Based upon a play by Jeffrey Dell (one wonders how it played on stage!) the story concerns the development of a new kind of aeroplane and the theft of the plans for said plane. Several people come under suspicion until the real culprit is revealed at the end. Mixed into the brew are adultery, blackmail, manslaughter, horse race touting and aerial sequences. Which sounds exciting but is in fact rather pedestrian and doesn't really take off.
There are good actors like Roger Livesey, Barry K. Barnes and Basil Radford who do try but their lines of dialogue are not really interesting. The great Felix Aylmer plays a spy chief, Colonel Cairns, and he is the most watchable character in the film but unfortunately is not in it enough. The director David McDonald had a long career in British film and television from 1937 to 1963 in a variety of genres. This is not one of his best but then again by no means one of his worst.
There are good actors like Roger Livesey, Barry K. Barnes and Basil Radford who do try but their lines of dialogue are not really interesting. The great Felix Aylmer plays a spy chief, Colonel Cairns, and he is the most watchable character in the film but unfortunately is not in it enough. The director David McDonald had a long career in British film and television from 1937 to 1963 in a variety of genres. This is not one of his best but then again by no means one of his worst.