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An Exercise In Nonsense

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

It's a movie about war-time Britain released in 1949 but it's in no way a typical "British war movie". (Some of them were real gems.) This one has David Ferrar as an anti-demolition expert, part of a team that operates in a small room in the back. He doesn't wear a uniform. He has a tin leg. And he's in a state of constant torment.I had no idea where the movie was going. At first, I expected a kind of British "Hurt Locker," with Ferrar going about an dismantling bombs one after another, always cursing and wondering if he should cut the red wire or the green wire. It's not like that at all. Ferrar only disarms one booby-trapped device in a tense scene at the end. It's well done.But then if Ferrar doesn't constantly investigate and defuse bombs, what's the movie about? Well, it's like this. He has a slight problem with the bottle in that when he gets juiced up he's mean and destructive. He also has a problem with the bureaucracy of which he's part -- mostly incompetent, groveling, and designing. Then there's this woman, Kathleen Byron, who loves him and maybe he loves her but he's too sour to admit it. It doesn't even help when he dresses him down for his bitterness and shouts at him to "stop feeling sorry for yourself!" He finally gets his act together after removing the fangs from that beachfront booby trap while hung over and shaky.At the beginning, to demonstrate their relationship, Byron and Ferrar are alone in his apartment, they have an expositional conversation about his tin leg and what he does to ease its discomfort. The scene ends with Byron running to him and their clasping each other in their arms while lying on the couch. Dissolve. When I was a child I always thought that she returned to her own apartment across the hall when a scene ended like this.Byron has haunted eyes that stare out from under her upper lids and her other features -- her jaw, her nose, her tiny lips -- all seem to point to a particular spot in front of her mouth, about a cigarette's length. If you haven't seen Kathleen Byron go mad in "Black Narcissus," you might want to try it.The same writers and directors -- Powell and Pressburger -- are responsible for this film and it shows. There are more than the usual number of dramatic close ups. And when Ferrar is alone in his dark apartment, trying to fight the desire to hit that bottle of Scotch on the table, the camera angles and lighting first get weird and then hallucinatory.The imagery gets too bizarre in that scene. Also they've done a little miscasting. Jack Hawkins is a grinning, glad-handing, money-grubbing phony -- a repulsive character. But Jack Hawkins is no phony. He's a voice of authority and a paragon of common sense. Don't try to pull the wool over this boy's eyes. But those two points aside, it's put together well considering the multiple sub plots. And that bomb being emasculated is a teeth grinder.

"Hour of Glory" is a very nice war film but it's not the sort of film that most would like. That's because if you are looking for action, suspense and the like, this film won't work for you, as it's focused more on creating a portrait of an individual instead of on events. I like this, but realize some people just want to see stuff happen--not look inside a person's character.This film is about a very odd man. He's a sort of engineering genius--a guy who knows about bombs, guns and the like--and he and his co-workers are not strictly part of the military or government. Here is makes him interesting--while you like Sammy Rice and can't help but admire him, he's a very screwed up man. He has a drinking problem that helps him cope with the rigors of the job as well as some vague leg injury. He is a valuable man to the war effort--but also a mess. It creates a very odd portrait--and also SEEMS to say that the best way for his lover to help him is to encourage or at least ignore the drinking! Odd--but also compelling and worth your time.By the way, if you do watch it, look for the surreal withdrawal scene--it's pretty amazing.

While not a great film in comparison to other Archer productions such as The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, 49th Parallel or The Red Shoes, The Small Back Room is a tense and interesting British thriller that recounts what it must have felt like to live in England during World War II, a most precarious time when the threat of Nazi air invasion was constantly hanging overhead (no pun intended).In this story, David Farrar and Kathleen Byron are reunited after their tumultuous chemistry in Black Narcissus, playing a respected bomb detector and his secretary girlfriend who find themselves fighting a personal war in addition to the larger conflict amidst Europe. Farrar finds himself battling alcoholism and directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger create many parallels between the two instances. What is most intriguing about this film, like so many other Powell and Pressburger productions, is how the ideas are presented as just as important as the action. Most American films, particularly in the last three decades, seem to focus solely on the actions of the characters rather than the notions that lead to such activity. Here, there is constant stewing over how to effectively dismantle and recognize Nazi booby-traps, all leading up to a rather tense and dramatic conclusion in which the embittered protagonist must fight his inner demons to save the day.The plot for the most part is rather trivial. What is important, and what remains, is the fact that Britain put itself entirely on the line to save Europe and possibly the world from what was perceived as pure evil. Films like this, 49th Parallel, and Colonel Blimp were often received as war propaganda used to encourage the British public to support the war effort. Even after the war, such films were quite useful in keeping up the morale in tough times that would eventually culminate in the Cold War. To see such a film today is to understand better a small aspect of history previously unavailable.

The Small Dark Room is a dull misnomer. The suggestion is that within that Defense Ministry cramper some insignificant human being is earnestly working away and finally does make a breakthrough, for which some Higher Up will snatch credit. That's not what this picture is about. How about this title?: The Broken Pace.Noir? Where's the crime, the chase, the gunshots, the road house, the slinky woman, the scream, the ominous shadows?Many years after its original release, Powell saw this film at a retrospective and declared it "cold." This emotional void is the real reason it failed to win an audience.Much time is wasted on satire and caricature: humpty dumpty Robert Morley, grinning despicable Jack Hawkins, the "Old Army" Colonel, the chaotic Committee Meeting, the intrusive over-animated blonde at the nightclub, etc. Go for convincing realism throughout the film so the audience can respect Farrar's problems, his relationship with Kathleen, and most of all the German explosive device that is killing children.The explosive device is a careless figment of the writer's imagination. Can we credit that these "thermos flask" metal cylinders with sensitive mechanisms inside can be air-dropped from 5000 or even 500 feet and not be destroyed on impact?We must see at least one device, obviously of grenade strength, detonate as a child picks it up. This will enable the audience to feel real apprehension and moral indignation. Don't just talk about the "thermos" things.Bitter David is not easily embraced by an audience. Add a prolog or flashback showing him ten years earlier. Pebble Beach: he's with a beautiful blonde, they walk barefoot along the shore, he kicks some water at her to make her squeal. Testing site: as an outdoor explosive experiment goes awry, all dive for cover, David pauses to yank an old-timer to safety, but David's right foot doesn't make it. Hospital ward: the blonde brings a box of candy to David, kisses him, smiling sits on the chair, then sees the flat sheet where his foot should be, she's struck dumb, runs off.Later on, even show his prosthetic foot beside the bathtub, the thick white cotton protective stocking beside it. This won't affront an audience who have come through WWII.Kathleen should actually burst into tears at an impasse. David: "Now, don't cry. I haven't for ten years." "They're not tears. They're holy water . . . (she touches her cheeks to his hair) . . . to beg God's mercy. Ten years is too long to try you." The concluding Pebble Beach scene, Revised: As the Sergeant and David walk to the explosive device, clouds like billowing black smoke darken the landscape, a stiff wind is blowing. Sergeant: "I'll help, you may need a hand." "I'd rather have a foot, if a new shipment comes in. Better you should join our compatriots behind the barrier." The Sergeant gently salutes him, "Yes sir," and goes. As David works on the device, there are some flashes of light in the dark sky, thunder rumbles, strong winds stream his hair and flap his collar. He succeeds at the disarmament. "Thank God," he murmurs to the cylinder.Powell's actual 1, 2, 3 Transformation sequence: The Sergeant sees David off at the train, tells him he's The Best. In a shadowy interior, David strongly reassures Corporal Cyril Cusack. David finds a smiling Kathleen in his flat, she gives him a message and sends the "new man" off to his duty. (How's that for a quick Hollywood Happy Ending from Cold Contemptuous Godless Maestro Powell!)