8/10
AHEAD OF ITS TIME...MIND-CONTROL PLOT...LOW-BUDGET "B" FROM BRITAIN
11 August 2021
Early, Tense, Suspenseful and Ahead-of-its-Time.

Extremely Low-Budget and Confined.

But the Claustrophobic Sets and Setting Add to the Taut and Unusual, for its Time, Psychological Thriller.

An Enemy's Successful Mind-Control of a Military Officer.

"Manchurian Candidate" (1962) Themed Story about an American Major sent to England to Help with Counter-Espionage.

Well Acted All Around, and Considering the Clandestine and Mysterious and Not Well Known Psychological Warfare,

it Manages to be Believable about Ground-Breaking Stuff.

In a Passing Statement by a Fellow Officer there is a Reference to His Returning from the "Korean-Conflict".

This Places the Story in Korea and Not WWII and that in Itself is Unusual for 1954, and so Close to that Military Activity.

Off-Beat, Against-the-Grain War Story.

Showing the Effect of a "New" Method of POW Interrogation, Torture, and Result.

Most Civilians, at the Time were Completely Oblivious.

Although the Movie Jumps Right In to All of this with Little Explanation and Background.

Suffering from its Low-Budget and Short Running Time.

It Still Manages to Pack Quite a Wallop.

The Film has been in Obscurity and Lost in the Shuffle.

Among the Numerous Movies that the British-Studios Pumped-Out.

These 60 min. Or so Little Films were Made Quickly and were a Never-Ending Plethora of B&W Pictures of the Era.

This One is a Sleeper that Stands-Out and Deserves Discovery.

Note...Director Cy Enfield, a victim of the McCarthy Era Blacklist used the Pseudonym Hugh Baker in the Film's initial release.
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