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Reviews
Secret People (1952)
An intelligent study of anarchist beliefs
There were such hopes invested in this film, Lindsay Anderson wrote a book about its production, but it has never really recovered from its commercial and seemingly artistic failure. In truth, for a film that aspires to be an intelligent study of anarchists beliefs, it suffers from a timidity that some may find all too typical of the British films of its period, and from punches pulled in a manner that rather typifies the work of that almost brilliant director, Thorold Dickinson. But it is an intelligent study for all that, gripping and persuasive until one too many plot convolutions spoils it. I have never failed to be moved when seeing it, nor to be frustrated that it wasn't just a little bit better. The story revolves around European refugees in London who get caught up in the activities of anarchists. Valentina Cortese gives a haunting performance as the conscience-stricken refugee caught up in an assassination plot, and a young Audrey Hepburn is her ballet-dancing innocent sister whose life she must save.
A Window in London (1940)
Minor, unusual murder mystery with London backgrounds
From a train window, crane-driver Michael Redgrave thinks he sees a woman being strangled. What follows is an unusual and effective story involving a magician, his assistant wife and a subtle interplay of illusion and murder. Refreshingly directed by the overlooked Herbert Mason, and well performed throughout (particularly Redgrave and Sally Gray), this small gem benefits greatly from its varied and credible London backgrounds, including music halls (including magic shows), mundane work places not normally seen in British films of the period, and construction work on Waterloo Bridge, under which the National Film Theatre is situated (which is where I last saw this film).
Dishonour Bright (1936)
Sophisticated romantic comedy
This is one of those minor but skilfully constructed films from the 1930s which will presumably now disappear from public consciousness and are unlikely to be seen again. It's unlikely to turn up on TV or video, and unless someone puts on a George Sanders retrospective or seeks the film out at an archive somewhere (the British Film Institute has a copy), it will be gone. That would be such a pity, because the film is a gem. Seeing Tom Walls as director and star, and Ben Travers as the writer, would lead one to expect something along the witty but dated lines of the Aldwych farces. Far from it. After an extraordinary opening in a court where Walls offers us a paean to his own sex appeal, the film turns into sophisticated adult romantic comedy, a witty merry-go-round of marriage and divorce, with Sanders in his element. But the real star is Betty Stockfeld, of whom I know nothing, except that in this film she gives a delightful performance of intelligence, warmth and depth. A film to savour, if you ever get the chance.
Jeannie (1941)
Charming combination of Strauss and washing machines
This is a charming little romantic comedy, directed by Harold French, that reliable supplier of civilised entertainments. Uniquely, it gives a starring role to someone who has invented a new type of washing machine (Michael Redgrave). It then pairs him romantically with an heiress (Barbara Mullen, famous years later on TV with Doctor Finlay's Casebook) with a love of Strauss and the The Blue Danube. The film rambles all over the place, but that's all part of the charm - it's all about the oddities and pleasing digressions of life. A witty script, delightful characterisations, a most unusual but effective romantic pairing, and all the quaintness of an utterly lost age.
Storm in a Teacup (1937)
An apparent piece of froth hides a satire of Hitler
Why isn't this excellent comedy better known? More to the point, why is it so consistently misinterpreted? Most commentators view it as an amusing piece of froth about the provost of a small Scottish town (Cecil Parker) ordering that a dog be put down because its owner cannot pay for its licence. There's Vivien Leigh as the provost's daughter and Rex Harrison on top form as the journalist who makes the silly story national news. It's all very funny and delightfully played by all concerned. But underlying this story (adapted from a German play by James Bridie) is a subtle satire of dictatorship as was then current in Germany and Italy. Parker's role is very clearly based on Hitler, a times quite unsettlingly so, and it is in the bold but successfully intermingling of whimsy with dictatorial manners that the film gains its particular power. Cute it may seem to be, but Victor Saville was a wise and quite a subversive soul, and you'll find few other films from this period that so ably blend the dark with the light. Take a look at it again and see what I mean!
The Brothers (1947)
Extraordinary tale of lust and murder in the Hebrides
This extraordinary film really deserves to be better known; certainly it ought to be screened somewhere, as it seems to have dropped out of public and critical consciousness. Essentially it's about Patricia Roc driving the men of a Hebridean isle to lust and murder. Hardly natural casting for Roc, who was happiest playing sweetness and light (usually in contrast to Margaret Lockwood in the Gainsborough melodramas), but she gives it her best shot. But it's the tone of the whole piece, the air of malevolence beneath bright skies and spectacular landscapes that stays in the memory. Comedian Will Fyffe has a field day as the harsh father. The aim seems to have been capture the quality of the old Scottish ballads, in their particular blending of beauty and cruelty, and the film makes this overt with its references to the ballad of 'The Great Silke of Skule Skerry'. It also boasts one of the strangest modes of execution you will ever see - but you have to try and seek out the film to find out what. Someone should programme it in a double bill with 'I Know Where I'm Going'.
Soft Lights and Sweet Music (1936)
Delightful minor revue film, with a host of quirky British variety talent
This is a minor gem, perhaps the best of the genre of variety films made in Britain in the 1930s. As was common with such films, the connecting story is slight. The comedy duo the Western Brothers acquire a television set, and view the selection of variety acts on offer. These include dance band favourites Ambrose and his Orchestra, top singers such as Elisabeth Welch (singing a wrenching "Yesterday's Thrill"), Turner Layton and Evelyn Dall, and the comedians Harry Tate and Billy Bennett. But it is the more bizarre acts that make this film one to catch if you possibly can (prints are fantastically rare), including Jimmy Fletcher singing the hyper-maudlin "It's My Mother's Birthday Today" with cockney harmonica band in tow; the indescribably odd The Five Charladies; and best of all the incomparable Wilson, Keppel and Betty, performing an Egyptian dance routine to a terrific score which even manages to bring in a Scottish skirl, and has at its heart a section with a tap-dancing Gandhi which just boggles the mind. Herbert Smith, past master at directing this sort of revue film, holds it all together beautifully, and there is a touch of wistfulness as well as exuberance about the film. Variety was never so various, nor so much fun.