Information
- BFI identifier38381
- Date1969-07-04 (Release)
- Production countryUnited Kingdom, USA
- Production company
- SynopsisThriller. Leading scientist and one-time American agent John Hathaway is recalled for the US and USSR's joint investigation into a Chinese scientific breakthrough that seems to allow crops to grow in even extreme environments. Hathaway reluctantly agrees to have a chip implanted in his head which enables him to speak at any time, via satellite, to the military chiefs monitoring his mission. He is unaware of a rumour that the device can also be blown up should he run into trouble. Hathaway is welcomed to China, where they hope to use his expertise in the field of genes to help splice together different parts of the enzyme so it can be used widely. In a remote enclosure, Hathaway is reunited with his old mentor, who has been working on the enzyme but who is also perilously critical of the ruling regime. Hathaway meets the nation's Chairman and they discuss whether an individual owes his allegiance to the State, as the Chairman thinks, or whether the State exists for the benefit of the individual, as Hathaway thinks. Hathaway tries to secure a copy of the enzyme's structure from inside a heavily protected projection booth and escape over the border to Soviet Russia, but his hosts are ahead of him. As he makes his bid for freedom, he is pursued by the Chinese forces and is also up against a ticking clock as his military chiefs prepare to take extreme measures to secure his silence. (Synopsis)
- Work historyThe release date given above is for the London West End release at the Odeon Leicester Square. A general release on the Rank cinema circuit followed on 13 July 1969.
- Genre
- Subject
- CreditsDirector: J. Lee Thompson
©: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Production Company: Apjac Productions
view all - CastGregory Peck (Dr. John Hathaway)
Anne Heywood (Kay Hanna)
Arthur Hill (Lt. General Shelby)
view full cast
Title
The Most Dangerous Man in the World (Original)
The Chairman (Alternative)
EIDR identifier
10.5240/8F97-23E9-38E0-06A4-8047-JCategory
FictionThis work is included in the BFI Filmography.
- Collections
- Scripts / DocumentsScript - Original story: Based on the novel 'The Chairman' by Jay Richard Kennedy - SCR-12692
Script - Original story: Based on the novel 'The Chairman' by Jay Richard Kennedy - SCR-12693
Ephemera: publicity - PBS-38381
Small pressbook held.
view all - StillsPhotograph: film still - Portrait - SPD-2835225
Photograph: film still - Portrait - SPD-2835226
Photograph: film still - Landscape - SPD-2835235
Photograph: film still - Landscape - SPD-2835236
Photograph: film still - Landscape - SPD-2835227
view all - Articles
- The Most Dangerous Man in the World
Work - 38381 - 1969-07-04 (Release)
United Kingdom - Film - Fiction
No film or video materials are
held by the BFI National Archive
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