Payment Deferred

Nice dark, interestingly twisted little tale about murder and the inevitable insanity that accompanies it. I was especially taken with the treatment of Mr. Marble's wife who strikes me as even more wacko than he is, albeit in a more subtle way. At its best this film resembles early Hitchcock offerings like "Murder" and "The Lodger" although you can bet your cyanide bottle that had Hitch directed it he would have cut out the needless opening and maudlin last scene and put a check on Laughton's usual scenery chewing. Give it a B.

This crime-doesn't-pay melodrama features a pyrotechnical performance by Charles Laughton as an impoverished bank clerk who poisons and robs his wealthy nephew, using the spoils to speculate with great success on the currency exchange, sending him into a high income bracket virtually overnight.

The exposition is glaringly obvious and contrived, especially the key sequence of the murder itself which is right out of a 1909 two-reeler. Yet it's all gripping because you can't help wondering how it will all work out.

Surrounding the main course of Laughton's steaming spiced ham are plausible performances from Dorothy Peterson as his timid, long-suffering wife, Maureen O'Sullivan as his innocent, earnest daughter, Ray Milland as the ill-fated nephew who shows up out of nowhere just when the plot needs him, and last but not least Miss Veree Teasdale in her element as a cold, greedy, calculating shop owner who develops a sudden interest in Laughton when she learns of his newly acquired wealth.

One can only surmise that the source play developed the situations more convincingly because the essential arc makes sense: a desperate man commits a crime and gets away with it for a while, only to pay for it later in an unexpected way. Between these two high marks we see the corrosive effect of sudden monetary gain on the mores of a lower class family unit.

Finally, Laughton gets to indulge in a spell of insane cackling as he did in another 1932 release, "Devil and the Deep."

A gem from the `crime doesn't pay' school of story-telling. Ray Milland has a pretty small role in this obscure but interesting crime drama. Banker Charles Laughton murders young Ray for the money he needs for an investment that will make him rich. In the first few minutes of the film, Ray ends up planted in Charles' back yard, and Charles turns into a nervous wreck, worried about who will dig up Ray. After the investment makes him rich, he sends his wife and daughter off on vacation while he has an affair. Just when you think Laughton couldn't get himself in any deep, the plot takes a surprising turn. The story will keep you guessing, and you won't be disappointed in the climax.

One little hint: the title doesn't refer to money. The `payment' is for crimes committed. As always, Laughton is a delight to watch, and Maureen O'Sullivan (his daughter) is as gorgeous as ever. `Payment Deferred' is a good example of the kind of deliciously bizarre films which the 1930's produced.

"Payment Deferred" drips with melodrama and moral rectitude, but it's still worth seeing. Charles Laughton plays the part of William Marble, a wretched bank clerk whose debts drive him to a desperate act. Laughton reprises the role he first played on stage, which may be the reason for his overly broad portrayal and his lack of subtlety. Still, Laughton is always fun to watch.

Ray Milland--so young you might not recognize him--plays Marble's long lost relative who comes to visit. Maureen O'Sullivan plays Winnie Marble, the self-centered daughter who craves money so she can look down on those who have always looked down on her.

It's a simple story that rarely ventures from the confines of the Marble household, but it demonstrates what passed for a crime story in 1932. Later, despite the Hayes code, Hitchcock and others would produce crime stories with more psychological subtlety and those that live in the gray areas of moral uncertainty.

At a time when so very few stage actors got to recreate their parts for the screen we are fortunate that MGM acquired Payment Deferred and Irving Thalberg wanted Charles Laughton enough to borrow him from Paramount and Adolph Zukor who had brought him to Hollywood on the strength of his performance in Payment Deferred. The play is adaption by Jeffrey Dell based on a novel by C.S. Forrester who is better known for such historical novels as the Horatio Hornblower series.

The play originated in Great Britain and Laughton created the role of the father on the stage with Elsa Lanchester playing his daughter. He also did it in 1931 for 70 performances also co-starring with his wife Elsa Lanchester. In 1931 during the Depression that was a respectable run on Broadway.

Laughton plays a bank clerk who's up against it in those Depression years with his family, wife Dorothy Peterson and daughter Maureen O'Sullivan facing imminent eviction. Along comes nephew Ray Milland, newly arrived from Australia, with a ton of money. He tries to interest Milland in a sure investment thing he's heard about from the bank, but can't capitalize on. When Milland refuses he poisons him when they're alone and buries him in the backyard, after taking whatever money he needs.

The investment pays off, but Laughton is not a criminal at heart and he's a rather weak willed individual who drifts into an affair with new neighbor Verree Teasdale again when wife and daughter are away. That leads to blackmail and another murder and all for the wrong reasons.

Mystery fans will no doubt catch the similarities between Payment Deferred and the James M. Cain classic, The Postman Always Rings Twice. It works out the same way in the film, so if you've seen the famous movie of that novel that starred John Garfield and Lana Turner you know how Payment Deferred will come out.

In adapting the play MGM did not do a terribly good job of disguising the stage origins. It is in fact a one set play, the living room of the Laughton/Peterson house. However Laughton is riveting in his part and the rest of the cast supports him ably.

When next broadcast don't miss Payment Deferred, for the legion of fans that Charles Laughton has, it's a must.