Harockerce What a beautiful movie!

Supelice Dreadfully Boring

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Red-Barracuda A Nazi war criminal on the run after the end of World War II, assumes an Australian scientist's identity and sets up shop in England where he develops germ warfare experiments which he and his masters hope will return the Nazi regime to prominence. His plans are complicated though when he develops feelings for his pretty lab assistant.This British dramatic thriller was made very close to the end of the war, so its story revolving around an ex concentration camp commander who was notorious for carrying out sadistic experiments on inmates is one which must have been touching on a grim subject which was extremely recent at the time. The Nazi is played by Mervyn Johns who was familiar to me from the brilliant Ealing anthology horror film Dead of Night (1945) and he is once again very good in a character who is not presented as one dimensionally evil as you might expect. His feelings for his lab assistant bring out the humanity within him, which most probably is his downfall ultimately too. The story perhaps could have had more suspense in it and it is also maybe slightly over-long but I thought it was definitely an interesting one nevertheless. It ends on a blackly ironic ending, which finished things off on an appropriate note.

classicsoncall The title of this film didn't come up when I typed in "Counterblast", so I used actor Robert Beatty's name who's listed at the top of the credits for this surprisingly effective mystery story. I'm not sure why he's got top billing because Mervyn Johns appears to do all the heavy lifting in his role as Dr. Bruckner, the 'Beast of Ravensbruck'. As an escaped Nazi war criminal, Bruckner assumes the identity of Australian microbiologist Dr.Richard Forrester after killing him in his London hotel room. Bruckner's mission is to develop a germ warfare concoction that can eventually be used to secure Nazi victory.For a Nazi on the lam, a couple of things puzzled me. Why for example, in his haste to leave the hotel after killing Forrester, did he stop to pay his room bill? And what conceivable purpose could there have been to lugging around a set of golf clubs other than to arouse the suspicion of his new lab assistant Rankin (Beatty)? Finally, for a world class bacteriologist himself, Bruckner should have been slick enough not to get tripped up on that little detail about his preferred lab chemical being exclusively German made.But I guess none of that really matters because the overall story is a fairly intriguing one, with Mervyn Johns donning a sinister countenance in direct contrast to the character of Bob Cratchit from my favorite version of "Scrooge", the 1951 Christmas classic. Uncharacteristically, this Nazi softens up enough over the course of the story to fall for his lab helper (Nova Pilbeam) and mingle with the aristocrats of British high society. You almost get to the point of liking the guy, but come on, he's a Nazi. So it's fittingly ironic that Bruckner meets his end in a manner suited to his profession - one could say it was a gas.

MartinHafer A Nazi scientist escapes from a British POW camp. Instead of rushing back to Germany, he oddly sets up a lab in London and assumes the identity of an Australian researcher. There, he works on a biological warfare experiment. However, when the murdered Australian guy's niece arrives, the Nazi's plans could be in jeopardy.The biggest problem I had with this film was the ill-explained lack of a German accent in the Nazi (Mervyn Johns). He sounds 100% British. Had they said he had escaped to the UK from Nazi Occupied Europe it would have made a lot more sense. On the other hand, it is odd that "Counterblast" (also known as "Devil's Plot") is included in a cheap 20 DVD pack from Mill Creek, as this film is way too competently made. The acting (aside from the missing accent) is quite good and the story isn't bad. Well worth seeing and quite original.

howardmorley I first became aware of Nova Pilbeam in Hitchcock's "Young & Innocent" with Derrick de Marnay and in "The Man Who Knew Too Much" with Peter Lorre, both filmed in the 30s.Intrigued by her performance in these two films, I sought out this film from 1948.She is older by say 10 years or so and more mature but still attractive and adroitly plays the heroine as in the afore stated films.The other reviewers have covered the basic plot, so I will not risk giving out "spoilers" but confine myself to a few chosen words.Canadian Robert Beatty effectively plays the handsome hero while Nova shows misplaced loyalty to her boss.I noticed Alan Wheatley in the cast as a Nazi dentist (did he ever play a sympathetic role?).I first became aware of him playing the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1950s ITV children's TV series of "Robin Hood" starring Richard Greene.My copy was a little bit muddy which I put down to the age of the original print but sound quality was fine.Another cameo of the nursing sister was played by Margareta Scott.She never seemed to get to play the lead.I saw Margareta in two Margaret Lockwood films playing supporting roles: "Girl in the News (1940) and "Quiet Wedding" (1941).Mervyn Johns of course played the lead role as the bacterial scientist and I agree with a previous reviewer, he played a sort of latter day anti-hero.I also agree that much more tension could have been injected into the plot by the director Stein but of course Hitchcock was firmly established in Hollywood at the time.The result is a slightly above average thriller and I therefore rated it 6/10.