OPERATION DIPLOMAT
UK, 1953, 70 minutes, Black-and-white.
Guy Rolfe, Lisa Daniely, Patricia Dainton, Sidney Tafler, Ballard Berkely, Anton Diffring, Brian Worth.
Directed by John Guillermin.
Operation Diplomat is worth looking at, especially for those who are fans of small British thrillers from the early 1950s. This one was an adapted from a thriller by Francis Durbridge and from a television series, six-part, the year before.
Guy Rolfe, often a successful villain with his tall gaunt stature, is a surgeon on his way home from work, reading his paper when he is appealed to for help with a case, is abducted to a mysterious location where he discovers that his patient is the head of Western European security and has been abducted. There are various mysterious characters at the venue including a deregistered doctor, Anton Diffring, a nurse from Europe, Lisa Daniely, a guard, Sidney Tafler and a mysterious colonel.
The operation is successful, the surgeon returned (after being knocked out by Mercury cigarettes) but is determined to find out what is going on. He reports the matter to the police but they are sceptical, confirming that the alleged patient is in fact in Germany.
There is a further complication by an impatient patient and her son – with her being murdered and her son being revealed as the mastermind.
There are further complications, the surgeon finding the body of the murdered woman, interrogations by the police, the European nurse appealing to the surgeon for further help – and his assistant nurse abducted, some of the operatives killed including the deregistered doctor, the European nurse giving some information before her death. The reference she gave turns out to be a container to be placed on ship to smuggle out the diplomat.
Some quick action at the end and the solution of the case.
There is quite an arresting musical score which begins, uncharacteristic for a British film, with a jazz background – leading to various variations of orchestral, suspense music…
Directions by John Guillermin who was making a number of small British films at this stage, including the comedy Miss Robin Would, but it was eventually to go to Hollywood and directed such films as The Towering Inferno and the 1976 King Kong.
1. An interesting and entertaining brief thriller? The title and expectations?
2. England in the early 1950s, hospitals, the police, diplomacy and abductions, car chases, the wharves? The musical score? The Jazz opening, the variety of musical styles?
3. Dr Fenton, his reputation, on the street, the ambulance, his being taken to the venue, the operation, his recognising the patient, the Mercury cigarettes, his being returned to the hospital, the discussions with his nurse and her involvement in the case?
4. The scepticism of the police, the diplomat allegedly in Berlin? The further investigations? Dr Fenton and his insistence, his discovery of the murdered woman after her impatience at the hospital, the role of her son? His phone call to the police, denial, owning up to it?
5. The European nurse, her assistance, her appealing to him again, the travelling in the car, listening to the lights, the cracked bell, with the inspector, retracing the steps, discovering the venue? The nurse and her being abducted?
6. The further deaths, the deregistered doctor, Wade at the desk?
7. The return to the venue for the operation, everything cleared, the Mercury cigarette box?
8. The European nurse, taken to hospital, the piece of information – the discovery of the ship, the container and being lifted, the code number, Terry and his trying to get the container onto the ship, the captain and his defiance, the police at their insistence, Fenton and the other is going up the crane, landing the container on the ground?
9. A satisfactory solution?
