Hangover Square (1945) 7.3
A promising classical musician finds his life poisoned by a music hall dancer -- and by the strange gaps in his memory. Director:John Brahm |
|
| 0Share... |
Hangover Square (1945) 7.3
A promising classical musician finds his life poisoned by a music hall dancer -- and by the strange gaps in his memory. Director:John Brahm |
|
| 0Share... |
| Complete credited cast: | |||
|
|
Laird Cregar | ... | |
| Linda Darnell | ... | ||
| George Sanders | ... | ||
|
|
Glenn Langan | ... | |
|
|
Faye Marlowe | ... | |
| Alan Napier | ... | ||
George Harvey Bone is a composer in early 20th century London, who is under stress because he is writing a piano concerto. Due to this stress, he gets black outs when ever he hears dissonances. When he finds himself after the black out in a different quarter of the town, he returns home, to read in the paper that somebody in that quarter was murdered. Asking help from a doctor at Scotland Yard he is assured that he has nothing to do with it, but he is advised to cut back in his work and get some relaxation like other, ordinary people. At a cheap musical he meets Netta, a singer, who inspires him for a new motive for his concerto. But Netta discovers that this motive could also be used as a song for her. The song gets sold, and she hangs around George to get more songs out of him. George believes that Netta is in love with him, and gets in an argument with his girlfriend Barbara, the daughter of Lord Henry, who wants the concerto for one of his souares. George has another black out, ... Written by Stephan Eichenberg <eichenbe@fak-cbg.tu-muenchen.de>
Though it's virtually impossible to find a copy of this buried treasure, it's worth a fair bit of digging. (The film is available on tape only, in mediocre print condition, and carried by only a handful of rental stores in the country.) It's not a brilliant film, but it has some virtuoso camera work that one would never expect to find in a filmi of its type. (Watch for the camera shot in the first seconds of the film that swings quickly up from a crowded street, through a window, and into a tight
closeup of the face of a man about to be killed - very impressive.) This is the type of film one can imagine Martin Scorsese taking an interest in - a skillful, craftsmanlike film overlooked by all but a few film buffs. The performances as well, especially Laird Cregar's, are terrific.