citizens of the made up nation of Vosnia speak Esperanto! Esperanto was constructed in 1887 as a universal language, drawing words and structure from many different languages. The hope was that it would be adopted as an "everyman's language" and be equally difficult for all people to master. State Secret gives the viewer a chance to hear fluent Esperanto, as well as adding flavor to the underlying excitement of the plot.

FilmartDD The producers wrote films by Hitchcock and Carol Reed, and it shows. A lightweight suspenser, with the charm of impeccably urbane Fairbanks and that Paper Doll lady (surprisingly, Jack Hawkins lacks a light touch). Marvellously photographed by Robert Krasker-- how did he fit it in with The Third Man -- in the Dolomite Mountains (see contemporary report in Sight and Sound magazine). Little recognised, but this is cinematic st