With Ray Milland in the lead, Jacques Tourneur at the helm, and longtime Hitchcock collaborator Joan Harrison in the producer's chair, "Circle of Danger" has a lot going for it. What it lacks is enough story material to fill up its running time. As a 55-minute B-picture or an episode of an hourlong TV drama, it would have been great. Unfortunately, at 86 minutes long, the movie drags.
Too much time is spent on slow, talky scenes as Milland pursues an investigation that, for most of the film, seems to be headed nowhere. (Maybe they should have called it "Going in Circles.") Along the way there's an interesting take on a gay character - a ballet dancer who is also a highly decorated commando. This struck me as daring and well ahead of its time. There's also an amusing role for veteran character actor Naunton Wayne, whom Hitchcock fans will remember as one of the cricket enthusiasts in "The Lady Vanishes."
The ending is well done and offers an effective and plausible twist, but "Circle of Danger" just takes too long to get there.
Too much time is spent on slow, talky scenes as Milland pursues an investigation that, for most of the film, seems to be headed nowhere. (Maybe they should have called it "Going in Circles.") Along the way there's an interesting take on a gay character - a ballet dancer who is also a highly decorated commando. This struck me as daring and well ahead of its time. There's also an amusing role for veteran character actor Naunton Wayne, whom Hitchcock fans will remember as one of the cricket enthusiasts in "The Lady Vanishes."
The ending is well done and offers an effective and plausible twist, but "Circle of Danger" just takes too long to get there.