....so says Molly (Kay Walsh) to Jim Ackland (John Mills), trying to show some hospitality when he gallantly fixes a fuse. At that moment she couldn't be further from the truth - even though he is getting a second chance at life after spending time in a mental institution, he still blames himself for the death of a little girl (Mill's own daughter Juliette) in his care and life in a typical London boarding house isn't helping. On his first evening he instantly falls foul of a couple of elderly residents when he refuses to sit in for a rubber of bridge.
At times he feels suicidal, but time, a steady job at a chemical plant and new friends, including sympathetic and understanding Jenny (beautiful Joan Greenwood) show him that life can be worth living. Even though Bosley Crowther called it "second rate" believe me he didn't know what he was talking about. This is a superlative movie and, I believe, shows John Mills in one of his best performances - he was always at his best depicting decent "everymen" who find circumstances around them spinning out of control. With a screenplay by Eric Ambler, based on his book, you can't expect anything else but excellence.
One of the residents, Molly, has a complicated love life. She is in love with a married man, a complete bounder who has no intention of divorcing his wife and is also having to fend off unsavoury advances from a very creepy lodger, Mr. Peachy (Edward Chapman). When her body is found on the common, the movie's pace really picks up. She had turned to Jim for friendship - her confidant exterior masked a lonely girl away from her family. Jim finds through a series of circumstances (fixing the light in her room, giving her some money so she can return to her family) that someone has implicated him as the main suspect and of course the police don't believe him.
It doesn't help that the cheque Jim gave her is found crumpled near her body and Jim admits to walking on the common that night. The cinematography is moody and atmospheric. It is always dark and foggy outside the boarding house, with vignettes of residents (helpful, though nosey landlady, querolous older guest, elderly lady forever wanting coal and helpful young man) giving the movie an edge. With no support from the police (they haven't believed him from the start) he finds he has to literally go on the run to prove the police wrong. From then on he is just one jump ahead of the law - there is one exciting scene when he is looking for some "left luggage" at the railway station and needs quick thinking to escape the claustrophobic compartment without bumping into an eager constable.
Kay Walsh had already co-starred with John Mills in "This Happy Breed" and "In Which We Serve" and later with films like "Oliver Twist" and "Stage Fright" proved herself a superb character actress. If you ever get a chance to see Adrianne Allen (Joyce Carden) in "The Night of June 13th" (1932) you'll see a really fine performance and also see why she was such a success on the West End.
At times he feels suicidal, but time, a steady job at a chemical plant and new friends, including sympathetic and understanding Jenny (beautiful Joan Greenwood) show him that life can be worth living. Even though Bosley Crowther called it "second rate" believe me he didn't know what he was talking about. This is a superlative movie and, I believe, shows John Mills in one of his best performances - he was always at his best depicting decent "everymen" who find circumstances around them spinning out of control. With a screenplay by Eric Ambler, based on his book, you can't expect anything else but excellence.
One of the residents, Molly, has a complicated love life. She is in love with a married man, a complete bounder who has no intention of divorcing his wife and is also having to fend off unsavoury advances from a very creepy lodger, Mr. Peachy (Edward Chapman). When her body is found on the common, the movie's pace really picks up. She had turned to Jim for friendship - her confidant exterior masked a lonely girl away from her family. Jim finds through a series of circumstances (fixing the light in her room, giving her some money so she can return to her family) that someone has implicated him as the main suspect and of course the police don't believe him.
It doesn't help that the cheque Jim gave her is found crumpled near her body and Jim admits to walking on the common that night. The cinematography is moody and atmospheric. It is always dark and foggy outside the boarding house, with vignettes of residents (helpful, though nosey landlady, querolous older guest, elderly lady forever wanting coal and helpful young man) giving the movie an edge. With no support from the police (they haven't believed him from the start) he finds he has to literally go on the run to prove the police wrong. From then on he is just one jump ahead of the law - there is one exciting scene when he is looking for some "left luggage" at the railway station and needs quick thinking to escape the claustrophobic compartment without bumping into an eager constable.
Kay Walsh had already co-starred with John Mills in "This Happy Breed" and "In Which We Serve" and later with films like "Oliver Twist" and "Stage Fright" proved herself a superb character actress. If you ever get a chance to see Adrianne Allen (Joyce Carden) in "The Night of June 13th" (1932) you'll see a really fine performance and also see why she was such a success on the West End.