| High Treason | |
| Starring: | Liam Redmond Anthony Bushell André Morell |
| Director: | Roy Boulting |
| Editing: | Max Benedict |
| Producer: | Paul Soskin |
| Cinematography: | Gilbert Taylor |
| Studio: | Conqueror Films |
| Distributor: | General Film Distributors Peacemaker Pictures (US) |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Runtime: | 90 minutes |
| Budget: | £168,325[1] |
| Gross: | £88,000[2] |
| Language: | English |
| Music: | John Addison |
High Treason is a 1951 British spy thriller.[3] [4] It is a sequel to the film Seven Days to Noon (1950) from the same team. Director Roy Boulting, co-director (with his brother John) and co-writer of the first film also directed and co-wrote this one.[4] Frank Harvey, Boulting's co-writer, was also a co-writer of the earlier film. André Morell reprises his role as Detective Superintendent Folland of Scotland Yard's Special Branch from the first film, though in High Treason he is subordinate to the head of Special Branch, Commander Robert "Robbie" Brennan, played by Liam Redmond.[5]
Enemy saboteurs infiltrate the industrial suburbs of London, intending to disable three power stations in London and five other stations elsewhere, all strategically located throughout the UK. Their motive is to cripple the British economy and to enable subversive forces to insinuate themselves into government. The saboteurs are thwarted, not by counterintelligence agents, but by workaday London police officers, and finally by a repentant betrayer from their own ranks.
An unnamed New York Times reviewer commented, "it is worthy to note that High Treason travels at a more leisurely pace than Seven Days, but Roy Boulting, who also directed, achieves an equally intelligent handling of the many pieces needed to fit his intricate jigsaw of a plot," and remarked that, "deft direction, crisp dialogue and a generally excellent cast gives High Treason a high polish," concluding that the film is "a taut tale and a pleasure".[6]
In 2013, a contributor to Cageyfilms.com wrote, "although the politics of High Treason are as dated as those of Leo McCarey's My Son John (1952), the location shooting in London and the character details around the periphery of the narrative provide a fascinating documentary portrait of the metropolis just a few years after the war and, as in Sam Fuller's Pickup on South Street, the ostensible political element can be seen as little more than a MacGuffin on which to hang the narrative. And speaking of MacGuffins, the film has several very well-developed Hitchcockian elements, particularly the pretentious modern music society which serves as a front for the communist plotters and the labyrinthine building which doubles as a tutorial college and secret commie headquarters".[7]