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Too much of everything

Thanks for the memories!

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

For some reason this film has been unseen for more than 30years.Unshown on TV,unreleased on vhs or DVD.I saw it over 30years ago at the BFI South bank.It is a great film,finally now viewable on the BFI player.Great performance from a restrained Robert Newton,atmospheric photography and taut direction.This film deserves a DVD release so that we can watch it whenever we like,not have to wait whilst it is stuck in a vault.

This English version of Henri Decoin's L'Homme de Londres - both based on a Simenon novel - outperformed Brighton Rock at the English box office back in 1947 and some 60 years later it holds up much better than BR if only because it's less risible - no Dickie Attenborough heading up a gang of pensioners here, just Bobbie Newton personifying decency under threat and a choice group of supporting actors aiding and abetting. Margaret Barton who was a memorable Beryl in Brief Encounter weighs in with more solid work as Newton's daughter whilst the female lead, Simone Simon more or less phones in her role from La Bete Humaine with a passable English accent. Charles Victor, Irene Handl, William Hartnell, Kathleen Harrison, Leslie Dwyer and Gladys Henson are all solid and the film is only let down by the odd stretching of credibility - Barton picks the exact moment that Hartnell is passing to give Newton's address loudly and clearly to Simon and Hartnell finds it impossible to get out of a locked shed, albeit ramshackle. On balance a reasonably satisfying rarely screened movie.

A fine film with Robert Newton acting well in an ensemble for once. He is a signalman at Newhaven docks where trains were loaded onto ferries to cross the Channel to Dieppe (hence the title of Simenon's original novel) who sees a man pushed into the harbour and rescues not the man but a suitcase holding £5000. He is about to phone the police when the Stationmaster reprimands him for not operating a signal on time and so, step-by-step, he considers keeping the money and his downfall begins. Newton is very good as a man tempted by wealth beyond his dreams- and the limits of his dreams are well-depicted too- but all of the actors are good: Margaret Barton as the daughter having to take on an adult's responsibility, William Hartnell makes the thief and killer a decent man, concerned for his family, Simone Simon as a "radio-active mermaid" in a funfair magic act still has a few illusions left to be stirred by the money. The supporting cast are all convincing- caricatures, sometimes, but never absurd. It's well-directed with some excellent touches and deftly-handled camera-work, giving the atmosphere of a small town on the edge of the world. The only fault is the sometimes over-emphatic music.