The Clouded Yellow

Introduction

When David Somers, a major in the British Secret Service, makes a mistake, he is fired, as spies are not allowed to make a mistake. Encouraged by his boss to move on, he takes a job in the country, cataloguing a butterfly collection for the Fentons. They are the legal guardians of Jess Fenton's niece, Sophie, who found the bodies of her parents, who, when she was six, died in a murder/suicide.

David is warned not to question Sophie, but they develop a mutual attraction and he is interested in her past. When the uncouth handyman turns up dead with Sophie's knife in his back and she is unable to account for her whereabouts and actions during the night, she becomes the prime suspect. With Jess seemingly manipulating both the evidence and Sophie, David doesn't believe that Sophie had anything to do with the murder and escapes with her to uncover the truth.

What follows is a trip round Britain as they are followed whilst David uses all his espionage experience to avoid the authorities until he can determine who the real killer is.

Video

The Clouded Yellow is very well photographed and, though the picture quality doesn't detract too much from the film, the transfer doesn't quite have the contrast it perhaps deserves.

Audio

The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack is clear enough, though it helps that everyone has fairly clipped tones, but there are the occasional pops and crackles, though not frequent enough to spoil the film.

Conclusion

The best way to describe The Clouded Yellow is as a Hitchcockian film, with the 'innocent man on the run' narrative device that worked so well in such films as The 39 Steps, North by North West and The Man Who Knew Too Much.

Lesley Howard and Jean Simmons have plausible on-screen chemistry and are both terrific, as is Sonia Dresdel as Jess Fenton. The film makes full use of the location shooting in Liverpool, Newcastle and the Lake District, to make an exciting thriller.

This is a bare-bones package from Eureka, with no extra features or even subtitles, but the film is a cracking watch and as that's what's important it's a DVD well worth picking up.