SIX MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT (12)
★★★ ★★
POOR casting and pedestrian plotting let down this intriguing period thriller.
The setting is a real-life finishing school in East Sussex’s Bexhill-on-Sea which taught English etiquette to the daughters of leading Nazis in the 1930s.
It gets off to a strong start in the days before Britain declared war on Germany, with spy Mr Wheatley (Nigel Lindsay) realising his cover as an English teacher at the Augusta-Victoria College has been blown.
After frantically grabbing a pile of documents, he rushes off to meet his handler. But, when Colonel Smith (David Schofield) arrives at Bexhill pier, all he finds is an empty deckchair and a hat blowing in the wind. A few days later, the school’s headmistress Miss Rocholl (Dame Judi Dench) hires English teacher Thomas Miller (Eddie Izzard) as a replacement.
His German ancestry just about saw him through the interview but Miller doesn’t quite fit in, refusing to join in a round of Sieg Heiling as the girls and Miss Rocholl tune in to one of Hitler’s radio broadcasts.
As Miller goes on the run, pursued by spooks from both sides, it’s clear the film (co-written by director Andy Goddard and actors Izzard and Celyn Jones) is heavily influenced by 1935 classic The 39 Steps. But the plot is short of a couple of twists and the action scenes are desperately missing a charismatic leading man.
Izzard is far from convincing as the handy everyman and Downton Abbey veteran Goddard is definitely no Hitchcock.
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