Green for Danger (1947)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Good start, but then it gets ruined

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

GREEN FOR DANGER is a British murder mystery/comedy/thriller with a wartime setting. The setting is one of the strengths of the movie, with doodlebugs flying overhead at times and the constant threat of one of them hitting and blowing everybody up. A small cast of professional medical characters work in a country hospital which is beset by the machinations of a mysterious killer whose motivations are unknown. Enter a wisecracking and typically quirky Alastair Sim as a detective determined to get to the heart of the matter and figure out which of the small cast is responsible. It's said cast that makes this film work, with Trevor Howard and Leo Genn on fine form butting heads and well supported by Megs Jenkins and Judy Campbell. I found the climax completely unbelievable but at least it ends the picture in a novel and entertaining way.

There are a number of things about this film that set it apart. It moves at a good pace with excellent dialog. It is actually accurate in its portrayal of operating room gases and procedures. The narrator does not make an appearance for at least ten minutes, which is quite unusual all by itself. Finally, it actually provides the movie-goer with all the clues necessary to solve the crime.The cast selection is also quite good. Alastair Sim (as Inspector Cockrill) is smart, abrasive, and eccentric. Sally Gray as Nurse Frederica 'Freddi' Linley, Trevor Howard as Dr. Barney Barnes, Rosamund John as Nurse Esther Sanson, Leo Genn as Mr. Eden, Judy Campbell as Sister Marion Bates, and Megs Jenkins as Nurse Woods all turn in excellent performances. Judy Campbell did not have many movie roles due to her statuesque build and intense good looks. Susan Grey was almost too pretty compared to the other female characters.Trevor Howard (Dr. Barnes) and Leo Genn (Mr. Eden (surgeon)) turned in outstanding performances as doctors with grudges against each other. In fact, all of the characters were pitched against each other quite often, exposing their various and often opposed personalities, motivations, and morals.Though all the clues required to solve the mystery were present, there were also enough "red herrings" to make the deduction difficult.Wilkie Cooper did an outstanding job of cinematography by providing well-lit scenes that still carried a dark and sinister quality. The sense of foreboding was heightened by the occasional inclusion of a V-1 flying bomb. I should also mention that the Sound Department (too many participants to list) did an outstanding job of capturing and conveying the sound of a "buzz bomb" flying overhead and the inevitable explosion when it landed.

Thoroughly entertaining, this whodunit is set amid the bombing raids in London in 1944, but the plot only tangentially touches on the War. Most scenes take place in or near a hospital. And all of the suspects are hospital staff, identified early and efficiently. As the camera slowly pans an operating room, the story narrator identifies six main characters, doctors and nurses, all dressed in surgical gowns, masks, and caps. "Two of these people (will) be dead, and one of them a murderer".Into this setting comes Inspector Cockrill (Alastair Sim), quick-on-the-uptake, self-assured, and humorously pompous. He learns the details of the crime, interviews the suspects, and then, at the end, recreates the operating room setting wherein the first person was murdered, hoping to trap the killer.The film abounds with subtle clues and red herrings. That's what makes the film enjoyable. Yet, in reviewing the film, I can see that one of the most important clues is really too subtle. And that's my main criticism. Nevertheless, viewers can find all the clues they need to solve the mystery, in the first 20 to 25 minutes of the film, if they really pay attention.B&W cinematography is effective in creating a suspenseful, taut, noir atmosphere, particularly in the operating room scenes. The cinematography is less effective outdoors. But outdoor scenes were actually filmed inside a studio.Good acting amplifies the high quality production. Leo Genn, Judy Campbell, and Megs Jenkins are all quite effective. And, of course, Alastair Sim is terrific."Green For Danger" presents viewers with a murder mystery attended to by a humorously eccentric inspector. It also conveys a realistic look at civilians trying to cope amid the stress and uncertainty of wartime, and thus has thematic value beyond the whodunit element.

Green For Danger is about a pair of murders that take place in a British hospital in post World War II Great Britain. One was a patient that died on the operating table, the other is of one of the attending nurses who says that she has evidence that the patient's death was indeed foul play. Unfortunately she's stabbed to death before revealing her evidence.Scotland Yard sends Inspector Alastair Sim to investigate and he's got a closed set of operating suspects that include hospital staff, Sally Gray, Trevor Howard, Leo Genn, and Rosamund John. What could it all be about?As is usual the motive is kind of far out, but as Sim says we're not dealing with a normal functioning mind here. Sim is the real show in Green For Danger, he's a British version of Lieutenant Columbo thirty years ahead of his time. He's constantly getting under foot and a real annoyance to the hospital staff. But he has a knack for ferreting out information.Of course he does in the end find out the who and the why, but Sim does manage to fumble the arrest of his perpetrator in an unusual way. But as he says in the end it wasn't his best day on the job.For those who like the droll characters portrayed by Alastair Sim on the screen, Green For Danger is a must for you.