The Long Dark Hall

Solid if not impressive light thriller about a man infatuated with a young actress whilst still married soon to be entombed in a vault of lies when the young girl turns up dead and murdered - not by his hand or so he says? Rex Harrison gives a subtly good performance as Arthur Groome - the man who loves his wife and children yet also "loves" the young murdered actress. The film chronicles how the pieces of that puzzle unravel and whether or not Groome or someone else is the actual murderer. As a mystery film The Long Dark Hall is effective and entertaining for the most part. Harrison is as ever affable and Lili Palmer, his real-life wife, plays his wife here. All of the British cast do workmanlike jobs with Anthony Dawson particularly being effective. Patricia Cutts plays a very lovely girl in her turn as the victim. I would agree that the ending is somewhat unsatisfying and predictable but not wholly bleak. Directors Anthony Bushell and editor Reginald Beck(also getting his one time directorial credit for this film)create some very nice work - particularly those shots of the long, dark hall. This film is not a big budget affair in any way but still makes for a relaxing, enjoyable time.

The plot is not original...Mistress is Murdered,Married Man accussed...Wife stands by him. But Sir Rex Harrison makes you believe in the story. Harrison gives an extremely fine and brilliant performance which raises the film from a typical pot boiler into the story of a regretful innocent man. Lily Palmer (at the time..Mrs. Harrison) is also in fine form as his on screen wife.

A Broody, Moody Movie that is a slightly better than Average British Thriller that makes up for its slim Story and vapid Ending with Atmospheric touches and strong Characters. It has a striking Noirish beginning with very dark streets inhabited by a Serial Killer that resembles a sewer rat.

One of the Victims has a cheating Husband as a Lover and He is falsely accused of Her Murder. The middle becomes a Courtroom Melodrama with cross examinations and suspect Witnesses. This all leads to a confrontation between the real Killer and the Accused Man's Wife that is edge of your seat Suspenseful.

This Movie has a Sleazy Look and a Downbeat Tone that aside from the aforementioned Wrap Up, places it in the Realm of Foreign Film-Noir and has a Creep Factor that is exploited by the truly unsettling Murderer and dingy surroundings. Slightly underrated.

This is a pretty interesting mystery. It's not really suspenseful but it's done with style.

However, I wonder what purpose it was meant to serve for the public relations of its star Rex Harrison. His friend Carole Landis, a charming star of generally minor films, had killed herself a few years before this came out. As a result, his therefore rising box office appeal had plummeted. Indeed, the brilliant "Unfaithfully Yours" had the bad fortune to come out right after Ms. Landis had died. No one wanted to see Rex Harrison killing a woman over and over -- even if it was in his imagination. "Unfaithfully Yours" was not a success, despite director Preston Sturges's career as Hollywood (apparent) golden boy. Sturges really did not survive this failure commercially.

So, here we have a decent man accused of murdering a pretty young woman. Like the star himself, the character is married to (the very appealing) Lilli Palmer. I don't want to give away the plot. Let's just say that this is a movie that comes out against quick decisions in tabloid cases.

Can this have been a coincidence? Maybe it was. I don't know anything about its history. However, I sincerely doubt that it was.

Wow--talk about divergent reviews. Two apparently hated the film (giving it a score of 2) and two liked it very much (giving it a score of 7). I think my opinion is somewhat in the middle--though I think giving the film a 2 is awfully silly. It's NOT a bad film, though I would agree with goldbug-2 that the forensic work done by the police seems sloppy. In fact, up until late in the film, I could look past the problems with the knife and other evidence. However, the completely unbelievable ending and the major mistake in the film concerning the witness they could not locate made me mad--as it just looked sloppy and the film seemed to be wrapped up too quickly. Let me explain the problem with both. Rex Harrison's character insisted there was a witness that could place him at the restaurant and later you see this witness come to court but then walk away without giving evidence. How could this be? The film was told to an author by a newspaper man but how could the newspaper man tell that the witness DID come to court but then ran away without telling anyone--how could he have known this?! As for the ending, the film maintained a rather steady pace throughout but at the end, everything was basically described to the audience--neatly wrapping everything up but not even showing what they were describing! It was like they decided not to film the last 20 minutes of the movie and just sum it up in 5!! Sloppy indeed.

It's all rather sad, as up until then, the film was well written, acted and kept my attention. Sadly, I was anticipating giving the film a 7--but the sloppy ending really brought the film down to the level of mediocrity. Too bad.

By the way, I rarely directly complain about an other review, but the one reviewer that complained ad nauseum about the 1950s really needs to stick to the film itself and not give us a diatribe about sexism and repression. You can't so strongly attack one film because you have such strong contempt for the 1950s! Who cares what you think about the 1950s? While I do agree that Lilli Palmer played a woman with very low self-esteem (considering how much she excused her womanizing husband), such vehemence about the film is just bizarre. Her character might have justified giving the film a somewhat lower score, but not this low.