Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Cone of Silence Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 28, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Severin Films' Cushing Curiosities set.

Severin has celebrated arguably lesser known efforts featuring one of the more legendary horror actors often associated with Hammer Studios with both The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Collection and The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Collection 2. Now they're doing similar service for that other legendary horror actor often associated with Hammer Studios, and one who of course famously co-starred with Lee in any number of films. As the title of this collection may suggest, the offerings in Cushing Curiosities are a bit peculiar at times, but that perhaps only gives them added allure for a certain demographic. Severin has assembled an impressive array of supplements, including some excellent commentaries by Jonathan Rigby, who also contributes an incredibly thorough overview of Cushing's career in a perfect bound booklet included with this set. Adding to the allure here are some generally solid technical merits (with perhaps one notable exception).

Shall we just go ahead and dispense with the Get Smart jokes without further ado? The title of this film does not refer to a huge plexiglass dome that descends from the ceiling and supposedly grants security for top secret conversations, but is instead an actual scientific term referring to a "dead area" in radio transmissions utilized by air traffic controllers to communicate with airliners. It's actually kind of a tangential sidebar to the main story here, which involves a type of airplane which may or may not have a design flaw, which leads to several crashes. Whether or not there is a design flaw is supposedly left ambiguous, with a pilot named George Gort (Bernard Lee) accused of having caused the death of his co-pilot due to mishandling takeoff procedures.

There are some curious similarities here to 1964's Fate Is the Hunter, which might make for an interesting "double feature" with this film for those interested. Fate Is the Hunter was another film that took an almost "forensic" approach toward dissecting an airplane disaster. In my review of that film I mentioned how it was at least intermittently intellectually if not emotionally engaging, and in that regard, I'd say despite the typical "stiff upper lip" British ambience suffusing this story, it probably delivers more emotion. It provides a nice showcase for Bernard Lee, and in the "meta" trivia department, many will know that Lee was grandfather to Jonny Lee Miller, star of Elementary, which speaking of "double features", might pair interestingly with Cushing's take on Sherlock Holmes, also included in Severin's set.

Cone of Silence Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Cone of Silence is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. The back cover of this release states this was culled from "a new 2K scan from the dupe negative by the BFI". This has a somewhat darker appearance than some of the other black and white films in this set, but that said, I frankly didn't notice any real problems with regard to crush or a lack of tonal variety in grayscale. Detail levels are generally excellent throughout the presentation, though I suspect some brief stock footage may have been used for some of the flying material. I noticed no major signs of age related wear and tear, and grain resolves organically throughout the presentation, which may allay fears for those who react, well, negatively to "dupe negative".

Cone of Silence Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Cone of Silence features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono audio. This track has a bit more layering due to the flying scenes than some of the other films in this set, and those as well as Gerard Schurmann's score sound decently full bodied if occasionally just slightly boxy. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Cone of Silence Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This disc's Main Menu is actually split between Cone of Silence and Cushing Curios.

Cone of Silence

• High Drama (HD; 8:56) is an interview with actor Michael Craig.

Cushing Curios

• Newsreel of Peter Cushing and His Miniature Soldiers (HD; 2:19)


• Illustrated Audio Interviews

  Peter Cushing on The Funster Show with Paul Carrington (HD; 13:10)

  
  

  The Guardian Interview with Peter Cushing (played in conjunction with Cone of Silence) (HD; 1:31:49)

  
  

  Peter Cushing Interviewed by Tony Dalton, Author of Terence Fisher: Master of Gothic Cinema (HD; 1:03:46)

  
  

  Cushing's View - 1973 Interview with Peter Cushing on Whitstable and his late wife Helen (HD; 12:55)

Cone of Silence Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's perhaps indicative of just how "curious" some of the offerings in this set are that many of them were released under any number of alternate titles, with this film showing up on the IMDb as Trouble in the Sky. That's a perhaps ironic title given the fact that it's a plane not staying in the sky that's the actual "trouble", but one way or the other, this is an interesting if perhaps dry investigation into aviation malfeasance, which perhaps unsurprisingly for those who "white knuckle" it on flights, turns out to be a rather visceral subject. Lee is outstanding in this film, and anyone who knows him only as "Q" from the James Bond outings may well want to check this out. Technical merits are generally solid, and this disc has both a fun interview with Michael Craig as well as a slew of additional supplements tied to Cushing. Recommended.