Classic Horrors Club

Peter Cushing once claimed to have played only four villains during his lengthy film and television career. One of these was Captain Judd in Cone of Silence (1960) aka Trouble in the Sky. Sandwiched between two Hammer horrors, The Mummy and The Brides of Dracula, and following The Flesh & the Fiends, Cone of Silence was a dramatic thriller, light on the thrills.

Based on the novel by David Beaty, which was in turn based on the author’s experience with the Havilland Comet disasters of 1952-54, Cone of Silence depicts the trials of Captain Fort (Bernard Lee) being accused of “pilot error” in two incidents in which the airplanes themselves were responsible. 

These days, such a story would include a rich and powerful aircraft manufacturer criminally denying any failure of their planes. However, here, Atlas Aviation Co. is as concerned as anyone else, except prosecutor Sir Arnold Hobbes (George Sanders), about discovering the truth. In simpler times, the “bad guys” were other pilots like Judd who harbored jealousies about flying the most desirable routes.

To prove himself better than Gort, Judd campaigns against him continuing to fly for British Empire Airways and attempts to sabotage him when the training captain, Dallas (Michael Craig) passes him on inspection. Judd seizes upon mere mention that Dallas knows Gort’s daughter, Charlotte (Elizabeth Seal) and suggests a conflict of interest, questioning Dallas’s reputation as well as Gort’s.

As with any villain, though, Judd turns out to be overcompensating for his own inadequacies, carrying a piece of shrubbery with him wherever he goes as evidence of Gort’s failure, when it ultimately might incriminate himself. Whether or not Judd is aware he’s made mistakes himself is left to interpretation. You want to give Cushing the benefit of the doubt and assume he’s just obliviously arrogant.

Code of Silence is a British thriller from 1960, so it has a style common with other films of the kind. It’s made with British sensibilities that sometimes feel at odds with the American. This is its strength, though, sacrificing showy melodrama for authenticity. It’s competent and compelling, if not exactly action-packed.

Nevertheless, there is one harrowing scene as Gort flies a plane into a hailstorm and the large stones crack the windshield. As the co-pilot panics, Gort proves his competency and the flight does not become one of the disasters that puts him on trial. During this sequence, director Charles Frend suggests he may have learned a trick or two from working as an editor with Alfred Hitchcock.

There are some point-of-view shots from inside the plane as it takes off and lands. However, most of the long shots utilize miniatures. They’re really good miniatures, though. Instead of distracting, they evoke the best of Toho and make the airport locations of Calcutta and Singapore seem even more exotic. 

One final thing that Cone of Silence offers is another pairing of Cushing with Andre Morell, who plays Captain Manninghan, the head of British Empire airways. They made the memorable Cash on Demand a year later. While that one is the better film, a master class in suspense, Cone of Silence tantalizes us with the chemistry of the two actors.