Top Secret (1952 film)

2023-02-02T12:03:07Z

62.69.32.70:

{{Other uses|Top Secret (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Top Secret
| image = "Top_Secret"_(1952).jpg
| caption =
| director = [[Mario Zampi]]
| producer = Mario Zampi
| writer = [[Jack Davies (screenwriter)|Jack Davies]] [[Michael Pertwee]]
| story = Jack Davies Michael Pertwee
| starring = [[George Cole (actor)|George Cole]] [[Oskar Homolka]] [[Nadia Gray]]
| music = [[Stanley Black]]
| cinematography = [[Stanley Pavey]]
| editing = Giulio Zampi
| studio = [[Associated British Picture Corporation]] Transocean Productions
| distributor = [[Associated British-Pathé]]
| released = {{film date|df=y|1952|11|19|London}}
| runtime = 93 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| gross = £133,313 (UK)<ref>Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television'', Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p499</ref>
}}
'''''Top Secret''''' is a 1952 British black and white [[comedy film]] directed by [[Mario Zampi]] and starring [[George Cole (actor)|George Cole]], [[Oskar Homolka]] and [[Nadia Gray]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/54867 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114091219/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/54867 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2009-01-14 |title=BFI | Film & TV Database | TOP SECRET (1952) |publisher=Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk |date=2009-04-16 |access-date=2014-03-30}}</ref> A sanitation inspector is mistaken for an international spy. It was shot at the [[Elstree Studios]] of [[Associated British Picture Corporation|Associated British]]. The film's sets were designed by the [[art director]] [[Ivan King]]. The film was released in the United States as '''''Mr. Potts Goes to Moscow'''''.<ref name="O. A. G">{{cite news|author=O. A. G. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B0DE6DD143DE23BBC4B53DFBF668388649EDE |title=Movie Review - Mr Potts Goes to Moscow - 'Mr. Potts Goes to Moscow,' an Import |work=NYTimes.com |date=1953-09-03 |access-date=2014-03-30}}</ref>

==Plot==
George Potts, a plumber in a top secret government research plant, accidentally comes into possession of the plans for a revolutionary atomic weapon. As George leaves for his annual holiday, the research security team embarks on a nationwide search for the hapless 'sanitary engineer'. Meanwhile, the Russians get wind of the incident and intercept George, plying him with liquor and employment promises so that he'll hand over the plans to them. All the while, George never knows what the fuss is about: he thinks that the British and Soviet authorities are interested in his new plans for a modern [[ballcock]] system he is carrying. The Russians offer him a job in the Kremlin doing research (on plumbing, he believes), and steal his ballcock plans.

They put George in prison and interrogate him, using a truth drug, but although he tells them truthfully that he hid the plans in the lining of Tania's coat, they have disappeared, because they are in Zekov's coat lining.

While there he falls in love with secret agent Tania, and discovers the true nature of the plans he is carrying.<ref name=allmovie>[http://www.allmovie.com/movie/mr-potts-goes-to-moscow-v103083 allmovie]</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/83736/Top-Secret |title=Top Secret (1952) - Overview |publisher=TCM.com |access-date=30 March 2014}}</ref>

George organises a flight to East Berlin where Zekov is waiting, unaware that he is carrying the plans.

==Cast==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[George Cole (actor)|George Cole]] as George Potts
* [[Oskar Homolka]] as Zekov
* [[Nadia Gray]] as Tania Ivanova
* [[Frederick Valk]] as Rakov
* [[Wilfrid Hyde-White]] as Sir Hubert Wells
* [[Geoffrey Sumner]] as Pike
* [[Ronald Adam (actor)|Ronald Adam]] as Barworth Controller
* [[Ernest Jay]] as Prof. Layton
* [[Edwin Styles]] as Barworth Superintendent
* [[Richard Wattis]] as Barnes
* [[Michael Medwin]] as Smedley
* [[Eleanor Summerfield]] as Cecilia
* [[Irene Handl]] as Mrs. Tidmarsh
* [[Phyllis Morris (actress)|Phyllis Morris]] as Mrs. Tweedy
* [[Charles Goldner]] as Gaston
* [[Ina De La Haye]] as Madame
* [[Ronnie Stevens (actor)|Ronnie Stevens]] as Aubrey
* [[Olaf Pooley]] as Professor Roblettski
* [[Kynaston Reeves]] as Barworth Director
* [[Frederick Leister]] as Prime Minister
* [[Henry Charles Hewitt (actor)|Henry Hewitt]] as Minister of Health
* [[Gibb McLaughlin]] as Schoolmaster
* [[Michael Balfour (actor)|Michael Balfour]] as Jersey Sailor
* Walter Horsbrugh as 1st Cabinet Minister
* Anthony Shaw as 2nd Cabinet Minister
* [[Tim Turner]] as 1st Reporter
* [[Hal Osmond]] as Jersey Waiter
* Myrtle Reed as Jersey Air Hostess
* [[David Hurst]] as Deutsch
* [[Bernard Rebel]] as Trubiev
* [[Guido Lorraine]] as 1st M.V.D.
* [[Terence Alexander]] as 2nd M.V.D.
* [[Richard Marner]] as Russian Sentry
* [[Martin Boddey]] as Russian Security Officer
* [[Gerard Heinz]] as Russian Director of Plant
* [[Fred Berger (actor)|Fred Berger]] as Russian Doctor
* [[Victor Maddern]] as British N.C.O.
* [[Reed De Rouen]] as 1st U.S. Soldier
* Johnny Catcher as 2nd U.S. Soldier
* [[Willoughby Gray]] as British Officer
* [[Christopher Lee]] as Russian Agent
* Stanislaus Zienciakiewicz as [[Joseph Stalin]]
* [[Anton Diffring]] as East German policeman
{{div col end}}

==Critical reception==
''[[The New York Times]]'' noted, "as long as the action stays this side of [[the Iron Curtain]], the production is enjoyable—and understandable — but once entangled with the enigma of Communist rule, the farce ends."<ref name="O. A. G"/>

[[Allmovie]] wrote, "no one takes Top Secret seriously--certainly not Oscar Homolka, who delivers a bravura performance as a Russian secret agent who wistfully yearns for the glories of the Czarist days."<ref name=allmovie/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|0045244}}
*{{tcmdb title|83736}}

{{Mario Zampi}}

[[Category:1952 films]]
[[Category:1950s spy comedy films]]
[[Category:British comedy films]]
[[Category:Cold War films]]
[[Category:Cold War spy films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Mario Zampi]]
[[Category:Films shot at Associated British Studios]]
[[Category:1952 comedy films]]
[[Category:British black-and-white films]]
[[Category:1950s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films set in London]]
[[Category:Films set in Kent]]
[[Category:Films set in the Channel Islands]]
[[Category:Films set in Paris]]
[[Category:Films set in Moscow]]
[[Category:Films set in Berlin]]
[[Category:1950s British films]]

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Top Secret (1952 film)