Four in the Morning

Made in 1965 by Anthony Simmons at the tail-end of the British 'Kitchen Sink' period, this existential mystery contains some beautifully noir camera-work and features Judi Dench looking cute despite the rather sordid scenario, before she abandoned the cinema for theatre. Her part, of wronged wife and central mystery figure, did not necessarily call for a great deal of heavily emotional acting, but she put that over clearly in just two or three lines, in one scene. Joe Melia also does a fine bit of sub-Shakespearean clowning. This is by no means the only film Simmons directed, and it's about time it was brought up from the vaults along with whatever else can be found in one piece; in fact, it's about time for a Kitchen Sink Revival.

Strong performances and haunting visuals (such as the final shot of the Thames) paint an involving human drama. It's bleak, it's not fun, but it is a taut example of kitchen sink. A haunting early score by John Barry (Bond, Dances With Wolves) and a superb thespian performance by a young Judi Dench stand out.

This was a film that I was interested to see having had the John Barry theme music in my record collection for over 50 years. My guess is that this was a totally improvised script and very stagey. Also three of the characters use their real names! I can't imagine it was seen by very many people on its initial release. The sort of film likely to appeal to the Art House crowd. And, contrary to a couple of the other reviewers, this was not John Barry's first film theme or Judi Dench's first film performance!

"Four in the Morning" was one of the key British kitchen-sink movies of the sixties and yet today it is virtually unknown and very little seen. It was basically a 'small' picture, (I first saw it on the bottom half of a double-bill with Peter Watkins' "The War Game", telling two stories, both involving young women, and set in London, (whereas most kitchen-sink films were set in the 'grim' North), unfolding over the course of one night. There is a third story of sorts, a kind of documentary in which the body of a young woman is taken from the Thames. Could this be one of the woman we've met in the other stories? The writer/director was Anthony Simmons who, despite living to the age of 93, had a very short career in cinema, (he moved onto television), and the women in question were Ann Lynn and a young Judi Dench who won a BAFTA as Most Promising Newcomer. It's a sad little film with no respite from the gloom and you wonder what audience Simmons had in mind, (when I first saw it there were only two of us in the cinema), and at times it's more in keeping with something made for television though personally I think it's more redolent of something Antonioni might have done, (there are moments when Ann Lynn is a dead ringer for Monica Vitti). Either way, it certainly didn't deserve its fate and it cries out to be seen.

One relationship, young and passionate but uncertain; another, well established but distinctly troubled; and somewhere between them, a dead body. The dynamics between characters in each thread are rich and absorbing, with those between the wife and husband (and his friend) being especially fierce, and the themes to emerge are stark and outright painful. It takes a while for that tension and value to start to shine through, and longer still to start to gain a sense as a viewer of what filmmaker Anthony Simmons has woven together. The patient viewer will be greatly rewarded, however, and in the meantime Simmons' shot composition and Larry Pizer's black and white cinematography are increasingly bewitching - and what can one ever say of John Barry except that his music is consistently exceptional? 'Four in the morning' is a long walk of a movie, and more than not a quietly ruminative one despite the heightened emotions or raised voices, but for those prepared to engage with such titles, it's superb and well worth seeking out.

So splendid is the work of Pizer, and Simmons as director, that I'm somewhat aghast their names aren't more readily known to me. Simmons' screenplay is just as sharp, a barbed examination of two very vibrant, vexed pairings. The characters are terribly complicated, the dialogue is ferocious, and the scene writing is altogether explosive whatever the precise tone being struck - with the end result of an overarching story that's softly haunting. And of course this is lent still more power by the cast, each and every one of whom gives a performance of staggering potency. Of course it's worth observing that Dame Judi Dench, that titan of British cinema, appears here in what is only her second film role, and she was just as brilliant an actor at 31 as she has been in her 70s and 80s. She is joined in that excellence by Ann Lynn, Norman Rodway, Brian Phelan, and Joe Melia - names I can't say I'm familiar with, but simply after watching this, I wish I were.

I'm not sure that Simmons' vision is tied together with perfect fidelity or cohesion; the third element is kind of up in the air, waiting for each viewer to grab and use it as they will. Even at that, however, this is otherwise so well made, written, and acted that I can forgive the more loftily abstruse edge. One way or another, however you look at it 'Four in the morning' is a compelling, satisfying drama, one that handily joins the company of many of its contemporaries and forebears. Usually I'm prone to speaking at far greater length about the movies I watch, but I just don't think there's any need in this case. If you have the chance to watch, it's well worth 90 minutes of your time.