Wings of Danger
Brief Synopsis
A plane crash uncovers a cargo shipper's ties to the crime world.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Terence Fisher
Director
Zachary Scott
[Richard "Van"] Vaness
Robert Beatty
Nick [Talbot]
Naomi Chance
Avril [Talbot]
Arthur Lane
Boyd [Spencer]
Kay Kendall
Alexi [LaRoche]
Film Details
Genre
Crime
Drama
Release Date
Apr
4,
1952
Premiere Information
Los Angeles opening: 21 Mar 1952
Production Company
Exclusive Films, Ltd.; Intercontinental Pictures
Distribution Company
Lippert Pictures, Inc.
Country
Great Britain and United States
Location
London, England, Great Britain
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel Dead on Course by Mansell Black (London, 1951).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 13m
Film Length
6,456ft
(8 reels)
Synopsis
At Spencer Airlines in England, American pilot Richard "Van" Vaness tries to stop his friend, suave Nick Talbot, from taking off in a storm. When Nick threatens to inform their boss, Boyd Spencer, that Van suffers from occasional blackouts caused by an old war injury, Van gives up, but spends the rest of the night worrying about his friend. By the following morning, fragments of Nick's plane wash ashore and he is presumed dead. Van visits Spencer and is appalled at the older man's lack of emotion. Van leaves the office with Spencer's girl friend, Alexi LaRoche, and, to prove his suspicion that she is involved in illegal activities, asks her to exchange pounds for dollars. After she agrees to meet him the following night, he visits his girl friend, Nick's sister Avril. Outside her door, Van spies a man named Snell leaving her place but does not know that Snell is blackmailing Avril to keep her father from discovering Nick's post-war black market business. After Van drops off Avril that night, he sees Snell in the downstairs bar and forces him to reveal his connection to Avril. Snell informs Van that he is blackmailing Avril and also delivering a set of tools to Cherbourg for Spencer. Van races to find the tools in the airline storage building. As soon as he grabs the box, however, another man runs from the room and escapes on a motorcycle. Van then calls his friend, customs intelligence officer Maxwell, who examines the tools and discovers that they are made of solid gold. Later, the bellboy is shot when he tries to drive Van's car to the front door, and Van has Snell arrested. The next day, Van visits Alexi to receive his dollars, and she tries to seduce him. Knowing that she was having an affair with Nick and now is merely using him to coerce him to kill Spencer, Van plays along in order to discover what Alexi knows. As soon as she reveals that Spencer has a coded notebook in his office which contains financial information, Van pushes her aside. He breaks into Spencer's darkened office and finds the notebook, but then hears Spencer collapse and sees the man from the storage building rush out to his motorcycle. Van follows the man, but when he suffers a blackout and crashes his car, the man rescues him. Van wakes in the cottage of Nick and his girl friend Jeanette. Nick admits that he faked his death to escape the control of Spencer, who had been informed by Snell that Nick was wanted by the French police. Although neither man can understand the coded notebook, Nick knows that Spencer has been manufacturing dollars from old Nazi forging plates. While Alexi tells Spencer that it was Van who attacked him, Van brings Avril to see her brother. As the two talk, Nick realizes that Van has just left to inspect the causeway where Spencer hoards his dollars. He races after Van and enters just in time to save him from Spencer and Snell. A fight breaks out, and Van and Nick race to their car, but Nick is shot. Van leaves Nick with Jeanette and Avril and returns to the causeway, where Maxwell steps out of the shadows. Van finally convinces him that he is innocent and Spencer is the forger, and together they chase the airline owner to the airport. Spencer flies away, but his engines fail and he quickly crashes and dies. Meanwhile, with his dying breath, Nick, who cannot risk having a doctor attend to him, reveals to Avril that Van is afraid to marry her because of his blackouts. Van, unaware of Nick's death, later informs Avril that he is leaving town for a while to think things over. Remembering Nick's words, Avril chases Van to the airport just as his plane is about to take off. Van spots Avril and, smiling, tells the pilot to leave without him.
Director
Terence Fisher
Director
Cast
Zachary Scott
[Richard "Van"] Vaness
Robert Beatty
Nick [Talbot]
Naomi Chance
Avril [Talbot]
Arthur Lane
Boyd [Spencer]
Kay Kendall
Alexi [LaRoche]
Colin Tapley
Maxwell
Harold Lang
Snell
Diane Cilento
Jeanette
Jack Allen
Truscott
Ian Fleming
Talbot [Sr.]
Douglas Muir
Doctor
Sheila Raynor
Nurse
Courtney Hope
Mrs. C[larence] Smith
Nigel Neilson
Duty officer
Darcy Conyers
Signal operator
Kathleen Stuart
Receptionist
Anthony Miles
Sam
Laurie Taylor
O'Gorman
June Ashley
June Mitchell
Natasha Sokolova
James Steel
Flying officer
Russ Allen
Flying officer
Crew
Malcolm Arnold
Music Director
Arthur Barnes
Production Manager
Peter Bryan
Camera Operator
Michael Carreras
Casting
John Gilling
Screenwriter
Rene Glynne
Screenplay cupv
Bill Griffiths
Hairstylist
Walter Harvey
Director of Photography
Anthony Hinds
Producer
Philip Leakey
Makeup
Andrew Mazzei
Art Director
Tom Money
Props Master
James Needs
Editing
Bill Salter
Recording
Jimmy Sangster
Assistant Director
Ellen Trussler
Wardrobe
Videos
Movie Clip
Film Details
Genre
Crime
Drama
Release Date
Apr
4,
1952
Premiere Information
Los Angeles opening: 21 Mar 1952
Production Company
Exclusive Films, Ltd.; Intercontinental Pictures
Distribution Company
Lippert Pictures, Inc.
Country
Great Britain and United States
Location
London, England, Great Britain
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel Dead on Course by Mansell Black (London, 1951).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 13m
Film Length
6,456ft
(8 reels)
Articles
Dead on Course
A plane crash uncovers a cargo shipper's ties to the crime world.
Dead on Course
A plane crash uncovers a cargo shipper's ties to the crime world.
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Although Kay Kendall's name is listed above that of Naomi Chance and Arthur Lane in the opening credits, Chance and Lane receive higher billing in the closing credits. Nick's father is listed as "Talbot" in the closing credits, but Nick's name is spelled onscreen as "Talbott." The picture was also released in England in 1952. Wings of Danger marked the screen debut of Australian-born actress Diane Cilento. Contemporary reviews point out that the plot of Wings of Danger, which was produced in London, was very difficult to follow.
