Hide and Seek [DVD]

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G. Wodehouse's genial upper-class bumbler Bertie Wooster - heads a strong cast in this comedy Cold War thriller. The Russian is working with shady businessman Marek and they plan to kidnap the professor and make it look as though he has defected to the Soviet Union.

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "A sort of poor man's James Bond exercise, feebly directed in sub- Hitchcock manner. Needless to say it doesn't quite have the pizzazz of Hitchcock's masterpiece, but it does display Munro's willingness to disrobe on camera, something which I am sure The Master would have appreciated. He finds two life jackets in the boat, and it appears to Marek (watching from the hotel with binoculars) that Garrett and Maggie are attempting to swim to a nearby island with a castle.

Looking along Blechynden Street W10 with Mersey Street to the right, Oldham Road to the left and the junction with East Mews Road in the distance. Imagine North by Northwest but with Ian Carmichael substituted for Cary Grant, Janet Munro for Eva-Marie Saint, Curt Jurgens for James Mason, a canal boat instead of a crop sprayer and cliffs along the coast of Yorkshire instead of Mount Rushmore. The difference being that there is no case of mistaken identity and being an astrophysicist, Carmichael does not need to rely on dumb luck to get himself out of a situation. When they approach the car they find the driver is Richter, who forces them into the car at gunpoint and they drive towards an isolated cliff top. As David is driven away, he looks back to see two agents (Monty Warren and Cyril Cross) speaking with Melnicker.

Garrett is confused by the apparently secretive way that one player, Richter, transfers the knight chess piece to Melnicker. It doesn't always make sense and the tone varies but the story and cast are pleasing enough to carry the film along.

The customary paraphernalia of sinister men in raincoats, thugs in dark glasses, and stern old ladies on trains, is here manipulated flatly and without effect; intriguing possibilities (like the black knight) are started up, then made nothing of; and the dénouement, after a lengthy but unconvincing disquisition from Curt Jurgens explaining how his whole plot was arranged like a chess game, is crammed into about forty seconds flat. King's Parade appear in 'Nothing But the Best' and a similar view can be seen in 'Out of the Shadow' and 'Franklyn'. They find the life jackets have been attached to trousers, and that Garrett and Maggie faked the attempt for the island.

Ian Carmichael made a wonderful career from playing well-meaning, naive and gullible young gentlemen, so my interest was piqued when I saw that Hide and Seek was billed as a 'thriller'. Alongside him is the lively Janet Munro, and the two make enjoyable company as the plot carries off rather well. There are shades of Alfred Hitchcock’s man on the run tales here (especially The 39 Steps, which the basic structure loosely resembles), sharing a similar sense of wry humour that runs throughout the story, an ever-so-slightly winking sensibility enhanced by the amount of comedy actors making up the supporting cast. The ill-fated Janet Munro is quite charming as the female bait used to trap Ian Carmichael's scientist. Ian Carmichael gives a good performance in his role as David Garrett, the scientist who is totally unaware what is going to happen to him when he arrives at the area, while Janet Munro is decent as Maggie, the woman whose actions make her an unlikeable character.

Ian Carmichael was apparently disappointed with the production of this vehicle that neither knows not cares what it is meant to be. The Britannia public house in the background stands at the corner of Bard Road and Latimer Road W10 and was demolished to make way for the West Cross Route.

David enters the building for his interview where Major McPherson questions him about his association with Dr.I haven’t seen my acquaintance for quite a few years, but Hide and Seek is the eighth Cy Endfield film I have watched over the last two or three years.