Charles Laughton starts chewing the curtains almost immediately in this grisly tale of greed and murder. Sir Charles had yet to tone down his film performances that would calibrate into some of the finest ever on screen and with Payment Deferred he's strictly a bull in a china shop.
Bank clerk William Marble faces ruin with his family when a suddenly long lost nephew (Ray Milland) appears on his doorstep. Imploring him for a loan Marble is rebuffed and resorts to killing him. In a wild reversal of fortune he goes from ruin to riches but remains tortured and ultimately a victim of his own success which leads to his destruction.
Lothar Mendes direction is stilted and it's clear he has no handle on Laughton who lurches erratically throughout, his inflection a work in progress. Maureen O'Sullivan and Verea Teasdale also seem to have caught what Laughton has, especially in the case of Teasedale's outrageously accented French seductress. Dorothy Peterson as Marble's suffering wife is both tragic and serene in the films only impressive performance.
Mendes does supply some flashes of Hitchcock editing but for the most part the pace remains obvious and stilted; interspersed with glimmers of brilliance from Laughton followed by scene killing eruptions.
Bank clerk William Marble faces ruin with his family when a suddenly long lost nephew (Ray Milland) appears on his doorstep. Imploring him for a loan Marble is rebuffed and resorts to killing him. In a wild reversal of fortune he goes from ruin to riches but remains tortured and ultimately a victim of his own success which leads to his destruction.
Lothar Mendes direction is stilted and it's clear he has no handle on Laughton who lurches erratically throughout, his inflection a work in progress. Maureen O'Sullivan and Verea Teasdale also seem to have caught what Laughton has, especially in the case of Teasedale's outrageously accented French seductress. Dorothy Peterson as Marble's suffering wife is both tragic and serene in the films only impressive performance.
Mendes does supply some flashes of Hitchcock editing but for the most part the pace remains obvious and stilted; interspersed with glimmers of brilliance from Laughton followed by scene killing eruptions.