Subway in the Sky ** (1959, Van Johnson, Hildegard Knef, Albert Lieven, Cec Linder, Edward Judd, Vivian Matalon, Carl Jaffe) – Classic Movie Review 13,491

‘CHASE of the Century! SUSPENSE of a Lifetime!’ Muriel Box’s 1959 British crime thriller film Subway in the Sky stars Van Johnson, Hildegard Knef, and Albert Lieven.

‘CHASE of the Century! SUSPENSE of a Lifetime!’ ‘HUNTED! by the Berlin underground police – by US intelligence agents – by a killer with allegiance only to murder!’

Director Muriel Box’s 1959 British crime thriller film Subway in the Sky stars Van Johnson, Hildegard Knef (billed as Hildegarde Neff), Albert Lieven, Katherine Kath, Cec Linder, Edward Judd, Vivian Matalon, and Carl Jaffe.

Van Johnson  plays US army doctor Major Baxter Grant, who is on the run from the West Berlin military police (what with accusations of drugs dealing, desertion and murder) and hides out in an apartment with a cabaret songbird, Lilli Hoffman (Hildegarde Knef). The deserter Grant persuades the singer Lilli that the charges are false and recruits her to try to help prove he is innocent.

Unbeknownst to Grant, his wife has sublet the flat to Lilli and now he thinks his wife is responsible for the illegal dealings.

This routine, static thriller, with a not particularly credible or likeable screenplay by Jack Andrews taken from a 1957 play by Ian Main, is perhaps nobody’s finest hour, though it is in the interesting category. But Johnson is a pleasant if lightweight hero and the talented Knef is striking enough to show she certainly deserved better material. Plus there are some notable star character actors to watch: Albert Lieven as Carl, Cec Linder as Carson and Carl Jaffe as German Detective.

Knef sings the song ‘It Isn’t Love’ (by Jeff Davis and Geoffrey Parsons).

The film was shot at Shepperton Studios, Surrey, England, on sets designed by George Provis.

Albert Lieven and Carl Jaffe were both German actors who fled to the UK with the situation for Jews in Germany rapidly deteriorating in 1936-37. Lieven’s wife Tatjana was Jewish.

The cast

The cast are Van Johnson as Major Baxter Grant, Hildegard Knef as Lilli Hoffman, Albert Lieven as Carl, Cec Linder as Carson, Katherine Kath as Anna Grant, Vivian Matalon as Stefan Grant, Carl Jaffe as German Detective, Chuck Keyser as Sergeant Harwell, Gaylord Cavallaro as switchboard operator, Michael Bell as G I, E Kerrigan Prescott as sentry, James Maxwell as officer, Gerda Larsen as air stewardess, Tom Watson as corporal, Edward Judd as Molloy, and Brian Wilde as military policeman.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,491

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