Watch A Window in London For Free

Overrated and overhyped

Nice effects though.

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Just a terrific little movie - a variation of "Lady on a Train"(1945) and then some!! Instead of a dotty Deanna Durbin addicted to detective stories, you have a young Michael Redgrave as Peter, a sleep deprived mechanic who, as befits wartime austerity, is juggling shifts with his telephonist wife Pat (a young and very pretty Patricia Roc) - they only see each other over breakfast tea and toast!! Then disaster strikes - Pat is sacked but Peter is having an adventure that day that will top hers!! While on the train to work Peter thinks he sees a murder but when he fronts up to the flat with a policeman in hand, it is to find he has only witnessed a rehearsal from the Great Zoltini (Paul Lukas) and his rather nervous assistant Vivian (Sally Grey) - it was all an illusion!!But the reality is different - Zoltini is volatile and insanely jealous, Viv, though loving him, is frightened and fed up!! When Peter is cornered by a roving reporter for a "hero of the hour" interview, the hard luck story the Zoltini's tell him about their once great success evaporating due to a fickle public, makes front page news and they find theatre managers clamouring for their act!! But only because of the admiration and liking for Vivian - as soon as they get to the theatre Zoltini throws tantrum after tantrum!! He is so impossible Vivian does the unforgivable and walks out before the finish leaving Zoltini a laughing stock on the stage. She runs into Peter and through his confidence and support she finds the strength to leave Zoltini.For just over an hour, it packs plenty of wallop, once Peter leaves Viv with the man who's always loved her and can make her a success, life becomes more simple. Pat has now got her old job back with an added bonus that she is now on day shift, but the ending has a gruesome twist of which Peter is blissfully unaware of.By 1940 Sally Grey had already been in films for 10 years but as this film showed she was very capable of tackling characters of many dimensions. First billed Paul Lukas had already spent the 1930s as a dependable Hollywood star. This movie was made just before his return to America where he found his greatest triumph as the sympathetic German in both the stage and film versions of "Watch on the Rhine".Highly Recommended.

Michael Redgrave is on the train to his job as a crane operator. He sees at a window Paul Lukas killing Sally Gray.It's a great start for a movie, and it was used before. LADY IN DISTRESS is a remake of the French METROPOLITAIN. I'd like to offer you a comparison of the two movies, but I've never seen the earlier film. I do know that Michael Redgrave is miscast as a working stiff who rides around in taxicabs. Sally Gray, on the other hand, impresses me as more than eye candy with a sullen expression for the first time. She's very good as the unwilling femme fatale who drives her husband, stage magician Lukas, crazy with jealousy, talent manager Hartley Power, sad with hopelessness and Redgrave mad with the possibilities of a magical night.There are many early noir elements in this movie, filled, as it is, with Gallic fatalism, and can be viewed as an important step in its evolution. It's just not a film noir in itself.

This film is not just interesting for its intriguing story but also for its view of London in 1939 just before the outbreak of war.Many central areas around the Houses of Parliament and the Abbey are on view.Also of course the construction of the present Waterloo Bridge which has a distinctive modernist style quite unlike any other London Bridge.The film has many virtues and one failing.The story is very neat with a ending with a twist in it.I am surprised the censor let it through as of course crime had to be shown not to pay.The one failing is the casting of Michael Redfrave.A crane driver he is not.he is far too refined.In fact his is the least interesting role.Bt far the best and showiest is that of Paul Lukas who does well in what for him would become a stereotypical role.All round an extremely interesting and entertaining film.

From a train window, crane-driver Michael Redgrave thinks he sees a woman being strangled. What follows is an unusual and effective story involving a magician, his assistant wife and a subtle interplay of illusion and murder. Refreshingly directed by the overlooked Herbert Mason, and well performed throughout (particularly Redgrave and Sally Gray), this small gem benefits greatly from its varied and credible London backgrounds, including music halls (including magic shows), mundane work places not normally seen in British films of the period, and construction work on Waterloo Bridge, under which the National Film Theatre is situated (which is where I last saw this film).