The Missing Scientists (1955) watch online HD

THE MISSING SCIENTISTS is an odd little Cold War thriller that feels more like a Pathe newsreel more than anything else. Certainly the director of this piece is obsessed with including needless framing footage of shop fronts and street scenes, at one bizarre point shooting random footage in a car park as the camera pans around the buildings before shaking and cutting away.

The plot itself is a slight fluff piece of Cold War propaganda that sees a couple of top scientists defecting from the West to the East. They stop off in West Germany, - where this film was made, although it masquerades as as British or American production - which is where the local US commissioner tries to have them brought in before they can get across.

This is an odd, cheap, and stilted production, and thankfully it only runs for a very short time (45 minutes!) so it doesn't become too testing for the viewer. The performances are poor and the storyline makes little sense. The most notable thing about this film is that it features performances from a couple of actresses who would go on to become big names: Jackie Collins (sister of Joan and a popular author) has a cameo as the wife of one of the scientists, and Greek actress Irene Papas is the girlfriend of the other.