declancooley

A metaphysical tale set in war time where a near-death experience leads to an English airman doubting his sanity, hallucinating and falling in love - or is it all real after all! I enjoyed the first half of this well-lensed movie (many shots are like fine oil paintings of yore) where it establishes its parameters - and creates a love story across extra-dimensional and extra-temporal space. Later on, it is rather weighed down by ponderous speeches and overwrought lines - but if you can withstand these stretches - the overall effect is a positive one. I can see many movies that have borrowed ideas from here up to the present day and it is certainly dripping with originality. David Niven is the perfect RAF 'good chap' and we can sense the spirit of the Blitz in London and the 'fight them on the beaches' heroism that must have prevailed at that time when different ideologies fought to the point of nuclear war. This ambitious film wishes to enshrine the values of human love and peace on Earth - and for that I commend it!

Dr. Clive Riordan, a doctor whose wife (Sally Gray) tends to flirt a lot has had enough. When caught with yet another man, he decides he has had enough and takes matters into his own hands. From there on out he hatches a dastardly scheme to be rid of the latest interloper in a manner which becomes overly convoluted and vulnerable to detection. Though the story strains incredulity in places (and includes a needless coincidence) the parts are played meticulously in a haughty tone with a tightly written script that uses language very adeptly. Robert Newton performs like a dormant volcano, holding its emotional lava within, as he carries out his overwrought plan to revenge his wife. Faintly ludicrous at times but still very watchable.

Danny Haley (Heston) is a loner with a dark past who now pals around in gambling dens followed around like a doting spaniel by Fran Garland, (Lizabeth Scott), a forlorn songstress. When a crooked card game leads to fatal consequences, suddenly Heston and his gambler friends are doomed to a similar fate. The story takes some twists and turns, buoyed up by four well-sung lounge songs (dubbed by Trudy Stevens) and has a pall of guilt and doom hanging over the entire film. Danny finally eaten up with remorse, takes steps to make up for his misbegotten past, but will be make it in time before he is hunted down?