The Intruder

The colonel Jack Hawkins coming home surprises a burglar, who happens to be one of his former soldiers. He can't understand how such a good soldier could happen to a criminal course and can't just let the case slip away. He engages himself in the mystery of the fallen soldier, finds other soldiers of the same company, and gradually gets a thread or two with which to unravel the mystery. The mystery proves a tragedy, and the final sequences out in the country are heart-breaking in their revelations of sheer bad luck derailing into overwhelming misfortunes. There are many flashbacks, you get back into the war and some of its worst ordeals, you only catch faint traces of the soldier in question at first, but gradually your eyes are opened to his case. It's not a great film, but it's a great story, and it is well filmed, and definitely one of Jack Hawkins' best.

Retired Colonel Jack Hawkins is burgled by one of his old army troop so he investigates why this has happened by visiting his old troop members. Cue, lots of wartime flashbacks.

Competent but unremarkable fifties drama with the usual stiff upper lip performances, albeit Hawkins always has presence and Medwin is good as the one Hawkins is investigating.

Guy Hamilton's "The Intruder" is neither fish nor fowl. Jack Hawkins is the ex-colonel who comes home to find one of his former soldiers breaking into his home and sets out to discover what it was that drove him to it. It's told largely in flashback as Hawkins tracks down the survivors of his batallion so the film is part war movie, part psychological drama and part comedy. The story is interesting enough and it's generally well played by a fine cast of British character actors. Hawkins is excellent as always and Michael Medwin is surprisingly good as the intruder and there's nice work from the likes of Dennis Price, George Cole and Dora Bryan. Unfortunately the film takes a bit too long in getting to the point and remains something of a curiosity at best.

Jack Hawkins, Michael Medwin, George Cole, and Dennis Price star in "The Intruder," a British film from 1953.

Hawkins is Colonel Merton, who comes home one night and discovers one of his ex-NCOs Ginger (Medwin) burglarizing his house. He wants to help him, but Ginger runs off, believing Merton called the police.

Merton sets out to find him by calling on some of the old regiment. We don't really get Ginger's whole story until near the end, but Merton learns a few things about those who served under him.

Throughout the film goes from flashback to present day, as Ginger is shown as heroic. There was one striking flashback scene. Which shows Leonard Pirry (Price) a tank commander, abandoning his tank when it looks like it's about to be destroyed by the enemy.

It falls to Ginger and another man to see if the radio works, and when the tank is fired upon, Ginger drags his partner to safety. Pirry has always pretended he was injured, though Merton knows the truth.

There is another scene, a comedy one with Arthur Howard, that doesn't add much to the film. It seems to be there for some humor.

Another powerful scene concerns Ginger's return from the war.

I have a letter written by Tyrone Power while he was in London. It says that he is going to "chez Hawkins" for dinner. I think of that every time I see Jack Hawkins.

Was very intrigued by the idea for the story for 'The Intruder'. The cast, including Jack Hawkins, George Cole and Dennis Price, were appetising, some good talent here. Plus it was directed by Guy Hamilton in his second film as director (his first being 'The Ringer'), Hamilton was an uneven director to me but he also did do some great work such as 'Evil Under the Sun', 'The Colditz Story', 'An Inspector Calls' and 'Goldfinger'.

Personally didn't find 'The Intruder' a great film as such, but still found it mostly well done and with a good deal to admire. Wouldn't go as far to call it a must see and it is not really among the best work of everybody involved, having said that 'The Intruder' strikes me as a film deserving of more credit and not as one barely known/shown today (or at least over-shadowed by those wider advertised or with even bigger names involved).

'The Intruder' maybe took a little too long to get going as a result of being bogged down by a few of the flashbacks where momentum was not always there (the Arthur Howard subplot agreed doesn't add a lot) and Hamilton's directorial inexperience showed a bit. Occasionally, it makes its points a touch too heavily, though not to the extent of feeling talked down to.

It did feel anti-climactic at the end and didn't leave as startling an impact as it could have done.

For all those drawbacks though, 'The Intruder' came over mostly as a film that was done with intelligence and taste. The titular character is written with plenty of meat and compelling realism, even if the other characters are not quite as rich, while the atmosphere does wrench the gut and resonate emotionally and the dialogue is thought-provoking.

Most of the story is compelling, and handled intelligently and sensitively, allowing for some powerful moments. It is always easy to follow and didn't come over as disjointed or episodic. The production values are more than competent and quite beautifully done. The cast do a great job, Hawkins playing his character with hugely effective force and compassion and Michael Medwin giving a wholly convincing portrait of a flawed person worth rooting for. Cole and Price are scene stealers, as is bubbly Dora Bryan.

On the whole, a decent film if not a great one. 7/10 Bethany Cox