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Simply Perfect

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Impressionable Barbara Vining (Glynnis Johns) has a crush on her Latin teacher, Stephen Barlow (Leo Genn) but only his wife, Kay (Gene Tierney) seems to realise it. When Barbara comes over for extra tuition Kay questions her about her feelings and the girl flees the house. I kept thinking that an actress like Celia Johnson, Phyllis Calvert or Margaret Leighton would have been better suited for the role, in keeping with a more reserved British feeling. Tierney did quite well but she seemed too glamorous for Genn and it just didn't ring true that she felt he would have returned gauche Barbara's feelings. Also she seemed to know from her first meeting with Barbara that there was something between them and even though, as the movie progressed, Stephen did confess to having feelings about Barbara, it wasn't at all obvious initially. Tierney was overshadowed by other, more powerful, performances and towering over them all is Pamela Brown's neurotic Aunt Evelyn. She is Barbara's spinster aunt who has been nursing a broken love affair for 20 years and now hopes, in her own twisted way, that Barbara will follow in her footsteps.When Barbara fails to return home, Stephen confesses that he met with her to convince her the crush was pointless and he saw her safely onto the bus but she doesn't go home and within a few days rumour and accusations are flying around the village, Barlow has been let go by the school and the lake is soon to be dragged. Until now Aunt Evelyn has seemed like the rock of the Vining family - cool, calm and collected when mother (terrific Megs Jenkins) becomes such a wreck she is being kept in her room and the father, who works on a local paper doesn't know where to turn or what to believe. She sees Barbara as the village lovelorn heroine and is probably half hoping that she is found drowned in the lake. She forces the father to take notice when a couple of babbling schoolgirls come to impart all the gossip they have heard and at the end visits Kay and lets all her pent up neurosis fly when she tells what she thinks (in her own mind) really happened to Stephen and Barbara.The end is tied up a little too neatly - Barbara returns after fleeing to London for a few days to sort herself out. Stephen and Kay embrace on the little bridge - but he had been sacked, how are they both simply going to pick up the pieces and start again after this - especially in a small village where the gossip was too easily believed. Everything seemed fixed up within a few minutes. Even Aunt Evelyn is given her marching orders - to which she responds "I'll go now, I have lots of friends" but would she? Would a person like her have any life outside the family?There have been a few comments about Glynnis Johns ability at 30 to portray a teenage girl but I thought the very versatile Miss Johns did tremendously well. With her little girl voice and very youthful looks, I don't think she would have found it at all hard.Highly Recommended.

A school teacher (Genn) is implicated in the disappearance of one of his female students (Johns). This student who has a crush on the teacher is humiliated when the teacher's wife (Tierney) accuses her of the truth.The girl flees the house teacher follows and girl disappears. We are left in suspense as to what actually happened to her as we see the small town net close in around the teacher.More of a filmed play than a movie this film is intelligently directed and well acted and holds your suspense very well up to the denouement.As other reviewers have stated the only casting flaw is the girl (Johns) who is too old for the role.Nice suspenseful well acted watch.RECOMMEND

This next to unknown feature from Two Cities Films is an intelligent, mature, and well-made feature about secrets, sex, and gossip. Leo Genn delivers a finely nuanced performance as Stephen Barlow, a schoolteacher who has a budding relationship with student Barbara (Glynis Johns). Stephen also has an American wife (Gene Tierney) who is both jealous and suspicious, and she quickly discerns that he is taking a special interest in the teenager. When Barbara disappears after meeting with him late one night, jaws start flapping, the police begin an investigation, and the girl's father (Walter Fitzgerald) suspects foul play. Beautifully shot by Reginald Wyer, Personal Affair also benefits from superb supporting performances from Megs Jenkins and Pamela Brown as Barbara's mother and aunt.

Taunt tight suspenseful drama, I don't want to to say to much about the plot. Gene Tierney is very good in this very talkie film. Tierney is expressive and restrained and gives a great performance. Despite a few flaws in the script the film held my attention. Leo Genn was also very good as the besieged teacher, nice to see him in as a leading man. Glynis Johns seems a little too mature for the part of a teenage girl, overlooking that a nice performance. Pamela Brown is wonderful as the bitter Aunt. The direction seemed very controlled. Overall an interesting film about gossip and the damage it can do to peoples lives. The performances from the two stars to supporting cast make this Film, Tierney and Genn stands out. The strong production value of the film is grade A. Beautifully filmed in England.