Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

Directed by Cy Endfield under the name of Hugh Raker (Eureka?) 'The Master Plan' is a mainly pedestrian movie about the leaking of military secrets at a part British, part American facility in Germany. A US major flies in specifically to assist a British colonel who is the head of security. The plot meanders this way and that but the last twenty minutes are quite suspenseful leading to the unmasking of the culprit.It was based on a television play called 'Operation North Star'. Norman Wooland as the British Colonel and Wayne Morris as the American major are OK and the rest of the cast are....OK. A lot of stock music is used which adds no tension or excitement throughout most of the film. Not an ordeal to watch but lacking a bit of energy.

What a deception from this Cyril Endfield movie. I expected much more. I nevertheless know that our director made it under a pseudonym, during the fifties and the witches hunt - the anti red era everyone had heard about.So, he was not so free. I know that. But this movie is talkative, boring, nothing more than a sleepy espionage yarn. Wayne Morris seems lost in the middle of this tepid story. The only interesting thing is that he is not the lead, and his character is rather unusual.But besides this, you can forget it. The other films made by Endfield are better than this one.