![]() 1 We get the idea from Marks' book Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codebreaker's War that he was a 'wounded' personality, very much like John Graham of Cloudburst. But the job entailed sending dozens of patriots to their deaths, including the famous Violette Szabo. ![]() A man who believed in logic and rationality, Marks devised a throwaway one-use-only code written on disposable silk that didn't need to be memorized. Beginning as an unworldly mathematician, by the end of the war Marks was personally dispatching brave secret agents to France and Holland, to work with the underground resistance. The first thing we realize is that this is an almost autobiographical piece by Leo Marks, one of Britain's most accomplished code breakers and spymasters. Meanwhile, John's dedicated code breaking staff works day and night to crack the clue that will unmask him as the avenging killer.Ĭloudburst hits us right off the top with Frank Spencer's rich, serious-sounding main title theme, preparing us for something other than a frivolous thriller. But John refuses to abandon his dark quest, which he treats as a suicide mission - he keeps a cyanide pill taped to the underside of his lapel. Along the way he slips up, giving Scotland Yard Inspector Davis (Colin Tapley) enough of a clue to draw suspicion on himself. To this end he employs old friends from the spy trade, now working in civilian jobs. He gives false information to the police and traces the fugitives on his own. When Carol is brutally run down by a pair of escaping criminals, John devotes his entire being to cold vengeance. But she never talked, and thus saved John's life. Carol's severe limp is a reminder of her torture at the hands of the Gestapo. His only peace of mind comes via his loving wife Carol, a former colleague in espionage (Elizabeth Sellars), who insists that he needs rest. ![]() The fighting is barely over, but dedicated cryptographer John Graham (Robert Preston) still runs his group of code breakers on a wartime basis. The story seems a psychological extension of the remorseless moral mindset of WW2 intelligence operations. Skal's linkage between the horrors of WW1 and the rise of the first horror wave back in the 1930s. Finally, the movie makes a connection between the ruthlessness and cruelty of WW2 with and rising brutality of postwar life, that reminds us of author David J. The script is a singularly autobiographical work by the intriguing and legendary Leo Marks. Its hero is much like the obsessed, anti-social characters in later Hammer horror films. Cloudburst is not only a good movie, it resonates with themes of vengeance and 'moral killing' that would later dominate genre and action filmmaking. The first exposure for us Hammer-philes came when we tracked down the early films of Terence Fisher, some of which are lumpy thrillers no more distinguished than his awkward early Sci-Fi efforts Four Sided Triangle and Spaceways. These Hammer/Exclusive pictures were all over the place for quality. Cloudburst stars the very American Robert Preston and features the lovely Elizabeth Sellars ( The Barefoot Contessa, 55 Days at Peking) as his love interest. In many cases these second-rank British pictures recruited American actors looking for extra work or having career difficulties. ![]() Released in England under the label Exclusive Films, Hammer films were exported by United Artists, or sometimes, independent producer Robert Lippert. Hammer expert Ted Newsom tipped me off that the MGM Limited Edition Collection disc of Cloudburst, a title completely unknown to me, was in actuality a very scarce early Hammer Film, made years before that company's Science Fiction and Horror breakthroughs. Produced by Anthony Hinds, Alexander Paal Written by Francis Searle from a play by Leo Marks Starring Robert Preston, Elizabeth Sellars, Colin Tapley, Sheila Burrell, Harold Lang, Mary Germaine, George Woodbridge, Thomas Heathcote.
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