Four Days

I was expecting the usual British B' crime drama but was pleasantly surprised. A businessman (Hugh McDermott) returns home from a trip and begins to suspect that his wife (Kathleen Byron) is having an affair with his business partner's son (Peter Reynolds). Eventually Byron and Reynolds confess to the affair. McDermott refuses to give his wife a divorce and during the ensuing hysterics Byron tries to poison her husband. Reynolds realizes what is happening and prevents the murder.

During the next few days Byron comes to realize she loves her husband. Unfortunately, McDermott, believing his wife is about to leave, attempts suicide. He survives a great fall but loses his memory. Now an amnesiac, McDermott is blissfully in love with his devoted wife. Yet Byron fears their bliss is temporary, because if her husband's memory returns, he will surely hate her.

Reynolds then returns to the plot to blackmail Byron and threatens to reveal all to the unknowing McDermott. The cast is exceptional, the dialogue and direction is very good. The plots sounds too much like Coronation Street, yet it is all pulled off in a pleasing manner by a very good team of professionals.

Contrived potboiler (complete with specifically timed amnesia) is elevated by the mesmerizing presence of Kathleen Byron; I've been trying to see as many of her films as possible lately, and here she invests a lot in what appears to be an ordinary character. It was directed by John Guillermin, who later made, among others, one of my favorite films of all time, "Death On The Nile": this early work is fairly competent, although there are some strange editing cuts that suggest possible trimming for the film to fit into a pre-ordained "second feature" length (it runs under an hour). **1/2 out of 4.

There are three reasons to see this film, assuming that you are a fan of 1950's British B-movies, as I am. First, the cinematography and direction: even though one imagines that the production was brought in under an as-usual rushed schedule, with little time for artistic considerations, Gullermin and Elton do still manage some imaginative set ups, notably shooting from a low level and with some interesting composition within the academy frame. Secondly there is Kathleen Byron, a long way from her greatest role (in Powell and Pressburger's BLACK NARCISSUS) perhaps, but still with a face which seems to demand provocative close ups, something which happens with striking effect a couple of times here. She may be working with sub-standard material, but how she fills the screen at such moments! Finally there is the plot itself, which is absurd and entertaining at the same time, fast moving and preposterous as it is. If the film had finished at the point of the fall from the cliff, I'd suggest, then it would have been an extremely taut and powerful minor classic. As it is, the plot has to lumber on into less starkly fatalistic territory - including a scene with a doctor which is bathetically laugh-inducing and suffers for it. No matter, the results are still worth seeing. On disc, the image is good.

Yet another gem to be mined from Talking Pictures' morning shift is this remarkable early quickie shot at Walton Studios by the director of 'The Towering Inferno' recounting a tale of violence, violent passion and that old favourite amnesia

Clocking in at a mere 55 minutes and anticipating the sort of thing that Chabrol would be making nearly twenty years later (with a very satisfying ending anticipating 'La Femme Infidele'). It's dated by expressions like "I've sweated like a coolie in a swamp to build this business!" but elegantly photographed by Ray Elton and very open about the passion burning beneath Kathleen Byron's feline carapace at the centre of a barmy triangle drama.

The story already seems over at 45 minutes but continues to keep you wondering where this is all going for another ten minutes, and the line "You'd have told me if there'd been anything important" in context made me laugh out loud.

Hugh McDermott is desperately trying to raise money for his new project and avoid bankruptcy. Gordon McLeod thinks the effort is doomed and wants his capital back. McDermott persuades him not too. He shows him checks forged by McLeod's son and McDermott's employee, Peter Reynolds. He does not know that Reynolds has been 'borrowing' not only his money, but his wife, Kathleen Byron. When he raises the money he needs and pays attention, he discovers their affair. Miss Byron tries to kill him, but Reynolds stops her. The next morning, he takes is golf sticks, goes to the edge of the cliff, and jumps. He recovers, thanks to Miss Byron's nursing, He has no memory of the last four days.

It's based on a story by Monckton Hoffe, and is a most peculiar production. McDermott sports a bad American accent, although his character is British. I also thought it was written and directed for speed rather than character depth. Everyone speaks exceedingly rapidly and the net effect is that it seems to be an opened-out stage play. The original running time of 55 minutes speaks to this effort touring it in as swiftly as possible, with no grace notes in performance or settings, and a speedy denouement feels forced.