Dangerous Moonlight
Encyclopedia
- For the unrelated 1985 novel by Kay Thorpe, see Dangerous Moonlight (novel).
Dangerous Moonlight (known as Suicide Squadron in the USA) is a 1941 British film, starring Anton Walbrook
Anton Walbrook
Anton Walbrook, born was an Austrian actor who settled in the United Kingdom.- Life :...
, best known for its score written by Richard Addinsell
Richard Addinsell
Richard Stewart Addinsell was a British composer, best known for film music, primarily his Warsaw Concerto, composed for the 1941 film Dangerous Moonlight .-Life:...
with orchestrations by Roy Douglas
Roy Douglas
Roy Douglas is a British composer and arranger. He worked with Ralph Vaughan Williams and Richard Addinsell.-Works as composer:*Oboe quartet [1932]...
, which includes the Warsaw Concerto
Warsaw Concerto
The Warsaw Concerto is a single-movement piano concerto written for the 1941 film Dangerous Moonlight . It was written by British composer Richard Addinsell...
. Among the costumes, the gowns were designed by Cecil Beaton
Cecil Beaton
Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton, CBE was an English fashion and portrait photographer, diarist, painter, interior designer and an Academy Award-winning stage and costume designer for films and the theatre...
.
The film's love-story
Romantic love
Romance is the pleasurable feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love.In the context of romantic love relationships, romance usually implies an expression of one's love, or one's deep emotional desires to connect with another person....
plot revolves around the fictional composer of the Warsaw Concerto, a piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
virtuoso
Virtuoso
A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...
and "shell-shocked"
Combat stress reaction
Combat stress reaction , in the past commonly known as shell shock or battle fatigue, is a range of behaviours resulting from the stress of battle which decrease the combatant's fighting efficiency. The most common symptoms are fatigue, slower reaction times, indecision, disconnection from one's...
combat
Combat
Combat, or fighting, is a purposeful violent conflict meant to establish dominance over the opposition, or to terminate the opposition forever, or drive the opposition away from a location where it is not wanted or needed....
pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
, who meets an American war correspondent in Warsaw, and later goes back from America to join the RAF in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to continue to fight against the Nazis and their occupation of Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
.
Walbrook was an accomplished amateur pianist, so his hands are seen playing in the film, however the music on the soundtrack is played by the professional pianist Louis Kentner
Louis Kentner
Louis Kentner was a Hungarian, later British, pianist who excelled in the works of Chopin and Liszt, as well as the Hungarian repertoire....
. Kentner's involvement was initially uncredited, as he thought that being seen to be playing film music would not help his career. He changed his mind on seeing the film's success.
The film is mentioned in the British television series Dad's Army
Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...
episode "Is There Honey Still for Tea?
Is There Honey Still for Tea?
Is There Honey Still for Tea? is the third episode of the eighth British comedy series Dad's Army that was originally broadcast on Wednesday, 19 September 1975. The title is taken from the concluding line of Rupert Brooke's 1912 poem, The Old Vicarage, Grantchester:-Synopsis:Private Godfrey's...
", an in-joke
In-joke
An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or in joke, is a joke whose humour is clear only to people who are in a particular social group, occupation, or other community of common understanding...
as John Laurie
John Laurie
John Paton Laurie was a British actor born in Dumfries, Scotland. Although he is now probably most recognised for his role as Private James Frazer in the sitcom Dad's Army , he appeared in hundreds of feature films, including films by Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell and Laurence Olivier...
had featured in the film.
Cast
- Anton WalbrookAnton WalbrookAnton Walbrook, born was an Austrian actor who settled in the United Kingdom.- Life :...
- Stefan 'Steve' Radetzky - Sally GraySally GrayConstance Vera Browne, Baroness Oranmore and Browne , commonly known as Sally Gray, was an English movie actress of the 1930s and 1940s....
- Carol Peters Radetzky - Derrick De MarneyDerrick De MarneyDerrick De Marney was an English stage and film actor and producer, of French and Irish ancestry.-Actor:On the London stage from 1922 and films from 1928...
- Michael 'Mike' Carroll, Radetzky's manager - Cecil ParkerCecil ParkerCecil Parker was an English character and comedy actor with a distinctive husky voice, who usually played supporting roles in his 91 films made between 1928 and 1969....
- Specialist - Percy ParsonsPercy ParsonsPercy Parsons was an American-born actor and singer who worked largely in the British film industry.-Selected filmography:* Suspense * Happy Ever After * The Man from Toronto * Red Wagon...
- Bill Peters - Kenneth KentKenneth KentKenneth Kent , sometimes Keneth Kent, was an English actor. Most notable for portraying the emperor Napoleon in the 1948 film Idol of Paris, he also appeared in the war films Dangerous Moonlight and Night Train to Munich .-External links:...
- Andre De Guise, the impresario - J. H. Roberts - Residing physician
- Guy MiddletonGuy MiddletonGuy Middleton Powell, usually credited as Guy Middleton, was an English film character actor.Middleton was born in Hove, England and originally worked in the London Stock Exchange, before turning to acting in the 1930s...
- Shorty - John LaurieJohn LaurieJohn Paton Laurie was a British actor born in Dumfries, Scotland. Although he is now probably most recognised for his role as Private James Frazer in the sitcom Dad's Army , he appeared in hundreds of feature films, including films by Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell and Laurence Olivier...
- British commander - Frederick ValkFrederick ValkFrederick Valk was a German-born Jewish stage and screen actor of Czech descent who fled to the United Kingdom in the late 1930s to escape Nazi persecution, and subsequently became a naturalised British citizen...
- Polish bomber commander - O. B. Clarence - Waiter with tray of wine
- Marian SpencerMarian SpencerMarian Alexander Spencer is a former Vice Mayor of the Cincinnati City Council in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is also the first African American woman to be elected to the Council.-Personal life:In 1920 Spencer was born in the town of Gallipolis, Ohio...
- Miss Gratton, De Guise's secretary - Philip FriendPhilip FriendPhilip Wyndham Friend was a British film and television actor.-Filmography:* Inquest * The Midas Touch * Pimpernel Smith * The Day Will Dawn * In Which We Serve...
- Pete, RAF pilot