House of Secrets (1956 film)

House of Secrets, also known as Triple Deception, is a 1956 British crime thriller film directed by Guy Green and starring Michael Craig, Anton Diffring and Gérard Oury.[1] It was wrirtten by Robert Buckner andBryan Forbes based on the 1955 novel Storm Over Paris by Sterling Noel.

House of Secrets
UK theatrical poster
Directed byGuy Green
Written byRobert Buckner
Bryan Forbes
Based onnovel Storm Over Paris by Sterling Noel
Produced byVivian Cox
Julian Wintle
StarringMichael Craig
Anton Diffring
Gérard Oury
CinematographyHarry Waxman
Edited bySidney Hayers
Music byHubert Clifford
Production
company
Distributed byRank Film Distributors
Release date
  • 23 October 1956 (1956-10-23) (UK)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Plot

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Naval officer Larry Ellis bears a striking resemblance to counterfeiter Steve Chancellor and is mistakenly arrested in his place. Chancellor is killed in a car crash and Ellis goes undercover to impersonate the dead man, to lead the police to his gang who plan to inundate the UK with huge amounts of forged bank notes.

Ellis devises a plan for smuggling the counterfeit notes into England, but his impersonation is rumbled. The plane he is travelling on with the money (which has been replaced by plain paper) is rigged to explode, but he bales out in time.

Cast

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Production

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It was shot in Technicolor and VistaVision at Pinewood Studios near London and on location in Paris and Marseille[2] The film's sets were designed by the art director Alex Vetchinsky, and the costumes by Julie Harris.

Michael Craig called his part "a sort of forerunner to the James Bond type of movie" which "in spite of all our best efforts it ended up being fairly boring." He was paid £30 a week.[3]

Critical reception

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The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "A somewhat juvenile spy story with attractive and well chosen Parisian backgrounds. The police, wise and mannerly, and the crooks, suave and heavily accented, give the impression of having been faithfully transcribed from the pages of The Skipper and Rover. The acting, particularly of the foreigners, is also solidly traditional; the photography and art direction, on the other hand, are often distinctly above average."[4]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Thick-ear Boys' Own-style thriller with limited acting but good fight scenes and photography."[5]

References

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  1. ^ "House of Secrets". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  2. ^ Schwartzman, Arnold (19 November 1991). "Interview with Guy Green side 3". British Entertainment History Project.
  3. ^ Craig, Michael (2005). The Smallest Giant: An Actor's Life. Allen and Unwin. p. 74.
  4. ^ "House of Secrets". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 23 (264): 155. 1 January 1956 – via ProQuest.
  5. ^ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 325. ISBN 0-7134-1874-5.
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