Desperate Moment is a 1953 British thriller film directed by Compton Bennett and starring Dirk Bogarde, Mai Zetterling and Philip Friend.[1] It is based on the 1951 novel of the same title by Martha Albrand.

Desperate Moment
British quad poster
Directed byCompton Bennett
Written byGeorge H. Brown
Patrick Kirwan
Based onDesperate Moment by Martha Albrand
Produced byGeorge H. Brown
StarringDirk Bogarde
Mai Zetterling
Philip Friend
CinematographyC.M. Pennington-Richards
Edited byJohn D. Guthridge
Music byRonald Binge
Production
company
George H. Brown Productions (as Fanfare)
Distributed byGeneral Film Distributors (Uk)
Release dates
  • 17 March 1953 (1953-03-17) (London, UK)
Running time
88 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

It was made at Pinewood Studios and on location in West Germany including scenes shot at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate. The film's sets were designed by the art director Maurice Carter.

Plot

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In the years immediately after World War II, a Dutchman, ex resistance, is sentenced to life imprisonment for a murder, committed during a robbery, that he confessed to but did not commit. After discovering that the girl he has loved since childhood is not dead, as he had been told, he escapes from prison and goes on the run through a devastated Germany in search of the witnesses who can clear him, with her help. But the witnesses begin to die apparently accidental deaths shortly before he finds them...

Cast

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Critical reception

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The New York Times wrote, "the sum and substance of this production...is a great deal of panting exercise within and all over two cities, offering little about which to care"[2] whereas TV Guide found it "quite suspenseful, with Bogarde turning in an exceptionally fine performance."[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Desperate Moment". BFI. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009.
  2. ^ "Movie Reviews". The New York Times. 7 October 2021.
  3. ^ "Desperate Moment". TV Guide.
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