The Interrupted Journey

It struck me that this was a case of life imitating art. Just as Valerie Hobson tries to support her husband in the movie, she would later support her real husband John Profumo when he was involved in a scandal. The story goes up and down emotionally; I thought we'd reached a happy ending but there was a lot more story left. It's noir, lots of shadows, and a good story, though like most reviewers I was disappointed in the end. I enjoyed Tom Walls, whom I had only seen in comedies before.

This is a good film for anybody who likes Hitchcock, Film Noir, Detective or Romance movies. It manages to hit all these bases nicely. There is excellent cinematography, a reasonably involving script and some very surprising, yet natural, twists in the plot. While the tension does not match Hitchcock at his best, it does stand up well against a lot of lesser Hitchcock efforts. For example, it is better than "the Wrong Man," "the Paradine Case," or "Under Capricorn." and as good as "Secret Agent." The actors were all fine, with Christine Norden giving her usual better than they deserve performance. She was perhaps the sexiest women working in British cinema at the time.

Here's the basic plot setup. A married man and married woman leave their spouses and run away on a train together. Racked with quilt, the man decides to return to his home. It appears that the emergency chord on the train gets pulled and a train wreck ensues killing 10 people. The man soon becomes the chief suspect as the person who caused the accident, yet there is much more going on here than first appears.

Some people might find the style of the ending a bit of a disappointment, but I think it was actually pretty fresh in 1949, and not at all the cliché it later became when overused in later movies and television shows. It is more logical and more satisfying than most endings of this style.

Richard Todd has quarreled with wife Valerie Hobson and is running away with Christine Norden. He changes his mind, pulls the cord to stop the train and runs home. He tells some lies about where he's been, and there's a full reconciliation...until the train he was on gets into a terrible accident, killing most of the passengers, blamed on someone pulling the cord. Tom Walls -- in his last screen role -- shows up. He's been following Miss Norden on behalf of her husband. After a while, it's cleared up, and things are about to go back to normal...until it turns out that Miss Norden was killed with a missing guns before the crash. Todd is the prime suspect.

I can understand why a viewer might think the movie shifted gears too frequently, and agree that the ending is lame. Up to that insipid finale, I was having a great time, thanks to the increasing arc of insanity, and a fine, final performance by Walls. That ending, however, brought me up short.

Richard Todd (wearing a vat of Brylcreem on his hair) agonises over whether he should run away with his peroxided mistress (Christine Nordern) or return to to his stolid missus (Valerie Hobson). He jumps out of a train, and thinks he's caused multiple deaths. Lots of angst ensues, especially when it looks like the loyal missus won't believe in his innocence. As a melodrama it's not too bad, despite the cheat in the plot, and Todd's hammy performance. For once, horsey Ms Hobson's frigidity is welcome. As the loyal old stick, she refrains from chewing the scenery. Her hair, however looks as ugly as her clothes. Ms Nordern also acquits herself well. She's hefty, predatory and suitably tarty (she also sports an appalling hairdo)..but she seems genuine...there's a scene in which she kisses Todd with what looks like genuine sexual hunger - something you don't often see in twee British thrillers like this. The best thing in the film is probably the arty camera-work.. there are some really interesting angles. There's a sequence in an old hotel where the camera and direction becomes almost Bergmanesque. Todd and Vida Hope (the hotelier) all moodily lit, suddenly launch into some very slow dialogue as though there's some deep meaning to their standard mystery story exchange. Early on Dora Bryan (always a joy) appears briefly as a waitress, who serves Todd and Nordern with some rock cakes - which are integral to the plot. Non-British viewers may be baffled by these delicacies; but I urge them to inquire no further.

Notable for being penned by Jon Pertwee's brother, The Interrupted Journey is a particularly enjoyable film, it seems to go through different stages, melodrama to cat and mouse thriller, to murder mystery. It is very well crafted and particularly well paced.

I had difficulty trying to understand how the pulled cord could cause the accident, fortunately this is all explained.

Hobson and Todd are both excellent, although Carol's devoted wife act seems a total stretch by today's standards.

For 1949 it holds up incredibly well, a very god story, well acted, and features a really terrific twist.

It's truly worth a look. 7/10