Payment Deferred

Of all the stars of the 1930s, Charles Laughton was probably one of the most unlikely. He was fat, not handsome, and as hammy as any film actor in history. But he was also a colossal talent. For years, filmgoers couldn't take their eyes of him when he was on screen. Laughton was a star. Payment Deferred was an early starring role, and while Laughton is twitchy and hammy, he's also wonderful as the timid bank clerk who turns to murder. Stagy but effective little thriller. Maureen O'Sullivan and Ray Milland (in one of his first sizable roles) are also good as are Dorothy Peterson (as the wife), Veree Teasdale (as the shop owner), Halliwell Hobbes, Ethel Griffies, Doris Lloyd, Billy Bevan, and William Stack. But Laughton is front and center and he's a joy to watch.

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.

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.

It seems like something Hitchcock might do, in that what the wrongdoer did from the start is known, and it is also somewhat like a film noir in that you can see how the main character might have spent his entire life as a law abiding citizen had he not become desperate.

Often seen on Turner Classic Movies in the past, since MGM had the rights to it, it hasn't been shown for over four years. It is about a bank teller, William Marble (Charles Laughton), whose family bills have mounted to the point that the bank tells him if he does not settle his accounts they will fire him. (That will fix things!...for the bank). A family meeting over the matter shows that although the Marbles live simply there were some discretionary expenses.

Then one night in the midst of this crisis a long forgotten nephew, James Medland (Ray Milland) from Australia, shows up. Marble's wife and daughter retire for the evening, and when Marble sees that his nephew is carrying considerable cash, he pitches his idea of betting on the French franc, since he knows about a plan to manipulate the currency. Medland flatly refuses and wants to leave, but Marble tries to make it up with him by having a drink with him. This is where those camera supplies that Marble bought come in handy. They include cyanide.

You don't actually SEE what happens, but by Laughton's mannerisms, off hand remarks, and his preoccupation with the backyard you know he killed the nephew, buried him in the backyard, and took his cash. Marble goes and makes his currency trades and ends up with thirty thousand pounds, enough for his family to live on for the rest of their lives. Or until inflation kicks in but that's another story.

But Marble really isn't free. He's just traded off one set of troubles for another. His wife wants to move to a different house. Theirs is rather shabby. But he refuses. It becomes the source of some tension between them, but there he is - the rich man tethered to the grave of his unwilling benefactor for the rest of his life or else it is the gallows. And Winnie, his daughter (Maureen O'Sullivan), becomes a partying snob and back talker. He sends his wife and daughter on a vacation without him so maybe his nerves will heal. And up like a snake pops a neighborhood shopkeeper and he has an affair, but all she really wants is to blackmail him, threatening to tell his wife. And then the notices appear in the paper asking people if they have seen James Medland, because his family has heard nothing and he has disappeared.

How does this all turn out?Watch and find out the great ironic ending. One matter of interest - three members of the cast were reunited 16 years later in Paramount's "The Big Clock" - Laughton, Milland, and O'Sullivan. Laughton had reached legend status by this time, but fortunes had really turned for Ray Milland, who is the main character in that film versus spending the vast majority of this film pushing up daisies, literally speaking.

Make no mistake, this one belongs to Charles Laughton. Bringing this role from the stage, his movements and facial expressions are over exaggerated and hammy by later standards. But he was a monumental talent.

The movie is a taut, well constructed murder mystery, with Laughton as a man who almost gets away with murder and an illicit affair. Almost. His wife (Dorothy Peterson, no mean actress in her own right) discovers both, and extracts her revenge in a marvelously twisted plot device, which almost, but not quite, pushes the boundaries of believability.

Veree Teasdale as the paramour who turns to blackmail is fine.

An early appearance by Ray Milland (billed as Raymond Milland) is credible, as the rich Australian nephew, who shows up at the wrong time (for him).

Have a watch.