Having demonstrated a flair for drama against offbeat backdrops, director Philip Leacock was promoted to making this ambitious adaptation of Elisabeth Ogilvie's 1944 novel (the first of a trilogy of which only this was filmed), which although entered by Rank at Cannes has since fallen so totally off the radar it isn't in either Maltin or Halliwell's.
It's all rather dour, and perhaps the lack of children denied Leacock the inspiration that gave life to his earlier films. Although resembling a French silent film - or thirties British attempts at neo-realism 'Turn of the Tide' and 'Edge of the World' - to judge from the ammount of process work and studio exteriors, most of the interesting supporting cast plainly never left Britain for the dialogue scenes.
It's all rather dour, and perhaps the lack of children denied Leacock the inspiration that gave life to his earlier films. Although resembling a French silent film - or thirties British attempts at neo-realism 'Turn of the Tide' and 'Edge of the World' - to judge from the ammount of process work and studio exteriors, most of the interesting supporting cast plainly never left Britain for the dialogue scenes.