Finding The Long Arm (1956-also reviewed) to be a thrilling Film Noir from Ealing Studios, I was happily pleased to spot on Talking Pictures free online catch-up service a War movie that I was not aware of from Ealing, leading to me getting ready to see Ealing at war.
View on the film:
A POW during the war in the German prison camp of Marlag und Milag Nord (where parts of the movie were filmed in) co-writer Guy Morgan (with regular Ealing script writer Angus MacPhail joined here by Patrick Kirwan) makes his real life experience a prominent element of this beautiful screenplay, with a real level of care given to drawing each of the individual POWs, (from the anxious about having his cover uncovered Hasek, to the fatherly bond Evans brings to settling disputes- both played with a quiet thoughtfulness by Michael Redgrave and Mervyn Johns)
At the same time, the writers continue to expand the ensemble plot thread of the POWs trying to keep their morals strong, as letters from the Red Cross give them the only fleeting ideas over what is happening on the battlefield.
The first POW WWII film to be made, directing auteur Basil Dearden & his regular cinematographer of this period Douglas Slocombe hold back from any grand, flashy escape sequences, instead going for more grounded, (something Dearden would focus on later with his "Social Issues" works) refine wide shots of the prison camp.
Contrasting prison life, Dearden webs silky dissolves and fade-outs over the letter writing between Hasek and Celia, until they break on the final stunning scene, where the captive heart shatters.
View on the film:
A POW during the war in the German prison camp of Marlag und Milag Nord (where parts of the movie were filmed in) co-writer Guy Morgan (with regular Ealing script writer Angus MacPhail joined here by Patrick Kirwan) makes his real life experience a prominent element of this beautiful screenplay, with a real level of care given to drawing each of the individual POWs, (from the anxious about having his cover uncovered Hasek, to the fatherly bond Evans brings to settling disputes- both played with a quiet thoughtfulness by Michael Redgrave and Mervyn Johns)
At the same time, the writers continue to expand the ensemble plot thread of the POWs trying to keep their morals strong, as letters from the Red Cross give them the only fleeting ideas over what is happening on the battlefield.
The first POW WWII film to be made, directing auteur Basil Dearden & his regular cinematographer of this period Douglas Slocombe hold back from any grand, flashy escape sequences, instead going for more grounded, (something Dearden would focus on later with his "Social Issues" works) refine wide shots of the prison camp.
Contrasting prison life, Dearden webs silky dissolves and fade-outs over the letter writing between Hasek and Celia, until they break on the final stunning scene, where the captive heart shatters.