The Birthday Present

Tony Britton stars as a toy salesman who while on business abroad in Germany foolishly hides a gift (a watch for his wife played by sylvia syms) in a toy to avoid paying the duty. His workmate Jack Watling gives him a name of a barrister who in turn introduces him to a jobbing solicitor (played by Howard Marion-Crawford). The confident bluster of Marion-Crawford is a total contrast to his ineptitude which results in Tony Britton being imprisoned for 3 months. As a result of this he loses his job and the second half of the film deals with his efforts to rebuild his working life. Great cast includes the gorgeous Sylvia Syms, the excellent Geoffrey Keen as well as the superb Marion Crawford. This thoughtful drama is more wordy than action but remains a well made piece of British cinema.

Tony Britton is the top salesman of his toy manufacturer. On a selling trip to Germany, he finds some German goods and arranges for a contract for his company to manufacture them, if his boss agrees. He's also bought a nice diamond watch for wife Sylvia Sym's birthday. He tries to smuggle it past customs, but fails. When he goes before a magistrate, he's not assessed costs and penalties. He's thrown into prison for two months. When the directors of his company find out, they insist on his firing, despite his boss's protests.

It's a movie meant to preach forgiveness and that once a man has served his time, he should be forgiven. Usually these stories are about lower-class people, whom the middle-class audience will mistrust anyway, but here Britton is punished to the full extent of the law, and beyond, and so middle-class audiences are supposed to sympathize with him. I found it a bit pat and preachy. With Jack Watling.

Completely devoid of action or incidents of extreme drama, this 1957 film lets its story unfold in a rather matter-of-fact fashion and yet manages to remain absorbing throughout. Essentially a study of morality, it follows a young enterprising travelling sales representative played by Tony Britton who returns from a business trip abroad, bringing back with him an expensive watch he is going to give his wife (played by Sylvia Syms) as a birthday present. Having already managed to purchase the watch at a bargain price, he tries to save himself even more money by sneaking it unseen through customs to avoid paying import duty on it upon his return to the UK.

However, his attempt to cheat is discovered by the customs officials. His initial laissez-faire attitude is an indicator that he regards neither the action he has committed or its consequences as anything really serious, but it has in fact triggered a chain of events that sees his entire life falling down around him. Britton and Syms deliver excellent performances as the situation grows more desperate at each turn, as the main character's career, home, social standing and maybe also his very marriage are threatened by an unexpected spell in prison, a humbling experience for a man who sees himself as being above the status of the warders, let alone the other inmates.

Is it fair for a good man to lose everything he has because of one momentary lapse of judgement which didn't harm anyone? That is the predominant question asked by this film, which will challenge the viewer to think through the possible consequences of any decision more fully in future.

Although the title and the presence of Tony Britton in the lead suggests a light fifties comedy, 'The Birthday Present' proves a more ruthless version of Hitchcock's 'The Wrong Man' (more ruthless because the protagonist is actually guilty rather than innocent of the crime that got him sent to prison in the first place).

History has taught us that one is judged more by the outcome of one's action than the action itself. (Would they be proposing erecting statues to Emily Davidson in Trafalgar Square had it been the horse rather than Davidson that had been killed?) Similarly, just as conservatives enjoy declaring that a conservative is a liberal who's been mugged, so the counter-argument could be that a liberal is a conservative who's been arrested.

Unlike Hitchcock's film we also see the way "Mr.Scott" is transformed into "Scott! 1692!!" and curtly instructed to "say 'Sir' when you speak to a prison officer!!" And the fact that only rich crooks can afford to go to court (in 1957, we learn, his appeal would have cost a prohibitively expensive 300 guineas).

Another "find" on Talking Pictures TV channel, and one I greatly enjoyed. Early sightings of a few actors: Ian Bannen, an unlined Thorley Waters, Harry Fowler, a slim Geoffrey Keen, John Welsh with some hair and of course a young Sylvia Syms - 23 years old but in her ninth role.

Bannen's customs officer enthused a bit too much about the toys that Simon had brought back (no long queues in those days!), though it did build up the tension. Likewise the scene at the elderly solicitor's home, with the apparently unnecessary inclusion of the son on leave from National Service. (We only ever got to see the top of his head.) As another reviewer has noted, the court proceedings did seem a bit unusual, and surely in his subsequent job search he would have been required to produce references from his last employer? The depiction of Simon's time in prison had a documentary feel to it - this is not a criticism.

Acting honours must go to Geoffrey Keen as the compassionate managing director.

A very worthwhile film.