Payment Deferred (1932) User Reviews

Crime doesn't pay, even if you're Charles Laughton!

[David_Newcastle · 7/10 · 3 January 2001]

A gem from the `crime doesn't pay' school of story-telling. Ray Milland has a pretty small role in this obscure but interesting crime drama. Banker Charles Laughton murders young Ray for the money he needs for an investment that will make him rich. In the first few minutes of the film, Ray ends up planted in Charles' back yard, and Charles turns into a nervous wreck, worried about who will dig up Ray. After the investment makes him rich, he sends his wife and daughter off on vacation while he has an affair. Just when you think Laughton couldn't get himself in any deep, the plot takes a surprising turn. The story will keep you guessing, and you won't be disappointed in the climax.

One little hint: the title doesn't refer to money. The `payment' is for crimes committed. As always, Laughton is a delight to watch, and Maureen O'Sullivan (his daughter) is as gorgeous as ever. `Payment Deferred' is a good example of the kind of deliciously bizarre films which the 1930's produced.

Subtle acting on Laughton's part .... well, as subtle as the Great Ham can get!

[Ursula_Two_Point_Seven_T · 8/10 · 29 June 2005]

1932 seemed to be a good year for Charles Laughton to play weak, spineless men ... in Cecil B. Demille's "Sign of the Cross" he hammed and camped it up *big time* as the completely amoral (and weak and spineless) Nero, and stole every scene he was in. Pure, delicious ham -- do see it sometime!

His other weak man role of 1932, William Marble in "Payment Deferred", was played much more subtly ... it's about as subtle as I've ever seen Laughton. And he did one heck of a job playing a huge loser schmuck who commits murder, commits adultery, is a drunken slovenly mess, is callous to his daughter, yet somehow he manages to make us feel sorry for him and care about him. CL is an amazing actor that way! I'll try not to spoil the movie, but I do want to explain the title. "Payment Deferred" refers to CL's ultimate payment (the death penalty) ... he gets away with his first (and only) murder, but ends up going to prison for another person's suicide that very circumstantially appears to make CL the murderer. CL finally grows a spine, or at least a vertebra or two, at the end of the movie. His daughter comes to visit him. It is his last night alive; CL's fine meal on a silver platter indicates to us that this is his Last Meal. CL comforts his daughter, apologizes for being a lousy father, and says he's prepared for his fate, that it all makes sense to him and he's at peace with it. He's taking responsibility for his actions (finally) and is looking forward to meeting his dearly departed wife in the afterlife.

While CL makes the show, the supporting cast is terrific too. Dorothy Peterson was quite sympathetic as Charles's wife, the dysfunctionality of their relationship bonding them in a very close manner. She's sympathetic to him when she first thinks (incorrectly) that their newfound wealth is due to embezzlement; she holds CL and tells him it's alright. When she later finds out their wealth was actually due to murder, she again holds CL and keeps his secret. Very interesting relationship, to say the least.

A very young Maureen O'Sullivan (as CL's daughter) and Ray Milland (as CL's nephew) appear in the movie, as does Halliwell Hobbes (very briefly at beginning of film), whom you may remember as the stern and stuffy father of Dr. Jekyll's fiancé in the Fredric March version of that tale.

A particularly loathsome character, "Rita" (played very well by Verree Teasdale, whom I am not familiar with) reminded me of the character "Olga" in Freaks ... Olga was the "normal"-sized woman who had only money-grubbing on her mind and took financial advantage of midget Heinz who was flattered by her attentions. I suppose Rita reminded me of Olga because both Rita and Olga were blonde and had European accents and were taking advantage of vulnerable men. Olga was particularly vile in "Freaks" (another must-see movie, but not for everybody), so perhaps that explains my visceral hatred of Rita in this movie ... the two women were just too alike from my standpoint.

If you enjoy older movies, "Payment Deferred" is definitely one you should catch. I saw it on TCM recently, so I'm sure they play it every so often. Go to their website and have them send you an email alert when it's on next and/or add it to your TiVo wishlist!

This is Laughton's Movie, Pure and Simple!

[jpickerel · 8/10 · 23 November 2008]

Make no mistake, this one belongs to Charles Laughton. Bringing this role from the stage, his movements and facial expressions are over exaggerated and hammy by later standards. But he was a monumental talent.

The movie is a taut, well constructed murder mystery, with Laughton as a man who almost gets away with murder and an illicit affair. Almost. His wife (Dorothy Peterson, no mean actress in her own right) discovers both, and extracts her revenge in a marvelously twisted plot device, which almost, but not quite, pushes the boundaries of believability.

Veree Teasdale as the paramour who turns to blackmail is fine.

An early appearance by Ray Milland (billed as Raymond Milland) is credible, as the rich Australian nephew, who shows up at the wrong time (for him).

Have a watch.

Charles Laughton: Star

[drednm · 22 May 2005]

Of all the stars of the 1930s, Charles Laughton was probably one of the most unlikely. He was fat, not handsome, and as hammy as any film actor in history. But he was also a colossal talent. For years, filmgoers couldn't take their eyes of him when he was on screen. Laughton was a star. Payment Deferred was an early starring role, and while Laughton is twitchy and hammy, he's also wonderful as the timid bank clerk who turns to murder. Stagy but effective little thriller. Maureen O'Sullivan and Ray Milland (in one of his first sizable roles) are also good as are Dorothy Peterson (as the wife), Veree Teasdale (as the shop owner), Halliwell Hobbes, Ethel Griffies, Doris Lloyd, Billy Bevan, and William Stack. But Laughton is front and center and he's a joy to watch.

We All Pay In The End

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 17 November 2008]

At a time when so very few stage actors got to recreate their parts for the screen we are fortunate that MGM acquired Payment Deferred and Irving Thalberg wanted Charles Laughton enough to borrow him from Paramount and Adolph Zukor who had brought him to Hollywood on the strength of his performance in Payment Deferred. The play is adaption by Jeffrey Dell based on a novel by C.S. Forrester who is better known for such historical novels as the Horatio Hornblower series.

The play originated in Great Britain and Laughton created the role of the father on the stage with Elsa Lanchester playing his daughter. He also did it in 1931 for 70 performances also co-starring with his wife Elsa Lanchester. In 1931 during the Depression that was a respectable run on Broadway.

Laughton plays a bank clerk who's up against it in those Depression years with his family, wife Dorothy Peterson and daughter Maureen O'Sullivan facing imminent eviction. Along comes nephew Ray Milland, newly arrived from Australia, with a ton of money. He tries to interest Milland in a sure investment thing he's heard about from the bank, but can't capitalize on. When Milland refuses he poisons him when they're alone and buries him in the backyard, after taking whatever money he needs.

The investment pays off, but Laughton is not a criminal at heart and he's a rather weak willed individual who drifts into an affair with new neighbor Verree Teasdale again when wife and daughter are away. That leads to blackmail and another murder and all for the wrong reasons.

Mystery fans will no doubt catch the similarities between Payment Deferred and the James M. Cain classic, The Postman Always Rings Twice. It works out the same way in the film, so if you've seen the famous movie of that novel that starred John Garfield and Lana Turner you know how Payment Deferred will come out.

In adapting the play MGM did not do a terribly good job of disguising the stage origins. It is in fact a one set play, the living room of the Laughton/Peterson house. However Laughton is riveting in his part and the rest of the cast supports him ably.

When next broadcast don't miss Payment Deferred, for the legion of fans that Charles Laughton has, it's a must.

Don't be put off by the age of this film

[Bucs1960 · 7/10 · 17 November 2008]

Charles Laughton is at his twitchy best in this early film, reprising his stage role as the bank clerk who has fallen on hard times. Unexpected money turns up in the person of Ray Milland, a long lost nephew. Milland is unwilling to lend or invest his funds with Laughton and with the help of a little arsenic, murder ensues. The remainder of the film revolves around the question as to whether Laughton will be caught out or not. The title provides the answer, as he pays but not for Milland's death.

Laughton pulls out all the stops as the unstable clerk and his acting is very eccentric but interesting. Dorothy Peterson is his put-upon wife and she is not called upon to do much except grovel and submit to Laughton's petulance and fits of rage. A very young Maureen O'Sullivan is pert and pretty as the daughter and the wonderful character actress Veree Teasdale is a treat as the phony French blackmailer who spins a web around Laughton.

The film has a stage bound look for obvious reasons with the majority of the scenes taking place in the house. The prologue, in which the landlord (Billy Bevan without his signature mustache) is showing the house to a prospective buyer (busy English actor Halliwell Hobbes), is a clever lead-in to the main action. Bevan's story of the how,who and why of the murder illustrates that not all is what it appears.

Although dated, this film is very well worth seeing for a look at an early Laughton effort, although his acting style remained pretty much the same throughout his career........edgy, a bit hammy, but thoroughly enjoyable.

great film

[KyleFurr2 · 7/10 · 29 August 2005]

This is the kind of role that Charles Laughton was great in, but he was great in just about anything he did. Laughton plays a banker's assistant who is in debt to everyone and there is basically nothing he can do and his boss says he'll fire him because Laughton's reputation might hurt the bank. Then one night, out of the blue, comes in Ray Milland with a pocketful of money and Laughton tries to get him to make a deal about a tip he got about the stock market. Milland wants nothing to do with his plan so Laughton kills him with poison. Laughton then becomes rich and he and his family are on easy street. Laughton does eventually gets what is coming to him but for the murder of his wife which he didn't do. It's a great movie with a great performance by Laughton.

"If walls could talk, they might tell a different story".

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 5 May 2009]

I have to say I'll always enjoy a Charles Laughton movie, but you have to admit, pictures from the early days of film almost always laid it right out there for the viewer as if one couldn't put two and two together. In this case, the murder of young Medland (Ray Milland) - it's OK for the viewer to be in on the little secret, but gee, could it have been any more obvious to anyone in the Marble home to figure out what happened? A newly dug up back yard wouldn't have raised too much suspicion now would it? Or how about that great big old bottle of cyanide sitting on the book shelf in plain view, with books discussing the subject of poisoning by cyanide the only reading material in the house? You had to know that William Marble (Laughton) wasn't going to get away with this one, so the intrigue was in how the story would get you there. I think with a little more creativity, old Marble could probably have gone for a two-fer with Mrs. Collins (Verree Teasdale) if you know what I mean. Instead, poor Mrs. Marble (Dorothy Peterson) had to agonize her way through thoughts of extortion, adultery and suicide if her husband ever proved to be unfaithful. I was sad to see her go.

Probably more unbelievable to me than the whole idea of murdering his own nephew was Marble's ability to turn the boy's wallet into a fortune of thirty thousand pounds - now there was the real mystery. In every other aspect of his life, Laughton's character seemed to be a real loser, pushing his wife around and completely unbearable to his daughter Winnie (Maureen O'Sullivan). Who would have guessed that the line of BS he gave to Medland might have made them both rich.

Check this one out if you can get your hands on it; I happened to catch it on Turner Classics last night and it made for an entertaining hour and a half. There's always a good chance you'll pick up some neat trivia from one of the film hosts on Turner; like the studio being pressured to remove direct references to cyanide in case it might give ideas to potential husband/killers in the future. They certainly didn't foresee the advent of the internet a mere seventy years later, where you could learn everything you ever wanted to know to commit murder and mayhem of your very own.

Charles Laughton Misbehaves

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 25 February 2001]

After committing a horrible murder, an insolvent bank clerk finds the PAYMENT DEFERRED on his crime in the most surprising matter.

Reprising his stage role, Charles Laughton, all fidgets & blinks, is the main reason to view this little film. He overacts outrageously and is vastly entertaining to watch, even if the plot of this domestic melodrama becomes turgid at times. With his large face, sad eyes & nervous body, he is the very picture of a man dealing with a terribly guilty conscience. Cooing like a dove, roused to brutish wrath or laughing maniacally, Laughton is certainly never boring. With his great film roles still ahead of him (Henry VIII, Bligh, Quasimodo), Laughton in this early role shows hints of his eventual greatness.

The rest of the cast really defer to Laughton, but they all play their parts very well, especially Dorothy Peterson as his long-suffering wife - her emotional agony as Laughton's secrets slowly dawn upon her are truly painful to watch. Maureen O'Sullivan shows spunk as their social climbing daughter; Verree Teasdale is pure poison as a French seductress.

Billy Bevan as a nosy neighbor, Halliwell Hobbes as an old fellow fascinated with crime, and young Ray Milland as Laughton's charming, tragic nephew all make their small roles memorable.

The frankly handled adultery points to the film's pre-Production Code status.

This film rather defies categorization

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 14 September 2019]

It seems like something Hitchcock might do, in that what the wrongdoer did from the start is known, and it is also somewhat like a film noir in that you can see how the main character might have spent his entire life as a law abiding citizen had he not become desperate.

Often seen on Turner Classic Movies in the past, since MGM had the rights to it, it hasn't been shown for over four years. It is about a bank teller, William Marble (Charles Laughton), whose family bills have mounted to the point that the bank tells him if he does not settle his accounts they will fire him. (That will fix things!...for the bank). A family meeting over the matter shows that although the Marbles live simply there were some discretionary expenses.

Then one night in the midst of this crisis a long forgotten nephew, James Medland (Ray Milland) from Australia, shows up. Marble's wife and daughter retire for the evening, and when Marble sees that his nephew is carrying considerable cash, he pitches his idea of betting on the French franc, since he knows about a plan to manipulate the currency. Medland flatly refuses and wants to leave, but Marble tries to make it up with him by having a drink with him. This is where those camera supplies that Marble bought come in handy. They include cyanide.

You don't actually SEE what happens, but by Laughton's mannerisms, off hand remarks, and his preoccupation with the backyard you know he killed the nephew, buried him in the backyard, and took his cash. Marble goes and makes his currency trades and ends up with thirty thousand pounds, enough for his family to live on for the rest of their lives. Or until inflation kicks in but that's another story.

But Marble really isn't free. He's just traded off one set of troubles for another. His wife wants to move to a different house. Theirs is rather shabby. But he refuses. It becomes the source of some tension between them, but there he is - the rich man tethered to the grave of his unwilling benefactor for the rest of his life or else it is the gallows. And Winnie, his daughter (Maureen O'Sullivan), becomes a partying snob and back talker. He sends his wife and daughter on a vacation without him so maybe his nerves will heal. And up like a snake pops a neighborhood shopkeeper and he has an affair, but all she really wants is to blackmail him, threatening to tell his wife. And then the notices appear in the paper asking people if they have seen James Medland, because his family has heard nothing and he has disappeared.

How does this all turn out?Watch and find out the great ironic ending. One matter of interest - three members of the cast were reunited 16 years later in Paramount's "The Big Clock" - Laughton, Milland, and O'Sullivan. Laughton had reached legend status by this time, but fortunes had really turned for Ray Milland, who is the main character in that film versus spending the vast majority of this film pushing up daisies, literally speaking.

Payment Deferred, so should viewing.

[st-shot · 5/10 · 21 April 2011]

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.

Paid in Full

[sol-kay · 8/10 · 19 November 2008]

***MAJOR SPOILERS*** Crime & Punishment movie having to do with how justice works in strange and unusual ways in bringing the guilty to pay for their crimes. In this case William Mable, Charles Laughton, a man who got away with murder but was convicted and sent to the gallows for a murder, or really death, that he in fact didn't commit.

Deep in debt and with no way out of his pressing financial problems William has his nephew from far off Australia James Medland, Ray Milland, show up at his dilapidated house, that he's behind in the rent, for a visit. Seeing that James has a wad of bills, in the hundreds of pounds, in his wallet William tries to talk him into going partners with him in the superlative British Foreign Exchange Currency Market. The overbearing William really gets under the good natured James skin who tells him to kindly get lost and stop bothering him with his both wild and cockamamie money schemes.

Desperately wanting to get his hands on James cash William, in an effort to let bygones be bygones, offers him a departing drink that he secretly lased with deadly cyanide. Gulping the drink down in one shot James soon becomes history as well as part, in being buried there, of the Mable's backyard.

Keeping both his wife Anne, Dorothy Peterson,and daughter Winnie, Maureen O'Sullivan, as well as the the police in the dark to James' fate it soon becomes evident that William in fact got away with murder. William got a bit lucky in the Foreign Exchange Market parlaying James stolen 100 pounds to an astonishing 30,000 in less then a month! With everything going great for him William falls victim to his next door neighbor clothing store owner Maggie Collins, Verree Teasdale, who's been eying the big oaf when she got wind that he was riding the gravy train as a result of the money he made in the market.

Taking advantage of a lonely William, with his both wife and daughter away on vacation, Maggie seduced the big lug and later used the fact that he cheated on his wife Anne to blackmail him. Anne, suspecting something, who only thought that William embezzled the bank that he work at got the shock of her life when she caught William and Maggie smooching in the family living room! This while she was both sick and bedridden with pneumonia upstairs in the master bedroom!

***SPOILERS*** Greatly depressed in the fact that her loyal and caring husband is cheating on her Anne took a drink of juice laced with cyanide and ended up dead the same way James, involuntarily, did. Arrested in is wife's murder William could only wait and face the music, or hangman, in a murder that he didn't commit but one that he did and got away with. In fact the strange fate of William Marble turned out to be a twisted case of poetic justice if there ever was one!

Laughton Plays a Simple Man with Broad Strokes

[atlasmb · 7/10 · 1 July 2015]

"Payment Deferred" drips with melodrama and moral rectitude, but it's still worth seeing. Charles Laughton plays the part of William Marble, a wretched bank clerk whose debts drive him to a desperate act. Laughton reprises the role he first played on stage, which may be the reason for his overly broad portrayal and his lack of subtlety. Still, Laughton is always fun to watch.

Ray Milland--so young you might not recognize him--plays Marble's long lost relative who comes to visit. Maureen O'Sullivan plays Winnie Marble, the self-centered daughter who craves money so she can look down on those who have always looked down on her.

It's a simple story that rarely ventures from the confines of the Marble household, but it demonstrates what passed for a crime story in 1932. Later, despite the Hayes code, Hitchcock and others would produce crime stories with more psychological subtlety and those that live in the gray areas of moral uncertainty.

Losing their Marbles...

[Forn55 · 3/10 · 14 September 2011]

"Payment Deferred" is, to my mind at least, something of an anomaly; a pennydreadful murder melodrama that appears to have been transmuted, almost intact, from its stage origins onto the silver screen. What makes the movie fascinating is the degree to which the estimable cast utilizes the gestural and vocal histrionics of stage acting in a cinematic context. Whether this was a conscious choice on the part of the director, Lothar Mendes or whether the over-the-top filmscript simply encouraged the frenzied scenery chewing that ensues, is debatable. But, alas, it doesn't quite add up. All the actors (and they are good ones, too) pitch into their parts as if they're being urged, offscreen, to "play to the balcony." But a movie isn't a live play and the shrieking, the sobbing and the swank of guilt and remorse that might play before theatrical footlights and a live audience seem both affected and slightly risible here. I have a very high regard for Charles Laughton, and his yawps and bellows in this movie are certainly not boring to watch, but -- by the end of the movie -- I found myself unable to muster up either belief in his character (let alone the other characters) nor emotional catharsis at the end to which he comes. And melodrama (whether live or filmed) that fails to tug on our emotions is, for lack of a better term, failure.

contrived but entertaining

[mukava991 · 29 July 2015]

This crime-doesn't-pay melodrama features a pyrotechnical performance by Charles Laughton as an impoverished bank clerk who poisons and robs his wealthy nephew, using the spoils to speculate with great success on the currency exchange, sending him into a high income bracket virtually overnight.

The exposition is glaringly obvious and contrived, especially the key sequence of the murder itself which is right out of a 1909 two-reeler. Yet it's all gripping because you can't help wondering how it will all work out.

Surrounding the main course of Laughton's steaming spiced ham are plausible performances from Dorothy Peterson as his timid, long-suffering wife, Maureen O'Sullivan as his innocent, earnest daughter, Ray Milland as the ill-fated nephew who shows up out of nowhere just when the plot needs him, and last but not least Miss Veree Teasdale in her element as a cold, greedy, calculating shop owner who develops a sudden interest in Laughton when she learns of his newly acquired wealth.

One can only surmise that the source play developed the situations more convincingly because the essential arc makes sense: a desperate man commits a crime and gets away with it for a while, only to pay for it later in an unexpected way. Between these two high marks we see the corrosive effect of sudden monetary gain on the mores of a lower class family unit.

Finally, Laughton gets to indulge in a spell of insane cackling as he did in another 1932 release, "Devil and the Deep."

Very good, but I have another recommendation instead....

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 24 April 2011]

In "Payment Deferred", Charles Laughton plays a mousy bank employee in severe financial crisis. In fact, unless he clears up his debts FAST, his boss has threatened to fire him. However, when his nephew from Australia (Ray Milland) shows up soon after, Laughton thinks he can get some money from this rich young man to bail him out of his problems. But Laughton comes on WAY too strong and frightens Milland--and there's no way he'll help Laughton. So, on the spur of the moment, Laughton offers Milland some poisoned whiskey and then robs his corpse--thus alleviating his debts.

At this point, I thought the movie was very good. However, during the next portion of the film, Laughton's character is very inconsistent--one minute paranoid and on edge and the next, cold and at ease. To me this is a serious problem because he also goes from loving husband to unfaithful jerk--and it seemed more a plot device than anything else since it was not consistent with his character. And much of this final portion of the film was very good (such as what happened to his wife) some was pretty bad (emotionally he was a yo-yo--too much so). Frankly, his performance seemed, at times, over-the-top.

I enjoyed "Payment Deferred" and do recommend it. However, I couldn't help but see a few shortcomings in this film because a dozen years later, Charles Laughton made another similar film but it was so much better. Unlike "Payment Deferred", "The Suspect" was perfect...or darn close. The biggest differences was that in "The Suspect" the audience really likes Laughton's character--he's a very good person who just happens to kill people--people that REALLY need it and you feel he is morally justified for his actions. However, in "Payment Deferred", Laughton is just an evil and selfish man--and the audience is NOT drawn to like him. My advice is see "The Suspect" and, if you are still inclined, try "Payment Deferred".

Dark, fast and actually quite funny

[1930s_Time_Machine · 6/10 · 3 September 2022]

Like a book you just can't put down and have to finish in one go, this gets you hooked immediately.

It's actually very funny but only Charles Laughton seems to appreciate that this film is a comedy. His eccentric character, subtle mannerisms, timing and delivery are perfect. Whoever says that comedy in the early 30s wasn't sophisticated should watch this. Charles Laughton has a particularly English sense of wicked humour which seems a little lost on some people - including his co-stars: Dorothy Peterson for example. She plays his wife, Mrs Marble and she's the only thing wrong with this - I also have no idea what sort of English accent she's trying to do - Minnesotashire? Taking this so seriously and not noticing Charles Laughton's little in-jokes however makes her a little reminiscent of Margaret Dumont in the early Marx Brothers films. She just adds to the overall silliness.

As silly and amusing this as this film is, it's also a very dark and shocking drama and like all the best serious dramas, it's peppered with dark humour and acted superbly. Having played this role on stage Charles Laughton brilliantly transferred his finely honed performance to film. Unlike a lot of play to film transfers in the early 30s which don't quite seem like proper films, this is different. German whiz kid director, Lothar Mendes and MGM's usual level of professionalism really bring this to life, add excitement and slip in a few unexpected twists. Definitely worth a watch.

*****Possible Spoilers Ahead*****Charles Laughton as a bank clerk who almost gets away with murder...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 18 November 2008]

What makes PAYMENT DEFERRED even more of a curiosity is that three of its stars: CHARLES LAUGHTON, MAUREEN O'SULLIVAN and RAY MILLAND would all appear about fifteen years later in THE BIG CLOCK.

Ray Milland has a small role as a debonair and wealthy man whose wealth is just what Laughton needs, since he's facing eviction unless he can make the next payment on the house he shares with DOROTHY PETERSON (his wife) and daughter MAUREEN O'SULLIVAN.

Laughton manages to poison Milland and accumulate his wealth. The plot thickens when a flirtatious blackmailer (VERREE TEASDALE) wins his affection by starting an intimate relationship while his wife and daughter are away. To tell the rest, is giving away too much of the plot.

What's really amazing is how much unadulterated "ham" Laughton is able to get away with. You can almost see Ray Milland sizing him up (with side glances) in the scene where he's about to be poisoned and probably knowing he was being outplayed by a master of the art.

The story has an ending very much in the same vein as ANOTHER MAN'S POISON--but is rather stage-bound with almost all of the action taking place on one set.

Summing up: Laughton is fascinating but there's a primitive look to the whole tale. Interesting to see a young Ray Milland in a minor role.

A loss of Marbles

[LCShackley · 6/10 · 18 November 2008]

If you like British mysteries from the 20s and 30s, this film will be right up your alley. It has all the twists and turns of the plays and books from that period.

Charles Laughton plays Mr. Marble, a low-level bank employee who resorts to crime in order to get the cash he needs to play the market. He's the kind of lower-middle-class guy who, when he finally gets some cash, fills his tawdry parlor with Victorian gewgaws and paintings like "September Morn" because he thinks it shows "class." (His daughter, who grows into a snob once the money starts flowing, mocks him for his cheap vulgarity.)

He makes the mistake of falling into the clutches of a cheap French floozy who complicates life even further. The clever script keeps taking unexpected turns until the closing curtain.

For me, the problem with the film wasn't that it was dated. The problem is Charles Laughton. I have never understood his appeal. His face is often void of any expression except a sort of sheep-like stupidity (same as when he played Javert in LES MIS), and he overacts consistently, like villains in silent movie potboilers. The ending of the film was spoiled for me by the goofy shot of him laughing maniacally while everything around him fades.

But...if you can enjoy a good plot even when the leading man goes way over the top, this is a pleasant murder mystery from a long-lost age.

Don't let this one get away from you, an early Charles Laughton mini-masterpiece of murder and justice.

[larry41onEbay · 9/10 · 19 September 2003]

Don't let this one get away from you, an early Charles Laughton mini-masterpiece of murder and justice.

A friend recommended I see this film `at any cost.' I would have blown it off because the rating at the time on the IMDB was below 6.5 (my limit for giving it a chance). What a surprise when my girlfriend and I finally got around to watching the tape we made off of TCM. This moody, atmospheric melodrama just started to pull us in. Pretty and oh so young Maureen O'Sullivan, craftsman Charles Laughton, dapper Ray Milland, seductress Verree Teasdale are just the attractive ingredients. It's the story, told slowly and deliberately that get you hooked. SPOILERS:

In this adaptation of Jeffrey Dell's play, Charles Laughton recreates his stage role as a seemingly meek bank clerk. To make good his debts, Laughton ingratiates himself with his wealthy Australian nephew (Ray Milland), then poisons the lad and buries the body in his garden. Using the money the nephew had on his person, Laughton invests wisely and becomes rich himself. He rapidly goes to seed, deserting his wife (Dorothy Peterson) for a "woman of the world" (Verree Teasdale) and drinking himself into unconsciousness. Laughton's distraught wife figures out the extent of her husband's crimes, and grimly arranges for Laughton to accidentally kill her-with enough circumstantial evidence planted to convict the husband of murder. Payment Deferred was a particularly vivid experience for supporting actor Ray Milland, who watched in amazement as Charles Laughton got away with some of the ripest "ham" ever seen on film.

Laughton

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 3 January 2023]

In London, bank clerk William Marble (Charles Laughton) is drowning in debt. His job is threatened. He blames his wife. He's visited by his rich nephew James Medland who he has not seen in many years. James' parents died recently. The greedy William has some wicked ideas to get the money.

Laughton is great at being slimy and that's what he does here. He's almost too good. He is such a weasel that James would probably leave after the first fifteen minutes of this movie. In a way, he's trying to hard. He's pushing the acting too far. He needs to hold back. It's probably a hold-over from the silent era. He may as well start twirling his moustache. Once the act is done, his wild paranoid acting is much more in line with his situation. Nevertheless, it's interesting to see this legendary actor in a relatively early staring role.

Nerve endings deferred

[ArtVandelayImporterExporter · 4/10 · 3 January 2023]

I don't know why long-lost Ray Milland shows up at Uncle Charles Laughton's house. But I am pretty sure that once Laughton starts badgering him for money I wanted Milland to either leave or stick a fireplace poker through Laughton's chest.

Unfortunately, this is a movie based on a low-rent stage play, so of course we get Laughton poisoning Milland with a drink laced by cyanide that he just happened to have laying around the house. Problem with rats, I suppose.

If you can stomach that nonsense maybe you can also put up with fat, ugly Laughton's effete hambone act as he steals the dead nephew's money and turns himself into a bigshot pretty much overnight. Laughton - as usual - got on my nerves very early on, just like he ruins almost every movie he's in. I just don't see the appeal of the guy or his shtick.

Ray Milland isn't on screen long enough to matter. Dorothy Peterson is Laughton's beard, errrrr, wife. And Maureen O'Sullivan is the daughter. As Jon & Vangelis could tell you, any time O'Sullivan is on the screen is a privilege.

Early film noir

[nickenchuggets · 9/10 · 17 January 2022]

Despite being almost 100 years old, hardly anyone has seen this movie. TCM manages to sift through countless movies from an extremely long time ago in order to find ones that are worth watching in today's world. One movie that should have been given more attention is Payment Deferred. The main character in this movie is played by the great Charles Laughton, one of Britain's most esteemed actors. He accurately plays a reckless and cruel man who ends up getting what he deserves. The film begins with William Marble (Laughton's character) finding out that his boss at the bank plans to sue him because he hasn't paid a bill. William's nephew James (Ray Milland) shows up at his house, which is fortunate for William as his nephew is rich. William unsuccessfully tries to haggle him for money, as James' mind is made up already. William is determined to get him to hand over the money, one way or another. He serves James a drink with cyanide in it, killing him, and then buries the corpse in his backyard. Using his dead nephew's vast money reserves, William is able to retire, but he becomes paranoid of his family (or someone else) finding out about his crime. Annie (his wife) goes away on vacation on her husband's advice, and William gets some much needed respite. In his wife's absence, William starts having a French woman named Madame Collins come over to his house, and she pressures him into giving her money because he'll be so much happier that way. When Annie arrives back from her vacation, she eventually realizes her husband killed his nephew with poison after she discovers a book that talks about cyanide and its effects. Meanwhile, Winnie (Maureen O'Sullivan), William's daughter, starts acting strange and gains a superiority complex all of a sudden. She talks back to her father and complains about having to live in such a disgusting old house. Winnie runs out of the house, and Annie tries to catch her. Because it's raining outside, Annie gets sick, and William is forced to heal her. Madame Collins decides to return to William at the worst possible time and blackmails him into coughing up more money, and Annie finally finds out about what her husband is doing. After seeing him talking to her, Annie swallows the remaining cyanide and kills herself. William is then arrested under the assumption that he killed his wife (even though he didn't). On the day he is to be hanged, Winnie visits him in prison and having said goodbye to her, he's now ready to die. Payment Deferred is a surprisingly dark and macabre movie for the 30s, but it makes a lot more sense when you consider it is a pre code movie. They were able to get away with a lot more disturbing content in this time period, which helps the movie remain exciting even 90 years later. In a way, I almost consider this a noir because a woman ends up destroying the main character, and this is a common sight in noir movies. As soon as Collins began asking William for money, I knew it was over for him. This film is pretty predictable, but Laughton gives such a good performance that it makes the whole thing worth it. He really doesn't seem to care about anything, and he appears completely heartless throughout. Overall, I really liked this movie, even if essentially no one has heard of it.

Bad Liar

[view_and_review · 6/10 · 28 July 2023]

Some people are good liars and some are bad liars. Take my son for instance. Bad liar. He's a bad liar because the guilt is on his face and he probably doesn't want to lie, but he believes lying may be the easiest way out for him. I was the same way as a kid.

William Marble (Charles Laughton) was a bad liar.

William was a lowly bank clerk hardly able to make ends meet. He had tips and ideas for making money, but he had no money to use. To make matters worse, collectors were after him. He saw his opportunity to get out of debt and make a little coin for himself when he was visited by his cousin James (Ray Milland). He pitched an investment idea to James and James declined.

Now, a normal person would call it a wrap. "Thank you for listening, just thought I'd try."

Not so William. He poisoned James with cyanide. Then--because clearly his elevator didn't go to the top floor--he buried him in his backyard! Who does that?

William took James' money, invested it, and made a pretty penny for himself. But now he has this incredible secret weighing on him and he couldn't look more guilty. He was nothing but a ball of nerves and anxiety. He practically shouted, "I killed someone and buried him in my backyard!" with his actions and behavior.

He only made things worse for himself (as if that was possible) when he had an affair with Madame Collins (Verree Teasdale) while his wife, Annie (Dorothy Peterson), and his daughter Winnie (Maureen O'Sullivan) were out of town.

"Payment Deferred" was difficult to watch at times because of William's behavior. What fun is it in watching a guy spiral out of control because he can't play it cool after committing a crime. I get it, most people aren't killers and probably wouldn't handle it well, but come on. William was so uptight, high strung, and nervy that it's a wonder he didn't just turn himself in.

As bad as he was at keeping his murder a secret, why would he add Madame Collins to his list of secrets to keep?

The end of the movie was a bit redeeming. It was a little twist that worked well. I didn't thoroughly like the movie but I enjoyed it enough.

Beyond Anything Tolerable Even for the Experimental Early Days

[LeonLouisRicci · 4/10 · 7 July 2015]

Intolerable Overacting from Charles Laughton makes this one Unbearable. All of the Nuance is Gone and what remains is just too much to take on the Big Screen. It's a Wonder Laughton managed another Role after this bit of Excessive Scene Stealing .

It's actually more than Scene Stealing it's Show Stealing. Even for 1932 and many Stage Actors making the Transition to Film, this was a Performance that's Inexcusable. Ray Milland Shows up in an Early Role and Notice how Laughton Bullies Him from word one. He Verbally Assaults Him Beyond the Pale.

Maureen O' Sullivan does manage to Get a Word in Once and While and Her Change of Character is a Temporary Diversion from the Bull-Like Laughton. The Wife and the French Floozy are OK but nothing can really Stop the Juggernaut that is Charles Laughton.

Overall, so Stagy and Dated, so Over the Top and Ripe that the Entertainment Value is Lost, except the Clever Twist Ending. But Enduring this is almost Impossible to get to that One Surprise.