Forbidden Territory (1934) User Reviews

Latvia doubles nicely for Russia.

[horn-5 · 14 June 2006]

Britisher Ronald Squire and a son, Anthony Bushell, arrive in a Russian Soviet territory searching for another Squire son, Barry McKay, who has been thrown into prison.

Binnie Barnes, not that far removed from her Texas Ruby days while traveling the world with roper Tex McLeod, is a singer who is in love with the imprisoned son and she provides the searchers with the information as to where the missing son is being held.

They all go there and since McKay just politely walks out of the prison with nary a by-your-leave to anybody, the question is why hasn't he done so before.

The other question is whether their escape vehicle---a flat wagon pulled by three horses---is fast enough and sturdy enough through the snow to beat the Commmisar and his troops to the Rumanian border.

Far Fetched Adventure Yarn

[malcolmgsw · 5/10 · 13 June 2013]

The main point of interest of this film was that it was written by Alma Reville.One can see some of the themes in this film cropping up in a number of later films made by Hitchcock.However the problem with this film is that too often the narrative relies on unlikely coincidence and sheer implausibilities.The scene in the Serbian prison is amongst the most ridiculous followed by the theft of an airplane from a secret soviet airfield and the ambushing of the execution party.There is just one very fanciful scene after another.There is very little suspense engendered by the plot so that the ending is all very predictable Reville would go on to far better screenplays.