Tonight's Movie: Diplomatic Courier (1952)

DIPLOMATIC COURIER, starring Tyrone Power in the title role, is an excellent Cold War chase movie filmed in European locations. I had never seen this film before, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Mike Kells (Power) is a State Department courier who finds himself caught up in the middle of a desperate espionage situation when his contact Sam (James Millican), an old war buddy, is killed before he can hand off a critical document to Kells.

U.S. Army Col. Mark Cagle (Stephen McNally) uses Kells as bait to try to unravel the plot and race against time to find the missing document. A gung-ho Army sergeant (Karl Malden) serves as Kells' informal bodyguard while Kells looks for a mysterious woman (Hildegard Neff) who knew Sam, and in turn Kells is pursued by a glamorous widow (Patricia Neal) he meets on a plane.

I found this film highly absorbing and suspenseful. The excitement begins very early in the film and builds to a satisfying conclusion. I always enjoy Tyrone Power, who's at the top of my favorite actors list, and Malden is a welcome screen presence as well. Neal and Neff are both excellent as women who have plenty of surprises in store for Mr. Power's character.

DIPLOMATIC COURIER reunited Tyrone Power with director Henry Hathaway, who previously worked with Power on JOHNNY APOLLO (1940), BRIGHAM YOUNG (1940), THE BLACK ROSE (1950), and RAWHIDE (1951).

As a side note, the sequence with a watch in a European pawn shop called to mind Hathaway's earlier spy film THE HOUSE ON 92ND STREET (1945). The opening minutes, which are "docu-noir" in style, are also reminiscent of the "procedural" aspects of 92ND STREET. I especially loved the demonstration of live teletyping between the U.S. and Europe, which looked very much like today's instant messaging.

Be on the lookout for Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, and Michael Ansara in bit parts; Marvin is the easiest to spot in his two scenes as an MP in Trieste. Dabbs Greer (Rev. Alden from LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE) is seen early in the film as a clerk working for U.S. intelligence. Hugh Marlowe narrates.

This film runs 97 minutes. It was photographed in black and white by Lucien Ballard, whose career stretched for over 55 years.

DIPLOMATIC COURIER is not available on DVD or VHS. It is shown from time to time on Fox Movie Channel. The print I recorded from FMC was of very nice quality.

Perhaps someday we'll get a third Tyrone Power boxed DVD set with the relative few of his films which aren't yet on DVD, such as this title, LLOYD'S OF LONDON (1936), SUEZ (1938), KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES (1953), and UNTAMED (1955).

2012 Update: DIPLOMATIC COURIER is now available on DVD-R via the Fox Cinema Archives.