Green for Danger

Star vehicle for a tragically forgotten star
Alastair Sim is tragically remembered today for only one role: he was without any question the definitive Ebenezer Scrooge, and usually the only film that anyone today has seen featuring Sim is his 1951 turn in A CHRISTMAS CAROL. In fact, Sim starred in a wide range of comedic and dramatic roles in the 1940s and 1950s. He was a familiar enough presence that Alec Guinness paid homage to him by doing a straightforward imitation of Sim in the 1955 film THE LADYKILLERS, evening wearing false teeth to look more like Sim.

Sim managed to play in a large number of comedic suspense and mystery films. He starred in a series of Inspector Hornleigh films in the early forties, he went on to play memorable roles in wartime mysteries such as COTTAGE TO LET (with a very young John Mills in a key role), GREEN FOR DANGER, AN INSPECTOR CALLS (in which he plays a ghostly police inspector), and THE GREEN MAN, in which Sim plays a congenial assassin. But Sim also excelled in pure farce, and was...

Go For The Green!
I was absolutely thrilled to see that "Green For Danger" is finally being released on DVD. This is without a doubt one of the very best murder mysteries ever put onto film. Everything about this film, the acting, the writing, the direction, the photography - everything is world class. And Alastair Sim as Inspector Cockrill is the icing on the cake. If I had any complaint to make against this film it would be this - Why didn't this film lead to a whole series of Inspector Cockrill films? This is a wonderful piece of entertainment and I would urge any film fan not to miss it.

thanks, Criterion
I've seen the Criterion dvd of GREEN FOR DANGER and all I can say is "thank you" to Criterion for the care they lavished on it. It is, without question, the finest video presentation ever seen of this brilliant film. After years of watching dark, grainy 16mm prints on TV (and dark, grainy vhs copies and laserdiscs) it is truly wonderful to see this top-flight dvd.

The film is, of course, the penultimate British murder mystery, the best that has ever been done. Let's face it: no movie that rates an entire chapter in a book ("The Detective Film" by Everson) can be dismissed lightly. Just get the disc and enjoy it. Those reviewers who recommended you curl up on a cold and windy night with a cup of warm liquid and watch it have given you sage advice.

At last GREEN FOR DANGER's gorgeous cinematography by Wilkie Cooper can be appreciated for the thing of beauty that it is. It is not for nothing that the American Society of Cinematographers included this picture in...

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