Green for Danger, the title gives the whole plot away if you’re smart enough, and certainly would have had the film been made in colour. But in any case, this is a nifty thriller with a fine cast. It’s set in the days when the buzz-bombs rained down on England, and these are used in the film to great effect. The postman of a small village is injured by one and taken to the local hospital where he dies mysteriously in the hands of a six person medical team, led by surgeon Leo Genn, Anaesthetist Trevor Howard and four nurses. It turns out to be murder, and one of the nurses figures out how, to be promptly silenced by a scalpel in the chest. Thereafter, four of the survivors are in mortal danger from the fifth.
    The crimes are investigated by the smart-arse Inspector Cockerel, played to the hilt by the wonderful Alastair Sim, who was never better. The ill-match between his narration and the events we see on screen are part of the fun, as is his reaction to the buzz-bombs as they pass over, the signal for trouble being when their engines cut out as they do so.
    The plot is convoluted but somehow Cockerel makes it all clear and the interaction between him and the rest of the cast (and they with each other) keeps everything bouncing along. The film plays superbly on our helplessness when under surgery, and the smarmy irresponsibility of Leo Genn’s character in his private life makes us worry all the more when he dons the mask and takes up the scalpel. Similarly, the whole plot works around Trevor Howard and his anaesthetic kit, and we are made to feel how much we are in these people’s hands. The resolution of the evil plot can be figured out if you play close attention to the detail in the preliminary scenes, but it wisest to leave that job to the irascible Inspector and just settle back and let it all flow over you.