High Treason (1929) User Reviews (9)

A campy talkie that showed up at Capitolfest 2014

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 3 October 2015]

This is an anti-war film as so many were of this particular period. England lost a generation of young men in WWI, and in the end nothing seemed to be really accomplished and thus their films reflected the attitudes of the times.

The year is 1950 and the world has been divided into large continental and in some cases multi-continental federations. Problems begin during a card game gone bad between guards of the United States of Europe and the Empire States of the Atlantic along the border. The dispute enlarges as prohibition has apparently continued in the land controlled by the United States and a couple smuggling liquor is killed at the same border where the guards are fighting when they are discovered and try to make a run for it. The guards then begin to shoot each other.

Munitions companies take advantage of the unrest and perform acts of sabotage, blaming it on the other federation. Meanwhile, in London, the Federation of Peace - I guess this is a take on the failed League of Nations - tries to stop war. At the center of this is pacifist Dr. Seymour and his daughter Evelyn (Benita Hume), who is also a pacifist and in love with Michael Deane, a commander of European forces. The President of Europe orders a mobilization, which includes the women. However, apparently women are not drafted into combat but manufacturing of armaments.

Evelyn limits her efforts first at trying to convince Michael, and when that fails, she then mobilizes the women against cooperating with the war effort. Her dad, however, is more ambitious, when the president refuses to not declare war, Evelyn's pacifist dad shoots him! Dr. Seymour goes on trial for "high treason" - and the dead president doesn't help matters. Seymour refuses to speak in his own defense with the sun casting a shadow of a cross near Dr. Seymour in the courtroom. Excuse me, but if the film is trying to equate Seymour with Christ, let me remind folks that as far as I know, Jesus never killed anybody when he didn't get his way. I'll let you watch and see how this all turns out.

It is always fun to see how folks from the distant past picture the world of the more recent past. They usually get things so wrong. They get television right, but they get the fact that prohibition has lasted 17 years longer than it did wrong, and they certainly get wrong that you could ever hold together a federation made of Europe, India, the Middle East, Canada, Africa and Australia. There would be any number of civil wars among these peoples alone. These futuristic people have machines that dress them and machines that play musical instruments for them in the night clubs, but nobody ever thought of simulating the musical instruments themselves? I'd give this one a try if it ever comes your way. The assumptions about the future, the naiveté, the camp symbolism, and most of all those marvelous miniature models of flying machines are worth your time even if the whole thing is a hoot.

Maurice Elvey Tackles Science Fiction

[boblipton · 7/10 · 10 June 2018]

HIGH TREASON was originally issued in both sound and silent versions, but for many years, only the silent version was known to survive. A few years ago, a copy of the abbreviated sound version, issued by Tiffany in the US was discovered and restored. However, it is still difficult to see, and so this review is based on the silent version.

The year is 1950 -- a popular year for science-fiction films in the 1920s -- and tensions are rising between the Federated States of Europe and the Atlantic States. A car carrying liquor breaks through a border guard and is shot down; the Atlantic States send an ultimatum to Europe, whose President, Basil Gill, wants war; although he is not implicated, arms manufacturers are shown bribing people. Only the World League of Peace, led by Humberstone Wright, and his daughter, Benita Hume, stand in the way of war. Miss Hume's boy friend is Jameson Thomas, an officer of Europe, ready to carry out his orders. Thus the conflict is not only a matter of the world and politics and money, but of love.

Visually, the movie is an Art Deco feast, pitched halfway between METROPOLIS and THINGS TO COME (Raymond Massey, who starred in the latter, has a small but prominent role and can be clearly seen at about the 30-minute mark). Clothes follows the sleek design, with a lot of shiny fabric and hats midway between cloches and skullcaps. Neither does Elvey neglect the technological touches, with autogyros and biplanes flying about London, television broadcasts, sliding doors and the other paraphernalia beloved of screen sf. Percy Strong's camerawork is limber, with many a tracking shot to focus the audience's attention, and a couple of moving crane shots. British film-making may have long been considered a backwater of the industry, but British Gaumont had the resources and will to make this spectacular.

The weaknesses of this movie are twofold. First, it is very talky for a silent picture, with a lot of title cards of dialogue, doubtless reproducing speech in the sound version. Second is the rather clunky utopianism of the plot, reducing the issues of politics and economics in a theoretical world to melodrama, where singing a song can stop a military action, and national leaders can be isolated from their guards. In my rather cynical view, Realpolitik guides the powerful, who are isolated and protected from the consequences of their follies.

Still, that's no way to make popular entertainment now, and was less so in 1929; and while this movies shows flaws that an examination of the sound version might more fully explain, it remains visually quite beautiful, with the lovely 23-year-old Miss Hume a high point.

Futuristic drama with a message of peace

[gengar843 · 7/10 · 4 November 2021]

THE STORY & GENRE -- Munitions scumbags start war with agitprop and false flags, peaceniks block aerodrome & shoot hawk President. Not the most sophisticated film but provides plenty of food for thought. Futuristic sets (cities, travel, Chunnel) & technology (war, communications, household).

THE VERDICT -- Having seen both the silent and sound versions, I recommend you should watch the silent, by far the better experience. Maurice Elvey's frantic direction suffers too much from the weak technicals and dialogue delivery in the sound version.

FREE ONLINE, the Gaumont print at 75 minutes, which may be just a fast running of the 82-minute IMDB duration.

Sci fi/pacifist oddity

[hnicolella · 7 August 2002]

The year is 1950 and tension is growing between the empires of United Europe and the Atlantic States. A bloody border incident puts both sides on high alert. The Peace League, led by saintly Dr. Seymour, opposes what looks like an inevitable march to war. Seymour's daughter Evelyn supports her father but is in love with Michael Deane, commander of the Air Force for Europe. A group of terrorists with ties to munitions manufacturers wants a war and is playing both great powers off against each other. The terrorists sabotage the railway tunnel that runs beneath the English Channel and the Atlantic States are promptly blamed. The President of Europe orders immediate induction into the armed forces of all young men and women. When Deane tells Evelyn he intends to fight she calls him a moral coward and they break up.

The President calls his council together and finds they are evenly divided between war and peace. The President, a scowling Fascist, breaks the deadlock in favor of war and tells the council he will go on television at midnight to announce this to the world.

Worried about Dr. Seymour's influence, the terrorists bomb Peace League headquarters. Seymour survives and tells Evelyn to go the airfield and try to prevent the war planes from taking off. He tells her that he's going to appeal to the President directly. "I'm a man of peace but I go PREPARED!" he says rather ominously. Evelyn leads a demonstration at the airfield and has to confront Deane. Will Dr. Seymour be able to talk the President out of starting World War...ummm.. Two? And can true love surmount different political philosophies?

HIGH TREASON was conceived and filmed as a talkie but a silent version (the one reviewed here) was also made to accommodate those many theaters still not equipped for sound. BFI has both films but, ironically, the sound on the talkie has deteriorated so the film is now mute. As pacifist propaganda the film is unconvincing and has a resolution that-in addition to being very farfetched-would not likely be approved by Gandhi. While the play the movie is based on was no doubt sincere in its pacifism the movie seems to have less lofty goals. A debate between Deane and Dr. Seymour is inter-cut with Evelyn undressing, taking a shower, drying herself with a big blow dryer and getting dressed again. Later the camera ogles all the female draftees taking off their clothes and putting on uniforms.

And most of the sequences of blasts and bombings seem to end with shots of women victims lying about with their clothes in disarray. Still all this cheesecake does distract a bit from the stodgy direction which makes few adjustments to meeting the challenge of doing a sound film in a silent mode (Demonstrators keep breaking into the "Peace Song"; not too effective when there's no sound!) The only reason there's any interest at all in this curio is the science fiction/ futuristic elements but they're inconsistent, implemented on a obviously modest budget and usually very campy. We see one 1950's car (looks like a rocket ship on wheels) and people communicate by a television system instead of phone. In the unconvincing miniature work we see weird flying machines but in the close-ups all the airplanes are of World War I vintage. An Art Deco nightclub has no musicians but a big machine that simulates the music. The patrons do a very funny dance that involves staying absolutely still at one point and when things get slow the management sends out lady fencers to amuse the crowd. And in what may be a prediction of McDonald's hype the Peace League has a giant electronic scoreboard that totes up all the millions who are joining (Over 50 million not serving?).

Ladies' fashions are a real hoot with detachable sleeves for work and shower caps for evening wear. There are a few odd looking hand grenades but most of the artillery consists of old fashioned hand guns. Basil Gill and Benita Hume are adequate as the lovers (I suspect their performances might work better in the talkie). Humberston Wright is stiff enough be posing for a plaster statue while Basil Gill appears to be doing a bad Mussolini impression as the President. If you look quickly you can spot Raymond Massey-maybe gearing up for THINGS TO COME-as a peacenik and Rene Ray- thirties urchin and fifties sci fi writer-as a draftee who says "War is a terrible thing" when she sees the ugly uniform she was to wear.

Basil Gill's quality of voice

[rhpt-1 · 6/10 · 7 March 2006]

Ther actor Basil Gill was famous in his time for his fine voice. He was an accomplished stage actor before starting work in the early cinema. There were numerous press reviews of his performances that commented on his voice, and those that accompanied the release of this film, the talking version, in 1928, were no exception. "Basil Gill as President Stephen Deane has far and away the best recording voice we have heard, a lesson to everyone in clearness and beautiful quality." What a shame that the sound is no longer audible. However, his voice can still be heard in such films as "Knight without Armour", "Rembrandt", "St Martin's Lane" and "Wings of the Morning".

6 years before Things To Come

[malcolmgsw · 5/10 · 30 March 2015]

The landmark British sci fi film made in 1936 by Korda had many prophecies about a world war which would commence in 1940.This film,made in 1929 was forecasting a war between Europe and the USA based,somewhat oddly on a border incident.Itforecast war in 1950 and mass destruction by bombers.so I wonder if either H.G.Wells or Korda saw this film and were influenced by it.The sets and the costumes are very stylish and also very art deco.In reality in 1950 it would be austerity.This film was made on the cusp of sound.The version I saw was silent so I wonder if a sound version exists.The fact that there are a lot of explanatory sub titles indicates that it was probably filmed as a talkie with silent copies issued to cinemas who had not installed sound equipment.In any event by 1930 the silent film was to all intents and purposes dead.This is therefore a real curiosity.

Not so passive resistance in this very strange sci-fi flick.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 25 January 2018]

I have read that BLACKMAIL (directed by Alfred Hitchcock) was the first British talking picture. I was sure surprised when I learned that HIGH TREASON came out several months earlier. In both cases, they made sound and silent versions because most British theaters were not equipped for sound. I found the silent version and would love to see the sound version if I can find it.

The story is a natural outgrowth of WWI, which just ended a decade earlier. Millions of men were needlessly slaughtered in a war which had no 'good guys'...just victims. Because of this, many anti-war films were made in the 1920s and 30s...all hoping to convince everyone that war was avoidable and useless. Too bad they hadn't anticipated the rise of Naziism and, unfortunately, these films actually HELPED the Third Reich to gain control over Europe, as the films were particularly popular in Britain (such as with this film and THINGS TO COME) and France (such as with both versions of J'ACCUSE).

The film is set in 1950. Europe and North America have each formed a separate union--with the Federated States of Europe and the Atlantic States each representing many millions of people. A small border incident* occurs and instead of dealing with it like adults, the leaders begin preparing for war--fomented by evil industrialists who will profit from death. The only thing standing in the way is a large group of peace-lovers who are members of The World League of Peace....with 25,000,000 members who are willing, in some cases, to give their lives to maintain peace and prevent another senseless war. How this war is averted is fascinating....and gives an interesting twist to the notion of passive resistance!

This is a cool film to watch, as their view of the future is amazingly dated--with everyone flying about in dirigibles, auto-gyros and airplanes. The look of all this is pretty silly in some ways (sort of like THE JETSONS) but also is fascinating to see. Overall, a fascinating look at what if....and well worth seeing, particularly if you are a history buff like me.

A pacifist JUST IMAGINE

[enw · 2/10 · 2 February 2018]

In 1950, the world is divided into two blocks, the United States (including South America and China) and the European Union, controlling the rest - in 1920 many European States were still colonial empires. A border incident threatens to escalate into a Second World War, and the Peace League, based in London and "pledged to fight to the death for Universal Peace", as opposed to the profiteering provocateurs blowing up toy-trains in the English Channel Tunnel, are called upon to intervene. "Will it really be war?" the heroine asks. "Frankly, no," the hero answers confidently, "the people to-day are much too sensible." "That's what they said in 1914," her father remarks. Soon after, even the women are mobilized. Flapper eyeing her uniform critically: "What a terrible thing war is!" In the end, the peaceniks assassinate the President of Europe. The masses rise up against their governments, the soldiers refusing to fire on them - which is of course what always happens in times of war. As expected, everything is extremely futuristic, except for the women's hairdo. What could possibly be more modern than page-boy? Having abandoned hats, everyone wears shiny clothes - black for the bad guys, white for the good (but they are still heiling). It's the same grim look as in THINGS TO COME of a no-nonsense future.

The Goering That England Fortunately Missed Out Of

[theowinthrop · 15 February 2009]

I have not seen HIGH TREASON - it has not been shown on American television in recent years if ever. Therefore I will not review the film's acting or directing. I will though talk about the background a little bit.

Are any of the readers of these reviews fans of 1) British Aviation History; or 2) British Fascist leaders of the Great War period? Probably (unless you are in these two groups) you will not have heard of Mr. Noel Pemberton-Billing. Who he? Who he indeed. An early fan of aviation, he was the publisher of the first aviation magazine in Great Britain, and an early pusher for British military aviation. He was also a racist and a hater of foreigners (mostly Germans and Jews), and a hater of...what he would term "sexual deviants". Yet, he was an above-average man in intelligence when he put his inventive skills to work in aviation and other fields. He was also deeply into politics.

During the Great War Pemberton-Billing was a persistent critic of the ineptitude of the British war effort from 1914-1918. In particular it burned him that the Germans managed to have the advantage in the skies over Western Europe, and even (via their zeppelin campaigns) over England. He got elected to Parliament, and became even more outspoken in his contempt for the government (to be fair, many of his specific critiques on military preparedness and aviation development were on target - but his other bugaboos kept getting in the way). In 1918 he was one of several right wingers who got upset due to a production that reached the West End. Oscar Wilde had been ruined in 1895 in his two trials. Wilde died in obscurity in Paris in 1900. But his drama, "Salome" was going to be produced on the West End in 1918. The star was the international dancing sensation Maude Allan.

Pemberton-Billing and other right wingers (including Wilde's old boyfriend, now anti-Gay activist Lord Alfred Douglas) saw this production of "Salome" as part of the German plot to undermine the morale of England and that huge numbers of upper crust aristocrats and politicians and writers and social figures were all gay or lesbians who were being blackmailed by the Germans into losing the war. Pemberton-Billing wrote articles attacking Ms Allan. These resulted in one of the weirdest libel actions in history, as Ms Allan was forced to sue Pemberton-Billing and his friends for slandering her. She did, but the public was treated to a farce of a trial, with the defendants accusing everyone under the sun of being perverted. In the end Ms Allan was humiliated in court (her brother had been hanged for murder in San Francisco in 1898, and this was brought out) and the jury found for the defendants!

This was the highpoint of Fascist politics in Britain in that period - but Prime Minister Lloyd George accumulated information against Pemberton-Billing and his friends which was slowly disseminated to the public (that Pemberton-Billing, the hater of foreigners, had a foreign born mistress was one of these). In the end he was defeated for reelection.

But he remained a constant critic, and being wealthy had ways of getting his views across. HIGH TREASON was his pet project in the 1920s. Originally a somewhat successful stage play, he turned it into this movie. It's most novel elements today are his views of 1950 aviation - some of which are quite interesting (and again show him at his most useful - as a creative engineer and inventor). But his plot had to do with stopping the machinations of international (read Jewish) arm manufacturers who were trying to begin a new World War. His saintly peace advocate ends up committing a great act of violence seen by the whole country that lands that advocate on trial for "HIGH TREASON". The issue is whether such actions really are treasonable if they are meant to save lives.

Having just done a review of SEVEN DAYS TO NOON, the actions of Professor Willingdon there mirror what the protagonist is forced to do here. However the authors of that screenplay did not blacken the character of whole races in the course to telling their story or making their point. Pemberton-Billing never cared if he trod on toes - he felt he should say what he felt.

To be fair again, in that period similar theories abounded all over. In the U.S. Senator Gerald Nye of North Dakota became famous in the 1930s with his "Merchants of Death" committee investigation, blaming banks and munition manufacturers for pulling the U.S. into World War I. And (as mentioned in an earlier review) when the original novel by Graham Greene for THIS GUN FOR HIRE was written, the real villain was not Raven the killer for hire, but the Jewish munitions manufacturer Sir Marcus (who wants another European War for profit reasons).

HIGH TREASON was not a great film success - the public did not know what to make of it. Pemberton-Billing did not make any further films, but did resume his aviation work, and actually was useful in preparing England in facing the Nazis in World War II.