Posted: Wed., Dec. 31, 1958, 11:00pm PT

The Angry Hills

(UK)

By Variety Staff

M-G-M. Director Robert Aldrich; Producer Raymond Stross; Writer A.I. Bezzerides; Camera Stephen Dade Editor Peter Tanner; Music Richard Rodney Bennett

Robert Mitchum Elisabeth Mueller Stanley Baker Gia Scala Theodore Bikel Donald Wolfit

The Angry Hills, set in Greece, is a rather confused yarn but has the merit of good direction by Robert Aldrich and some very competent performances.

Robert Mitchum plays an American war correspondent who is hunted by Gestapo chief Stanley Baker and fifth columnist Theodore Bikel when he arrives in Athens as Greece is about to fall to the Nazis. Baker and Bikel want Mitchum because he has a list of 16 Greek underground leaders which he is conveying to British intelligence in London. He is helped by Gia Scala and also by Elisabeth Mueller, both of whom fall in love with Mitchum.

Both Baker and Mitchum give very sound performances. Mueller brings a radiant charm to the part of the widow. A.I. Bezzerides' screenplay [from Leon Uris' book] falters towards the end when the love complications arise but he tells the story briskly and well.

(B&W) Widescreen. Extract of a review from 1959. Running time: 105 MIN.