A Window in London

This is an amazing thriller mainly consisting of surprises all the way. It starts like a comedy , and the comedy mood seems to be its dominating element, but then enter the abyss of jealousy. Sally Field is the wife of a magician whose life is a tempestuous roller-coaster of failures and redemptions, and into this messy life of an incalculable jealous artist of some diabolical talent (Paul Lukas, fresh from "The Lady Vanishes") comes Michael Redgrave clumsily interfering in what he believes is a murder attempt of Lukas on his wife. Well, Michael is also married, but his wife gets sacked from her job, while Michael gets mixed up with the jealous husband, and it all seems to go really bad for everybody. But you are still in for many surprises.

It's a wonderfully witty film, almost heralding the best moments of Powell & Pressburger and with some definite elements of Hitchcock, the scene at the night club is a highlight, and the theatre scenes with some extras are also hilarious with an expected tragic climax, trigging quite a few catastrophes - but never mind, this is first class entertainment all the way, and afterwards you will feel kind of upside down. The script is by Ian Dalrymple, and I think that's where most of the credit should go. An additional asset, though, is a very accomplished music score by Bretton Byrd.

Known in the U.S. as Lady in Distress, A Window in London from 1940 stars Michael Redgrave, Sally Gray, Paul Lukas, Patricia Roc, and Hartley Power.

Redgrave plays Peter, a crane operator who one day, on his way to work via train, thinks he sees a murder. He gets off the train, grabs a bobby, and takes him to the building and apartment where it took place - after barging in on a couple of the neighbors.

The residents are magician Zoltini (Lukas) and his wife Vivienne (Gray). She's still alive, and Zoltini explains what Peter must have seen - Vivienne is on the bed - we assume they had a physical fight. Zoltini is a washed-up magician, an angry, jealous man who ruins their bookings with his bad temper.

The story of Peter and his wife Pat (Roc) and Zoltini and Vivienne intertwine. Pat works nights at a hotel switchboard, and she and Peter don't see much of each other. Peter goes to see Zoltini's show; when it's time for Vivienne to disappear, she really does - into a cab with Peter. He takes her to where he works, and it's obvious he's smitten with her.

Zoltini tracks down Peter and a showdown ensues.

Thanks to a good cast, A Window in London comes off pretty well and moves at a decent pace. Redgrave is young and charming, Gray is beautiful, unhappy, and vulnerable. Roc is sympathetic as a hardworking woman who feels she is losing her husband.

The last few minutes of this movie are unexpected, to put it mildly.

Very good.

This movie was excellently directed and acted, almost flawlessly so. Yet the plot lost focus along the way and created too many ambiguities.

Sally Gray was the primary interest in the film. Though compared to Ginger Rogers, she was more like Veronica Lake. Indeed, at the end she actually appears with her hair in a peek-a-boo style. She looked stunningly beautiful in the film throughout but also gave a superb performance.

The problem is it's hard to justify why she would stay with her husband/partner who showed almost no virtues throughout the film. To make a relationship like that work, the husband should have been written as loving for the most part with a little flaw of temperament. As it is it's hard to see what someone like Vivienne (Gray) could see in him, especially since he seems much older than her and is not especially good-looking. It's true she admires his illusionist artistry, but that's hardly enough to keep a woman attached to a man.

Also puzzling is the man-wife relationship of Michael Redgrave (Peter) and his wife, Pat, played by Patricia Roc. Their relationship is barely touched upon and seems out of place in the film. Moreover, the film apparently sees no problem in Peter's obsession with Vivienne, which actually amounts to adultery (he kisses her passionately) though they have no sex in the film. The failure of the film is it doesn't even address the implications of Peter's double romantic life as if it were of no consequence. Keep in mind the year the film was made, which makes Peter's potentially adulterous affair even more puzzling. Did audiences of the time care?

I also found the brusque ending a letdown. It's an ending that might work in a half-hour Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode, but not in a feature-length movie where we develop an affection for the leading lady.

Finally the subplot regarding Pat's telephone job seems too episodic with the rest of the film.

But one can cast all that aside and enjoy the stunning beauty of Sally Gray, the fine direction, acting, and editing throughout and even some illusionist episodes,

Nifty little film with a surprise ending!

Michael Redgrave is on his way to work via train when he sees what looks like a murder in an apartment window. When he goes to investigate (with a cop in tow) it turns out to be something else altogether.

He meets a magician (Paul Lukas) and his beautiful wife/assistant (Sally Gray) and gets involved in their lives (and unhappy marriage). As he gets pulled into their lives, he becomes more and more attracted to Gray. Meanwhile, his own wife (Patricia Roc) is having her own problems at work.

What starts out as the act of a good Samaritan turns into a meandering tale of intrigue. This one never quite goes where to expect it o. Worth looking for.

Redgrave, Gray and Lukas are all especially good in this one. It's a wonder that Sally Gray wasn't scooped up by Hollywood.

Crane operator Michael Redgrave (Peter) works on the construction of Waterloo Bridge during the day whilst his wife Patricia Roc (Pat) is a telephone operator on the nightshift. They only have one day when they actually see each other. Sounds like a perfect relationship. Anyway, they want to ruin this balance by spending more time with each other and the ideal would be for Roc to get a day job. One day Redgrave witnesses a man murdering a woman outside an apartment whilst he is travelling on the train to work and he goes to the apartment to investigate. This is when we are introduced to illusionist Paul Lukas (Zoltini) and his assistant Sally Gray (Vivian). These encounters are life changing for all involved.

The idea is a good one although it stretches belief and we follow a love triangle or 2 or 3 - Sally Gray seems to be popular with the fellas - and the film follows Redgrave on quite an eventful night when he attends a music hall performance. Blimey!

For those who are familiar with Redgrave's ventriloquist act from "Dead of Night" (1945), given that we enter the music hall/theatre environment you will excitedly will him on to produce his dummy and show everyone a true spooky act. However, he stays away from any such performance, preferring instead to give us a rendition of a stupid song at a late-night party - "Let's all sing like the birdies sing, tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet".

You won't expect the ending and it is a dark twist when set alongside the words uttered as the final line of dialogue. It makes it a good film and wraps things up nicely - ha ha!