Sadly Over-hyped

hyped garbage

Great Film overall

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Dangerous Moonlight is one of those almost completely forgotten films, apart from the music, and tracking the film down for the first time it is not particularly hard to see why that is.The music by Richard Addinsell is the one component that people remember about the film, and it is also the best and only outstanding element about it. The Warsaw Concerto is very popular, is a concert show-piece and is still heard on the radio a lot, and judging from the hauntingly stirring and quite oddly beautiful way it's written for good reason too. Anton Walbrook is typically suave (though this is a long way from being one of his better performances), while lovely Sally Gray brings some poignancy to her role and Derrick DeMarnay is a suitably sympathetic confidant, his chemistry with Walbrook being particularly strong. The film is sometimes moving, and the aerial combat sequences are quite good.On the other hand, Dangerous Moonlight was apparently made quickly and cheaply and it shows in some less than smooth photography, some choppy editing (like in the climatic dog fight) and some clearly artificial-looking sets. The script is lumbering and heavy-handed with some ham-fisted melodrama (Walbrook's dialogue is not always easy to understand too), the sometimes moving but thin story is really quite dull, over-dramatised and little more than nonsensical and heavy-handed propaganda, the film is routinely directed and the climatic dog fight agreed is choreographed pretty poorly. Apart from the three leads the rest of the acting is either wooden or overwrought, and Walbrook and Gray's chemistry while sometimes affecting doesn't ignite as well as it could have done.In conclusion, loved Addinsell's music, but Dangerous Moonlight as a film on the whole left me cold. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Wartime propaganda movie that was probably supposed to make people more kindly disposed towards Polish pilots in the RAF. I had heard about this film for years but never seen it; now however I recall that Spike Milligan in his memoirs (of a time when this was a brand new movie) describes it as something like "bloody awful." I wouldn't go that far but for a movie that is supposed to be about a fighter pilot it has a handful of minutes of flying and several hours (it feels like) of piano music + Sally Gray (who is not bad to look at I admit). Or closeups of Anton Walbrook's rabbit-like face as more orchestral music plays in the background.

This film is the one which introduced the 'Warsaw Concerto', one of those almost classical pieces ('The Dream of Olwen' is the other major one) which are effective and burrow their way into your consciousness. Anton Walbrook is traumatised by something that happened when he was a flyer, and Sally Gray is the love interest who is trying to get him back. The performances are finely tuned but really it is the music which is the star. The film itself is typical of its type, over-dramatised British 40s drama at its worst. As such it is watchable but far from great!

This romantic story of a Polish concert pianist/fighter pilot was never really very good. The dialog is often less than sparkling, the sets tend to look cheap and the few outdoor shots are often just painted backgrounds. There is an impressive shot of Spitfires taking off to do battle but the climatic dog fight is rather poorly choreographed. The script is rather lumbering with a couple of non too subtle nudges at American, Irish neutrality.Anton Wallbrook as the pianist is his usual suave self, only sometimes he is not too convincing when he is supposed to be playing the piano, also I am sure that no refined European gentleman would have a conversation with a lady (especially one as beautiful as Sally Gray) with a cigarette dangling from his lips. That was probably the director's fault.What makes this film memorable of course is the music. One of the most famous movie scores in history. Even now "The Warsaw Concerto" is a standard item on pop-classical concerts.Just a few words about Sally Gray. She was one of the most beautiful and seductive actresses in British movies during the forties who was generally wasted in her roles. Perhaps it was her personal choice but I was surprised that she was never snapped up by Hollywood. I always thought what a great Hitchcock heroine she would have made. Alas, it never happened.