Chambres communicantes

I watched "Connecting Rooms" because it starred Bette Davis....more than enough reason to watch any film. However, I should point out that this is a rather obscure movie....and finding it was not easy. I was able to locate it on a Roku channel...finally!

The story is mostly centered around Wanda (Bette Davis) and James (Michael Redgrave), two residents at a rather tatty rooming house in London. It begins with James arriving at the place for the first time and he's in the room next to Wanda. At that time, Wanda is engaged in a very dysfunctional relationship with a young guy who is very manipulative and a user. But Wanda is so lonely that although she knows it, she also is STILL hoping that somehow she can develop a romance with him. As for James...he obviously has a secret and is very much to himself and difficult to get to know. Little does he know that Wanda also has a bit of a secret...though not nearly as creepy as his!

The acting is very good. As for the story, it leaves so many open ends and leaves the viewer questioning who the people really are...particularly James. Is he a nice guy or a despicable jerk? Watch the film...and find out for yourself.

By the way, in case you want to know, there's a decent amount of nudity in this film. No, you don't see Davis nor Redgrave naked (thank goodness)....but parents might want to know.

Bette Davis, who aged like cheap wine and looked horrible after 1960 is in a relationship with a much younger man. The idea that Bette Davis could bed anyone besides an old hobo is ridiculous. She looks like a dessicated prune with big sad eyes, something like a sad clown who has seen better days.

Michael Redgrave, also in his last days, seems very sad to be in this movie. Connecting the characters of this boarding house by their rooms does not work out very well, and like many melodramas of this era, it always seems like you missed a scene leading up to the drama that is unfolding.

Hotel Beauregard meets swinging London. What a mashup! Two bad movies combined. Sorry for Michael and Bette, wonderful actors, who had to go through with this. And why couldn't that kid hold his head up? Did he have some neck problem??

The story revolves around three people:Wanda, James and Mickey. Wanda is a lonely musician living in a rundown boarding house, and she meets Mickey a struggling music writer who lives just downstairs; while Professor James lives next door to her and in fact their rooms are only separated by a connecting door...thus the title of the movie. She lost the love of her life and now that's she's getting older Wanda gives her heart to Mickey with the hope of loving again,but he's only interested in becoming famous and getting whatever he can from Princess (what he calls her) In the meantime, the Professor loses his job, because he stands up for his belief...but he keeps it a secret from everyone. Wanda realizes that the Professor is tortured and tries to become a friend. In time their friendship develops, not to the liking of the nosey landlady, and Mickey who's failing at everything and now wants to make up for all of the times he'd ignored Wanda or simply used her. Wanda finally say her goodbyes to Mickey, much to his dismay and turn her attention to the fragile, but kindly Professor...in spite of the fact that she's found out his secret. He too gravitates towards her warmth as a wonderful person. The professor then ask to see her performance...at first she refuses, but recants,because she realises that in order for their relationship to progress, he needed to find out her secret...which he does. She wasn't a musician on stage, but rather a street musician who lived on whatever was thrown her way.Neither

comments,but rather wholeheartedly embraces each other for what they were.

‘Connecting Rooms' is a bleak chamber drama, similar in mood and setting to ‘Separate Tables' but nowhere near so interesting as that film. I'm not aware that ‘Connecting Rooms' was ever released anywhere: I saw it at a trade screening, and not one of the cinema exhibitors in the audience showed any interest in booking this movie … despite the box-office value of Bette Davis and Michael Redgrave.

James Wallraven (Redgrave) is a schoolmaster who has been dismissed for sexual misconduct with one of his students: the script is careful to let us know that Wallraven was unfairly accused (unlike the equivalent character in ‘Separate Tables', played by David Niven in his Oscar-winning performance). The disgraced Wallraven lives in a dilapidated rooming house in Bayswater, hoping that no one here will learn his shameful secret. He meets Wanda Fleming, a repressed cellist (Davis). This film was based on a (flop) stage play called ‘The Cellist', and Davis's role is clearly the central character in this film. A tentative relationship develops between Wallraven and Wanda.

Wanda's student is a scruffy young man named Mickey Hollister (Alexis Kanner), who lusts for fame as a songwriter. Mickey also lusts for Wanda, even though he's a lot younger and better-looking than she is. Jealous that Wanda is giving her attentions to Wallraven, Mickey reveals Wallraven's secret … without revealing that Wallraven is innocent.

This whole thing is a soap opera. Leo Genn and Kay Walsh give good performances in supporting roles. Redgrave's role would have been much more interesting (and his performance more challenging) if his character had actually been guilty of the sex crime. By far, the best performance on offer here is Alexis Kanner's. Although Kanner is an extremely pretentious actor, he's also a very physical actor who takes risks. In many of his TV and film roles, what Kanner does onscreen is wrong … but he nearly always does something interesting and unexpected. He's vital, virile and primally evil as the covetous Hollister. If Kanner had channelled his talents more intelligently, and disciplined himself, he could have been the British version of James Dean.

At the end of the film, Bette Davis and Michael Redgrave walk past a theatre poster for a play starring an actress named Margo Channing (the character Davis played in ‘All About Eve'). This wasn't a very good in-joke, as it reminds us of a film that's much better than ‘Connecting Rooms', in which Bette Davis gives a much better performance than she does here. I'll reluctantly rate this movie 2 points out of 10.