Peter Cushing was mainly known for playing heroes, whether it be his Van Helsing character in the various Dracula films or his take on Sherlock Holmes; but in Charles Frend’s 1960 drama Cone of Silence (also known by its better name Trouble in the Sky), we get to see Cushing in a turn as antagonist. While Cone of Silence actually has a pretty quiet Cushing role, his appearance as a somewhat vindictive pilot sets in motion the legal forces against the film’s central character Captain Gort (Bernard Lee) and forces both the cast and the audience to contemplate whether Gort’s heroic flying skills actually caused a large-scale plane crash during takeoff.
The film is loosely based on real-life plane issues with the de Havilland Comet from the 1950s, a jet liner that suffered some catastrophic mishaps that ultimately resulted in a redesign of the aircraft. Here, Frend turns those true tragedies – and David Beaty’s novel of the same name – into a film that is part courtroom drama and part aviation adventure. Following Gort after a near-miss on takeoff, Cone of Silence‘s characters look to indemnify Gort, citing plane difficulties instead of pilot error, but Cushing’s character Captain Judd believes differently and flies with Gort to attempt to see his pilot miscalculations firsthand.
Cone of Silence is an interesting film primarily because of its adherence to aviation terminology and Frend’s focus on piloting as a science. This simultaneously leads to some exciting flights and some dull conversations; in the scope of the film, it’s important for the audience to have a good understanding of the rigors of flying, but it also makes for a rather slow-moving film as characters debate Gort’s fitness for piloting.
And unfortunately for the film, it takes Cushing a bit too long to be introduced. He’s not an overtly offensive character in this villain role; more appropriately, he seems to be unconvinced of Gort’s abilities and rightfully argues whether he should be flying full planes. With that said, the film’s default stance is to dislike him, and it’s to Cushing’s merit that the drama flourishes when he’s around. He even gets a chance to shine in a white-knuckle plane descent that just narrowly makes the runway, an area that Cone of Silence does very well.
However, besides a great performance from Cushing and a couple of well-paced frenetic flying sequences, Cone of Silence doesn’t do too much else to excite the viewer, and eventually it lands on a soft note that exonerates Captain Gort fully. Truthfully, I was looking for the film to come to a more open-ended conclusion, but here Frend clearly wants to stick to the real-life history and show the dangers of trusting the science rather than consistently testing and learning from it. Cone of Silence is a minor film in Cushing’s career, and as a film it’s a middling experience, but it does have a few interesting tidbits to keep viewers watching through the slower moments.
Blu-ray
Cone of Silence has been released in the Cushing Curiosities boxset from Severin Films.
Severin Films’ Blu-ray of Cone of Silence features a new 2K scan from a dupe negative by the BFI, and immediately some might expect the transfer to look somewhat poor coming from that source. Surprisingly, the video quality is quite good here. It features a healthy filmic grain scale and strong detail throughout, with Frend’s widescreen lens showcasing background items and depth of field. The source does contain one scene in particular featuring some damage and lines (early in the movie, with Captain Dallas and Charlotte Gort meeting for coffee) but it doesn’t last long nor run consistently throughout the movie. Besides a few drops in quality with footage inserts, Cone of Silence looks great here, even if it does look slightly dark in its black-and-white cinematography.
Audio is presented with a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track and it sounds strong, with no noticeable audio dips or errors. English subtitles are also included, though not featured on the menu.
For extras, Cone of Silence has the blessing of featuring both its own extras as well as the supplemental “Cushing curios” with various archival interviews. The disc itself features an introductory menu allowing the user to choose either the film or the curios; the film itself does feature one new interview with actor Michael Craig, which runs about 8 minutes long and discusses working on the film. There’s also the option to play an audio interview with Cushing by The Guardian along with the film.
On the curios side, there are a few different interviews featuring Cushing, including a lengthy hour-long audio piece conducted with Tony Dalton and another with Cushing on The Funster Show. A 1973 interview with Cushing discusses the town of Whitstable and his wife. There’s also an adorable newsreel featuring Cushing playing with his various miniatures collection. All told, there’s a number of hours of supplemental features with Cushing at the forefront here which is meant to be bonus content for the entire collection rather than supporting Cone of Silence.
Extra Features
- NEW 2k scan from the dupe negative by the BFI
- NEW “High Drama” – interview with actor Michael Craig (1080p; 8:56)
- Newsreel Of Peter Cushing And His Miniature Soldiers (1080p; 2:19)
- Peter Cushing On The Funster Show With Paul Carrington (1080p; 13:10)
- The Guardian Audio Interview With Peter Cushing
- Peter Cushing Interviewed By Tony Dalton, Author Of Terence Fisher: Master Of Gothic Cinema (1080p; 1:03:46)
- Cushing’s View – 1973 Interview With Peter Cushing On Whitstable And His Late Wife Helen (1080p; 12:55)
Verdict
Cone of Silence is a minor Cushing event, but it’s a fairly enjoyable experience thanks to its aviation subject matter and his great performance. The video quality is excellent here despite the dupe negative source, and this disc actually features the bulk of the Cushing Curiosities boxset extras.
