Green for Danger: Veddy British Mystery

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ****

If Sidney Gilliatt's Green for Danger at first reminds you of a (very) early hospital "soap," do hang on. This "veddy" British mystery is done with the kind of understatement and sophistication those of us old enough to remember such out-of-date terms still appreciate. The time is WWII and the location a small-town hospital at which the staff is perhaps a tad too well-acquainted. The mystery element, though handled nicely, will hardly ruffle a feather in these days of Hostel and Wolf Creek. After a bit you'll easily figure out who's what. It's with the entrance of the inspector (who’s been narrating since the start) that the movie picks up and becomes the classic you're expecting. Played by Alastair Sim (Stage Fright, A Christmas Carol's Scrooge), this guy--even after all the detectives we've seen in the 60 years since--is an original.

The rest of the cast is well-chosen and quite up to snuff, with Trevor Howard and Leo Genn as opposing doctors, and Sally Gray, Rosamund John, Megs Jenkins and Judy Campbell as the attending staff. Living and working in wartime is near-perfectly realized, as are the emotions and foolhardiness that accompany life on the edge. There is ample humor here, too, much of it rather black. Most of the characters have the rug pulled from beneath them, deservedly or not, with the inspector's rug-pull the highlight of this immensely entertaining piece of nostalgia that is anything but sweet. Green for Danger manages a unique tone--a bit distanced, unforgiving but not unkind, nonjudgmental while clearly observing the human condition--that was probably unusual in its own day and has practically disappeared in our own. In fact, I can think of no modern film that approximates this one. (If you can, please click "comment" below and let us in on it!) The Criterion DVD transfer is, as usual, sterling.