Dead on Course

The first Hammer noir I saw was the excellent Hell is a City; and it's a good job too because if the first one I saw was one of the ones I saw after Hell is a City, I probably wouldn't have bothered watching any more! Wings of Danger is directed by Hammer veteran Terence Fisher, who also directed the disappointing Hammer noir The Stranger Came Home. This one is actually slightly better, but there's not a lot in it. Wings of Danger focuses on cargo plane pilot Richard Van Ness. He tries to stop another pilot from flying due to the weather, but is blackmailed into allowing it. The plane crashes and this leads the police to begin questioning Richard about his own affairs. The film is very short at only seventy minutes, and I do have to say that's a good thing because any longer and I've have gotten really tired of it. The plot is always at least fairly interesting and the film does manage to present a handful of interesting characters. The dialogue can be a little suspect at times, but that's not such a bad thing as it's often unintentionally comedic. The film holds the audience's interest for the duration and boils down to an interesting and satisfying conclusion. Overall, I really wouldn't recommend this film, though I wouldn't say it's awful either.