Personal Affair

"Personal Affair" is a crisply written, beautifully photographed, thoughtfully directed thriller about a teenage girl (Glynis Johns) who disappears, one night, from a small town and the schoolteacher (Leo Genn) who is suspected of being implicated in her disappearance. People do notice things and people in the town have noticed that there was something between them. They don't know what, he's an outsider, anyway, so they figure he's guilty. The film is a study of how feverish imagination becomes gossip, and gossip becomes the truth, how suspicion breeds fear and undermines love and trust, how crazy you can become from the whispers and half-truths swirling around you and you don't have a rock to hold onto.

The schoolteacher has a beautiful American wife (Gene Tierney) who loves him deeply but becomes detached from that rock when certain suspicions she has regarding her husband and the girl turn out to have weight. He's innocent of any criminal culpability, but he hasn't quite told the truth, which has something to do with love. The film talks a lot about this tricky emotion. At various points in the film each of the main characters - the teacher, his wife, the girl, her parents, her aunt - bring up the subject of love, and their own experiences with it. It is the aunt who has been damaged by love who harbours all kinds of toxic feelings and spreads the most lies and chaos.

The stage play and screenplay, I note, were both written by one Lesley Storm. The film has been nicely opened up, runs a tight 88 minutes and is very cinematic. Do note that beautiful metaphor at the end of the film - turbulent waters and still waters. Really a lovely little film.

I'm a huge Gene Tierney fan, but apparently not enough of one, because I only discovered this film while browsing through Amazon. Wish I'd known about it years ago. The quality is good, the pace is fast, the acting solid, the themes surprisingly brazen for the times (or so it seems to me). There's a touch of melodrama, mystery, even film noire. The Aunt Evelyn character is almost as wicked as dear old Mrs Danvers. If you're debating about watching this film, don't. It's worth the time, especially for a fan of classic black and white films. Thanks to the viewers who took the time to rate this film! otherwise I would never have discovered it.

Anthony Pelissier directed films for just five years, so his output did not amount to much in terms of quantity. That said, all his films reflect a high degree of personal filmic style grounded in solid B&W cinematography. PERSONAL AFFAIR remains an example of that, though sadly the middle segment suffers excessive shots of backwater town settings and close-ups of people commenting on the disappearance of Barbara (Glynis Johns) and her possible amorous liaison with her Latin teacher Stephen Barlow (classily played by Leo Genn).

New York-born Gene Tierney is the American attraction so common in European films of the 1950s and 1960s. She plays Kay, Barlow's beautiful wife (perhaps too beautiful to marry a Latin teacher of dubious income, and even more incredibly, jealous of teenager Barbara). That ain't all, either: she appears in bursts during the film, and struck me as too tongue-impulsive to attract my sympathy. She had hardly spoken a word to Barbara and already accused her of improper feelings for hubby Stephen, then seemed to feel guilty about Barbara's disappearance, inexplicably leaving home to wander around, seemingly in two minds about her hubby's real role in the teenager's disappearance... messy characterization that simply does not work.

The other major flaw that I found very tough to swallow was Barbara's reason for disappearing for a couple of days, after a brief meeting at night with her teacher. The film never enlightens you as to what teacher and student discussed at night, or why an intelligent and polished teacher of Latin classics would risk his career over a young female supposedly carrying a torch for him.

Perhaps PERSONAL AFFAIR is intended as a cautionary tale for teachers engrossed in attractive alumni, but it misses the mark and in process wastes superior talent like Tierney, Genn, Johns, Walter Fitzgerald and Michael Hordern, among others in smaller parts in a dodgy script by - anyone heard of her? - Lesley Storm. 6/10.

This contrived British suspense drama could have been a quality "Gone Girl" sort of thriller, but the screenplay by Lesley Storm misses the boat with cliches and unnecessary hokeyness.

Gene Tierney stars as the beautiful wife of Latin teacher Leo Genn, who becomes jealous when he's tutoring a young student played by an overage Glynis Johns (30-year old established star playing a 17-year-old). Contrived circumstances lead to Genn accused of murdering her after small-town rumors mount when she's disappeared for three days, and everyone, especially her aunt well-played (as pure evil, unfortuntely per the script) by Pamela Brown, assumes he's guilty without a shred of real evidence.

No faulting the actors, who all are convincing, but the final twists are dumb, and the last reel melodrama thoroughly manipulative. The quality of British understatement is at war with almost an exploitation movie level of gimmickry and the result is a mishmash.

Obviously a very young (or for cinema's sake, underage-looking) actress in Glynis' role would have maximized the impact of the story, and the main theme of unrequited love could have been handled better, so an audience with a high tolerance for being jerked around by the filmmakers is necessary to enjoy this hokum.

"Personal Affair" is from Rank Films and stars Leo Genn, Gene Tierney, and Glynis Johns. Johns was nearly 30 when she played Barbara Vining, a student in love with her teacher, Stephen Barlow (Genn). Stephen has Barbara come to his home for tutoring; while she's there, Barlow's wife Kay confronts Barbara about her feelings. Embarrassed and upset, Barbara runs from the house. A distressed Stephen calls her at home and arranges to meet her in an out of the way area. When Barbara doesn't come home, suspicion falls on Stephen.

This is a really neat and suspenseful film, thanks to its good cast, writing, and direction. The audience (this audience anyway) isn't really sure what went on between teacher and student, if anything, so it keeps you guessing as to what happened, and the gossip condemns Barlow.

Pamela Brown is terrific as Barbara's bitter aunt who seems to get a lot of pleasure out of the suffering of others; Walter Fitzgerald and Megs Jenkin are wonderful as Barbara's agonized parents. Johns is very sweet and comes off as very young and innocent. Leo Genn is always good. Tierney has probably the most interesting role as a beautiful, somewhat snobby woman who nevertheless is insecure. She does it very well.

Well worth seeing.