Le visiteur nocturne

Underrated film, starring Jack Hawkins - long one of my favourite actors. There are some great scenes, not least that at the farm when the Merton character appears with a container of water for his car, immediately defusing an awkward situation with his friend being interrogated by two detectives. Watch out for character actor Edward Chapman, in a nasty role as an abusing stepfather.

The colonel Jack Hawkins coming home surprises a burglar, who happens to be one of his former soldiers. He can't understand how such a good soldier could happen to a criminal course and can't just let the case slip away. He engages himself in the mystery of the fallen soldier, finds other soldiers of the same company, and gradually gets a thread or two with which to unravel the mystery. The mystery proves a tragedy, and the final sequences out in the country are heart-breaking in their revelations of sheer bad luck derailing into overwhelming misfortunes. There are many flashbacks, you get back into the war and some of its worst ordeals, you only catch faint traces of the soldier in question at first, but gradually your eyes are opened to his case. It's not a great film, but it's a great story, and it is well filmed, and definitely one of Jack Hawkins' best.

Guy Hamilton's "The Intruder" is neither fish nor fowl. Jack Hawkins is the ex-colonel who comes home to find one of his former soldiers breaking into his home and sets out to discover what it was that drove him to it. It's told largely in flashback as Hawkins tracks down the survivors of his batallion so the film is part war movie, part psychological drama and part comedy. The story is interesting enough and it's generally well played by a fine cast of British character actors. Hawkins is excellent as always and Michael Medwin is surprisingly good as the intruder and there's nice work from the likes of Dennis Price, George Cole and Dora Bryan. Unfortunately the film takes a bit too long in getting to the point and remains something of a curiosity at best.

Jack Hawkins, Michael Medwin, George Cole, and Dennis Price star in "The Intruder," a British film from 1953.

Hawkins is Colonel Merton, who comes home one night and discovers one of his ex-NCOs Ginger (Medwin) burglarizing his house. He wants to help him, but Ginger runs off, believing Merton called the police.

Merton sets out to find him by calling on some of the old regiment. We don't really get Ginger's whole story until near the end, but Merton learns a few things about those who served under him.

Throughout the film goes from flashback to present day, as Ginger is shown as heroic. There was one striking flashback scene. Which shows Leonard Pirry (Price) a tank commander, abandoning his tank when it looks like it's about to be destroyed by the enemy.

It falls to Ginger and another man to see if the radio works, and when the tank is fired upon, Ginger drags his partner to safety. Pirry has always pretended he was injured, though Merton knows the truth.

There is another scene, a comedy one with Arthur Howard, that doesn't add much to the film. It seems to be there for some humor.

Another powerful scene concerns Ginger's return from the war.

I have a letter written by Tyrone Power while he was in London. It says that he is going to "chez Hawkins" for dinner. I think of that every time I see Jack Hawkins.

Retired Colonel Jack Hawkins is burgled by one of his old army troop so he investigates why this has happened by visiting his old troop members. Cue, lots of wartime flashbacks.

Competent but unremarkable fifties drama with the usual stiff upper lip performances, albeit Hawkins always has presence and Medwin is good as the one Hawkins is investigating.