Let´s make a movie about a bomb expert. But we need a hook. Oh yeah, he´s crippled and, yeah, he´s an alcoholic too.
This premise could be the set-up for many different kinds of films depending on the storytellers: a gross-out comedy from the Farrelly Brothers ("Oh man, I´m so wasted, I can´t even tell which wire is bl… BOOM!"), a sexually charged melodrama from Douglas Sirk ("Why are my bombs always going off too soon?"), or even a film starring Nicholas Cage (cue sad-eyed puppy-dog face.)
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger opt instead for a small-scale character study, though with a dash of that Sirkian sexual melodrama stuff thrown in for good measure.
Sammy Rice (David Farrar) works for a weapons research group with tenuous connections to the war-time government. Under the auspices of Dr. Mair (Milton Rosner), Sammy and his team advise the military about new technologies. One day the very proper Captain Stuart (Michael Gough) comes looking for Sammy. German planes have been leaving behind deviously disguised bombs which go off when picked up, and British citizens (including children) are dying as a result. Sammy, like any good citizen, promises his assistance but the story gets a little more complicated from there.
Sammy´s professional veneer barely covers up the seething rage and insecurity inside. He has a badly injured leg (presumably related to his explosive profession, though we are never told) and it has greatly diminished his sense of masculinity. His devoted girlfriend Susan (Kathleen Byron) tries to bolster his esteem, but her tender ministrations sometimes only make him more depressed. It is possible his injuries have damaged more than just his leg though, once again, we are never given any details.
"The Small Back Room" was filmed in 1949, but set in 1943, which meant that while the setting was fresh in everyone´s memories, audiences still had a few years to create some distance and enjoy the film as an entertainment rather than as another chronicle of life in war-time England like Powell and Pressburger´s "A Canterbury Tale" (1944). The director/writer duo who took dual credit on their films were on as hot a streak as is imaginable: "49th Parallel" (1941), "One of Our Aircraft is Missing" (1942), "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" (1943), "A Canterbury Tale" (1944), "I Know Where I´m Going!" (1945), "A Matter of Life and Death" (1946), "Black Narcissus" (1947), and ´The Red Shoes" (1948). It was a decade of output virtually unmatched in film history: a film per year, each of which can reasonably be described as a masterpiece.
On this lofty scale, "The Small Back Room" can´t help but come off as a modest disappointment. It also marked the end of their remarkable run. With the exception "Tales of Hoffman" (1951), Powell and Pressburger would not match their success of the 1940s, though Powell struck gold on his own with "Peeping Tom" in 1960.
"The Small Back Room" is more modest in scope than any of the other 40s films except perhaps for my personal favorite "I Know Where I´m Going!" It is a film about a man who has lost his confidence and needs redemption. But Sammy is not a simple victim who earns the audience´s sympathy. He´s self-absorbed, whiny, and occasionally cruel to those who show kindness to him, especially Susan. His alcoholism explains some of it, but quite frankly he needs a little more of that stiff upper-lip British stoicism to get him through the day. A bum leg is a bum deal, but it´s a thin excuse for wallowing in misery at the bottom of a bottle.
Let´s make a movie about a bomb expert. But we need a hook. Oh yeah, he´s crippled and, yeah, he´s an alcoholic too.
This premise could be the set-up for many different kinds of films depending on the storytellers: a gross-out comedy from the Farrelly Brothers ("Oh man, I´m so wasted, I can´t even tell which wire is bl… BOOM!"), a sexually charged melodrama from Douglas Sirk ("Why are my bombs always going off too soon?"), or even a film starring Nicholas Cage (cue sad-eyed puppy-dog face.)
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger opt instead for a small-scale character study, though with a dash of that Sirkian sexual melodrama stuff thrown in for good measure.
Sammy Rice (David Farrar) works for a weapons research group with tenuous connections to the war-time government. Under the auspices of Dr. Mair (Milton Rosner), Sammy and his team advise the military about new technologies. One day the very proper Captain Stuart (Michael Gough) comes looking for Sammy. German planes have been leaving behind deviously disguised bombs which go off when picked up, and British citizens (including children) are dying as a result. Sammy, like any good citizen, promises his assistance but the story gets a little more complicated from there.
Sammy´s professional veneer barely covers up the seething rage and insecurity inside. He has a badly injured leg (presumably related to his explosive profession, though we are never told) and it has greatly diminished his sense of masculinity. His devoted girlfriend Susan (Kathleen Byron) tries to bolster his esteem, but her tender ministrations sometimes only make him more depressed. It is possible his injuries have damaged more than just his leg though, once again, we are never given any details.
"The Small Back Room" was filmed in 1949, but set in 1943, which meant that while the setting was fresh in everyone´s memories, audiences still had a few years to create some distance and enjoy the film as an entertainment rather than as another chronicle of life in war-time England like Powell and Pressburger´s "A Canterbury Tale" (1944). The director/writer duo who took dual credit on their films were on as hot a streak as is imaginable: "49th Parallel" (1941), "One of Our Aircraft is Missing" (1942), "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" (1943), "A Canterbury Tale" (1944), "I Know Where I´m Going!" (1945), "A Matter of Life and Death" (1946), "Black Narcissus" (1947), and ´The Red Shoes" (1948). It was a decade of output virtually unmatched in film history: a film per year, each of which can reasonably be described as a masterpiece.
On this lofty scale, "The Small Back Room" can´t help but come off as a modest disappointment. It also marked the end of their remarkable run. With the exception "Tales of Hoffman" (1951), Powell and Pressburger would not match their success of the 1940s, though Powell struck gold on his own with "Peeping Tom" in 1960.
"The Small Back Room" is more modest in scope than any of the other 40s films except perhaps for my personal favorite "I Know Where I´m Going!" It is a film about a man who has lost his confidence and needs redemption. But Sammy is not a simple victim who earns the audience´s sympathy. He´s self-absorbed, whiny, and occasionally cruel to those who show kindness to him, especially Susan. His alcoholism explains some of it, but quite frankly he needs a little more of that stiff upper-lip British stoicism to get him through the day. A bum leg is a bum deal, but it´s a thin excuse for wallowing in misery at the bottom of a bottle.
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