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Hide and Seek (1964 film)
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Wikipedia article
'Hide and Seek' is a 1964 British thriller film directed by Cy Endfield.
Plot
David Garrett is a professor of astrophysics at Cambridge, working on tracking Russian rocket launches. He meets up with an old mentor and friend, Frank Melnicker, who is playing multiple games of chess at a display of simultaneous play at a hall. Garrett is confused by the apparently secretive way that one player, Richter, transfers the knight chess piece to Melnicker. When Melnicker notices two individuals enter the hall he is distracted and excuses himself for the lunch break. Garrett offers to drive Melnicker to his hotel. There are two people waiting for Melnicker outside his hotel. When Garrett intimates that since they are in England that Melnicker could find safety, Melnicker cryptically tells Garrett that he should recall his seventh chess move.
Garrett's driver informs him that Major McPherson wishes to meet with him. At the meeting, the Major tells Garrett that he must stop socializing with Melnicker since he is a known communist.
Garrett arrives at the Ministry of Defense for a meeting, and while in the bathroom a box of chess pieces is dropped off to him that his driver believes he mistakenly left in the car. In fact, it was left by Melnicker. It contains the knight chess piece and a money belt containing a considerable amount of money. Garrett takes the chess piece and money belt with him and leaves the building to return to the hall where the chess demonstration was happening.
When he arrives at the hall he finds the room being torn down with the demonstration cancelled, due to Melnicker not returning after lunch. Garrett remembers the moves Melnicker had made and comes up with "kings square four". When he goes outside and says this to a cabby, the cabby suggests "Kings Square" in Chelsea, which they drive to.
At the address, Garrett rings the doorbell to the flat and finds Maggie calling to him from the second floor. She apparently is expecting him and throws down keys so he can let himself in. Others arrive, culminating in an entire wedding reception happening. Garrett is starting to doubt he is in the correct place, when he sees Maggie talking to Richter and finds a room upstairs with a chessboard that is missing the knight piece he has. Garrett has an opportunity to talk with Maggie and finds out she does know of Melnicker. Maggie then says she has to leave and Garrett leaves alone after copying down Maggie's phone number.
Outside Garrett realizes two men are following him. A running chase happens, with Garrett avoiding the two men by hiding in a children's sandbox. Afterwards, Garrett calls Maggie and says he must meet up with her so he can return the money to Melnicker. Maggie tells Garrett to meet her at the train station, where she convinces him to board the train with her.
On the train, Garrett continues to ask Maggie where Melnicker is and where they are travelling to. Maggie seems to be avoiding committing to anything and Garrett resigns himself to continuing on the train for the time being. Sometime later Maggie goes out into the corridor to smoke a cigarette and notices two men she identifies as "secret police" that they must avoid. They are chased around in the train until Maggie pulls the emergency stop cord and she and Garrett jump off the train.
In the forest, Garrett gets caught in an animal snare, so Maggie goes to find a stick to help pry it open. Garrett frees himself and while wandering around he falls into a canal. Maggie goes in to rescue Garrett since he says he can not swim. They then find a boatman named Wilkins who welcomes them onto his houseboat to get dried up. He shows them around his boat which he explains is part of his plan to leave civilization behind. They end up drinking quite a bit and spend the night on the boat. Maggie and Garrett are developing feelings for each other.
In the morning Maggie seems quite cold towards Garrett. Wilkins directs them to a nearby road so they can continue on their journey. For some reason Maggie reads the road sign incorrectly and has them walking in the opposite direction to where they are going. A car goes by, stops, and points out they are going the wrong way. Once they approach the car it is revealed the driver is Richter. Richter forces them into the car and gunpoint and they drive towards an isolated cliff.
It appears that Richter plans to kill them and get rid of the bodies in the water. Garrett and Richter fight, and Richter loses and goes over the side of the cliff to his apparent death. When Garrett gets to where he left Maggie, she and the car are gone.
Garrett starts to walk down the road and comes across a policeman on a bicycle who goes back to the cliff with him. The police officer seems to imply that they could just avoid reporting all this to acid the hassle, but Garrett wants to follow all official steps. They walk to a nearby hotel to use the phone. While the policeman is on one phone, Garrett uses another phone to call a colleague who works with him on the program to monitor Russian rockets. He briefly explains he will return soon before hanging up. At this time he notices Maggie coming down the steps.
Garrett is confused as to why Maggie is in the hotel. She walks off, telling him that she had tried to tell him to just leave. At this point Hubert Marek comes down the stairs and introduces himself to Garrett. They walk together to a lounge where all the major people from the past days are waiting for them. Marek moves around the room, paying off each individual with large amounts of cash.It is revealed that this is all an elaborate trap to trick Garrett to "voluntarily" come to this hotel. Marek has "sold" Garrett to the Russians for his knowledge and has arranged for a submarine to come before dawn to take him away.
The next few hours involve Garrett being treated as a guest, while he waits for the submarine to arrive. The plan is for the submarine to pick him up before dawn. Garrett makes several halfhearted attempts at escape, until finally Maggie reveals that she has taken a set of keys to try to help them escape. She has truly fallen in love with Garrett and is willing to betray Marek. They head down to the shore, where Garrett finds that he can not identify the correct key to unlock a small motorboat. He finds two life vests in the boat, and it appears to Marek (watching from the hotel with binoculars) that Garrett and Maggie are attempting to swim to a nearby island with a castle.
Several of Marek's goons take the boat and travel to the island. They find the vests have been attached to pants, and that Garrett and Maggie faked the attempt for the island. Marek finds that Garrett and Maggie are still at the hotel (Garrett without pants) and calls for his goons to return. Unknown to them, Garrett has rigged the alarm on his wristwatch to cause the boat to explode, killing the three goons. The submarine sees the explosion and takes off. Marek gives up and leaves the hotel, with Garrett and Maggie toasting their new life together.
Cast
* Ian Carmichael as David Garrett
* Curd Jrgens as Hubert Marek
* Janet Munro as Maggie
* George Pravda as Frank Melnicker
* Kieron Moore as Paul
* Hugh Griffith as Wilkins
* Derek Tansley as Chambers
* Esma Cannon as Tea Lady
* Cardew Robinson as Constable
* Kynaston Reeves as Hunter
* Edward Chapman as McPherson
* Frederick Peisley as Cottrell
* John Boxer as Secretary at Ministry
* Frank Williams as Committee Man
* Judy Parfitt as Chauffeur
Critical reception
'The New York Times' called the film, "a pleasantly diverting, terribly British, sometimes contrived melodrama, that is true to its title but hardly the best of this genre to come along."
References
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