Gerald-5

So, what was surprising about it? There is an anti-Hitler comment which, for 1934 when the film was made, was unusually perspicatious. There is a long number by a black singer deploring the fact that people think she has sin because of the colour of her skin (I wonder if the film was shown in the US of A?) and there is a massive television broadcast to mobile outdoor screens - surely, in 1934, no one really thought TV would ever amount to that?

I still look upon the Robert Donat performance as the measure of this story, the essence of his Hannay being his naivity and innocence when catapulted into the situation. Robert Powell was far too wordly wise and knowing.

And so much of the story has been perverted and changed. A grave mistake. Neverthless, I have scored it 7 as I would have thought better of it if I had not had experience of the "genuine" article!

When I first saw this film I voted 9 as I wasn't 1000% smitten by it. But I have just seen it again and consider it one of my favourite films of all time. A feast for the ears and eyes. Mozart's music is, of course, incomparable. For a purists, not doubt, the speech-over some of the music would be annoying, but I found the soto voce comments helped to make sense of the pieces and to combine them into an integral part of the whole film.

What for me would have been a ten out of ten film was hugely spoilt by the mumbling and audibility of the actors, particularly in the first part of the film. What a waste of a sparkling dialogue. The multiplicity of characters was confusing - but this is part of the charm of a film. Who wants to see a film where everything is dished out on a plate leaving nothing to stimulate the mind.

Apart from the unique acting style of Jack Hawkins (before his so sad illness), one thing which marks this film out from modern detective yarns is that the detective work follows logical sequences - little depends on chance and nothing on fantastic coincidences.

It is a rattling good yarn - I only wish the same could be said of todays films.

And the supporting cast!!! Ian Bannen gets run over and killed and (Sir) Alec McCowan is an unimportant doctor. But everyone has to start somewhere.

Those were the days

Gerald (aged 72)

I was just two years old when this was made - an early talker (me, not the film!!). Tonight, I was in a mood for lighthearted escapism, and this suited my mood down to the ground. A truly charming bit of fairy tale froth. An operetta by any other name. Not one little hint of nastiness or sordidness.

Oh my, why to they not make films like this now

I wondered for a long time why it had mostly been shot in the night in subdued light - sometimes almost lost in the gloom.

Eventually, I decided it must be something to do with trying to hide the wires - but it certainly did nothing to improve a somewhat disappointing film. It took the first hour to discover what it was about!

Sorry - I know I am in a minority, but I did at least end up giving it 5

Gerald

A somewhat cardboardy and flat performance from everyone. I would have rated it less than 5 if it hadn't been for the music. But the dancing and some of the singing was excellent - a lot of effort had been put into setting the routines into the correct period. So, good marks for that, but not for anything else. And what a corny inconclusive ending.

Too much blood and thunder and very little in the way of quality acting make this a run of the mill picture. I just can't understand what all the hype is about. And the noise!!! Almost unbearable. The whole of the opening sequences in Germania were noisey and incomprehensible beyond belief.

I have given it 7 - but havered with the idea of just 6

All in all, a good film. The very predictability of the plot gives it character, the interest being in how it is handled. The atmosphere, apart from the dreadful thunderstorm, is evocative of the story being told. The locations are well chosen and well filmed, and the extras are handled with great skill.

A film to be seen. Good entertainment.

Very disappointed with this film. The story line was so predictable, the effects unconvincing (although the beetle burrowing its way under the skin towards the brain was good), and the scenery very cardboard looking, obviously studio and not real.

I did enjoy the line "Wait there and I shall go for help"; and also the glint of gold out of the camel's saddlebag as, at long last (and not before time), they rode off into the final sunset.

I have awarded the film 2 points, but am being slightly generous.