High Treason

This is a great film, with a decent plot and wonderful location work, not least in the Battersea Power Station climax, as well as claustrophobic interior work, especially in the Ellis electrical shop.

Whether or not the red menace was ever plausible in this sense, there was enough friction to make it a reasonable starting point for a thriller (it's more likely than an invasion from outer space, surely). I suspect it is only the anti-Communist message that caused the film to be totally neglected; I have never seen this on British television, and only found it on DVD. No other film of this quality and style has been so effectively hidden for so long.

What is really worth emphasising is the brilliance of the cast. I can honestly think of no other British film boasting so many familiar faces - there is a period of about 20 minutes in the middle where every scene produces another well-known actor doing a cameo. The 19 billed players are pretty recognisable, but what other film could additionally include, uncredited, Jean Anderson, Alfie Bass, Harry Fowler, Everley Gregg, Peter Jones, Moultrie Kelsall, Sam Kydd, Harry Locke, Victor Maddern, Dandy Nichols, Marianne Stone and Lockwood West, and those were only the ones I spotted. The IMDb cast list includes several others that I will have to look for on a second viewing.