Hide and Seek [DVD]

Product Information

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. 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. In the woods, Garrett gets caught in an animal snare, and Maggie goes to find a stick to help pry it open. 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. When he goes outside and says this to a cabby, the cabby suggests "King’s Square" in Chelsea, which they drive to.

It is revealed that this was all an elaborate trap to trick Garrett to "voluntarily" come to this hotel - he has been used like a pawn in a chess game. 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'. Maggie then says she has to leave and Garrett leaves alone after copying down Maggie's phone number. 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.It doesn't always make sense and the tone varies but the story and cast are pleasing enough to carry the film along. The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "A sort of poor man's James Bond exercise, feebly directed in sub- Hitchcock manner. The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "After a decade top-lining some of the wittiest social satires ever made in the UK, lan Carmichael's fortunes were on the wane by the time he starred in this leaden comedy thriller. 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.

Carmichael is a physicist who supposedly possesses a great talent which is desirable by all cold war players. King's Parade appear in 'Nothing But the Best' and a similar view can be seen in 'Out of the Shadow' and 'Franklyn'.Having jumped from the train when the two agents were encountered, David and Maggie say goodbye to Wilkins (Hugh Griffith) after spending the night on his narrow-boat. In reality, of course, this is much lighter and at best a comedy thriller in the genre of 'The 39 Steps'; the similarities continue when we are presented with a buttoned-up emotionally repressed academic (Carmichael) paired with a free-spirited, slightly wacky and alluringly beautiful spirit (Janet Munro). Kieron Moore, who had a real talent for darkly smooth and menacing characters, appears but is underused.

Garrett starts to walk down the road and comes across a policeman on a bicycle who goes back to the cliff with him. David enters the building for his interview where Major McPherson questions him about his association with Dr. Sadly, the decidedly naff title did summarise and embody the film only too well, both as regards final product and as a description of the plot.Hugh Griffith stands out as a splendidly eccentric bargeman and Curt Jurgens as the main Baddie is obviously relishing his role as a cultured and charming sophisticate. Garrett and Richter fight, and Richter loses and goes over the side of the cliff to his apparent death. Maggie tells Garrett to meet her at the train station, where she convinces him to board the train with her. Directed by the BAFTA-nominated Cy Endfield, whose credits include Zulu and Hell Drivers, Hide And Seek also stars Oscar winner Hugh Griffith, Bond villain Curt Jurgens and Golden Globe-winning British actress Janet Munro; the film is presented here in a brand-new transfer from the original elements, in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio.