The Intruder (1953) User Reviews

On the road to crime

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 24 January 2019]

Was very intrigued by the idea for the story for 'The Intruder'. The cast, including Jack Hawkins, George Cole and Dennis Price, were appetising, some good talent here. Plus it was directed by Guy Hamilton in his second film as director (his first being 'The Ringer'), Hamilton was an uneven director to me but he also did do some great work such as 'Evil Under the Sun', 'The Colditz Story', 'An Inspector Calls' and 'Goldfinger'.

Personally didn't find 'The Intruder' a great film as such, but still found it mostly well done and with a good deal to admire. Wouldn't go as far to call it a must see and it is not really among the best work of everybody involved, having said that 'The Intruder' strikes me as a film deserving of more credit and not as one barely known/shown today (or at least over-shadowed by those wider advertised or with even bigger names involved).

'The Intruder' maybe took a little too long to get going as a result of being bogged down by a few of the flashbacks where momentum was not always there (the Arthur Howard subplot agreed doesn't add a lot) and Hamilton's directorial inexperience showed a bit. Occasionally, it makes its points a touch too heavily, though not to the extent of feeling talked down to.

It did feel anti-climactic at the end and didn't leave as startling an impact as it could have done.

For all those drawbacks though, 'The Intruder' came over mostly as a film that was done with intelligence and taste. The titular character is written with plenty of meat and compelling realism, even if the other characters are not quite as rich, while the atmosphere does wrench the gut and resonate emotionally and the dialogue is thought-provoking.

Most of the story is compelling, and handled intelligently and sensitively, allowing for some powerful moments. It is always easy to follow and didn't come over as disjointed or episodic. The production values are more than competent and quite beautifully done. The cast do a great job, Hawkins playing his character with hugely effective force and compassion and Michael Medwin giving a wholly convincing portrait of a flawed person worth rooting for. Cole and Price are scene stealers, as is bubbly Dora Bryan.

On the whole, a decent film if not a great one. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Jack Hawkins as a Compassionate Colonel

[malcolmgsw · 6/10 · 20 August 2014]

Jack Hawkins plays a Colonel of a tank corps during world war two.After the war he finds a burglar in his home who turns out to be Michael Medwin who was one of his loyalist soldiers during the war.It turns out that he is on the run from prison having been sent there for manslaughter.The story of how Medwin arrived at that spot is dealt with by flashbacks.A couple of them ,such as that with Arthur Howard,don't add very much too the plot.What this film does tell us about is the trouble that many ex servicemen had in adapting back to civilian life.The cast is excellent and is very entertaining.However I found the end a bit of a disappointment and rather an anti climax.Not seen now,it deserves an airing.There is a great cameo from Denis Price who nearly steals the film with his cowardly Captain.

the former head of a regiment tries to find out why one soldier went bad

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 8 December 2021]

Jack Hawkins, Michael Medwin, George Cole, and Dennis Price star in "The Intruder," a British film from 1953.

Hawkins is Colonel Merton, who comes home one night and discovers one of his ex-NCOs Ginger (Medwin) burglarizing his house. He wants to help him, but Ginger runs off, believing Merton called the police.

Merton sets out to find him by calling on some of the old regiment. We don't really get Ginger's whole story until near the end, but Merton learns a few things about those who served under him.

Throughout the film goes from flashback to present day, as Ginger is shown as heroic. There was one striking flashback scene. Which shows Leonard Pirry (Price) a tank commander, abandoning his tank when it looks like it's about to be destroyed by the enemy.

It falls to Ginger and another man to see if the radio works, and when the tank is fired upon, Ginger drags his partner to safety. Pirry has always pretended he was injured, though Merton knows the truth.

There is another scene, a comedy one with Arthur Howard, that doesn't add much to the film. It seems to be there for some humor.

Another powerful scene concerns Ginger's return from the war.

I have a letter written by Tyrone Power while he was in London. It says that he is going to "chez Hawkins" for dinner. I think of that every time I see Jack Hawkins.

Quality British picture with strong performances

[peterjamesyates · 24 February 2002]

Underrated film, starring Jack Hawkins - long one of my favourite actors. There are some great scenes, not least that at the farm when the Merton character appears with a container of water for his car, immediately defusing an awkward situation with his friend being interrogated by two detectives. Watch out for character actor Edward Chapman, in a nasty role as an abusing stepfather.

A great cast bring post-war strife to life

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 17 December 2017]

THE INTRUDER is a post-war British drama that uses a thriller-based storyline to explore the effects of the Second World War on the soldiers involved in fighting it. Jack Hawkins plays a former colonel who arrives home one night to discover one of his own men burgling his house. As the police hunt for the suspect, the circumstances leading to the situation are told via flashback, as each soldier adapts to society on his return home in a different way. The good news is that an exemplary cast including Dennis Price, Hugh Williams, Michael Medwin, Duncan Lamont, and George Cole do very well throughout, and there are constant cameos from the likes of Michael Ripper, George Baker, and Dora Bryan. THE INTRUDER is less about the thrills and more about making you think and feel, and it does that very well.

Ginger's line

[ulicknormanowen · 7/10 · 30 December 2021]

Smartly blending thriller (a desperate ex- soldier who got a raw deal after WW2 becomes an ex-convict on the run) and war movie (scenes from the past of the characters of the story) ,"the intruder" ,although too over-the top melodrama ( Ginger 's fate when he comes back from war could be that of a character of Hugo's "le misérables" ) , is a gripping movie.

Mertin (Jack Hawkins ),the officer who goes back in the past ,begins more and more compassioning as the story unfolds .Nothing in the world is black and white, even in war when men are supposed to be heroes : Perry (superbly portrayed by Dennis Price ,for me the stand-out) acted like a coward and ,discharged ,he has become a well-respected man, smug , despising. On the other hand , there is a strong camaraderie between these brothers in arms which lingers when the war is over , a friendship even a little girl can feel ; little by little,the colonel will side with them .

The anxiety of war fatigue destroys the soul.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 16 December 2021]

The performances of Jack Hawkins and Michael Medwin aides this post war drama (which teacher has plenty of flashbacks of the war) shows how post-war trauma can destroy an individual (Medwin), and how a not so pleasant unplanned visit with his commanding officer (Hawkins) brings this all out. Conversations with other members of the troupe and flashbacks are intense, with the roaring tanks a symbol of aggression with the anxiety definitely the outcome of everything you see in the flashbacks going into the present day. The anxiety of Medwin's post war trauma is much more intense than a written description can express so you have to see it to totally understand it.

As usual with British films from this era, the photography, even in black and white, is amazingly detailed and really adds to the mood of the film. The film struggles at times do with his pacing, and scenes with Dora Bryan as a silly WAC eventually become annoying. There's a very well film sequence with a bunch of kids playing war games in a possible bombed out construction site, quite more gritty than anything I've seen in American films on the same subject.

While I do not think that this was filmed with an anti-war point of view, that is obviously there with the description of everything that Medwin went through and how it affected him. George Cole and Dennis Price co-star, and in a minor role, you can spot the future Emperor Tiberius of "I Claudius", George Baker. It is ultimately a tragedy, a dark view of society trying to regain its footing after an international crisis, and it's another piece of proof that just because peace has been declared doesn't mean that the war is really over. Nicely directed by Guy Hamilton.

A colonel's care for his soldiers, especially after the war

[clanciai · 9/10 · 14 December 2019]

The colonel Jack Hawkins coming home surprises a burglar, who happens to be one of his former soldiers. He can't understand how such a good soldier could happen to a criminal course and can't just let the case slip away. He engages himself in the mystery of the fallen soldier, finds other soldiers of the same company, and gradually gets a thread or two with which to unravel the mystery. The mystery proves a tragedy, and the final sequences out in the country are heart-breaking in their revelations of sheer bad luck derailing into overwhelming misfortunes. There are many flashbacks, you get back into the war and some of its worst ordeals, you only catch faint traces of the soldier in question at first, but gradually your eyes are opened to his case. It's not a great film, but it's a great story, and it is well filmed, and definitely one of Jack Hawkins' best.

A curiosity at best.

[MOscarbradley · 5/10 · 8 September 2018]

Guy Hamilton's "The Intruder" is neither fish nor fowl. Jack Hawkins is the ex-colonel who comes home to find one of his former soldiers breaking into his home and sets out to discover what it was that drove him to it. It's told largely in flashback as Hawkins tracks down the survivors of his batallion so the film is part war movie, part psychological drama and part comedy. The story is interesting enough and it's generally well played by a fine cast of British character actors. Hawkins is excellent as always and Michael Medwin is surprisingly good as the intruder and there's nice work from the likes of Dennis Price, George Cole and Dora Bryan. Unfortunately the film takes a bit too long in getting to the point and remains something of a curiosity at best.

I'm All Wrong, Jack

[writers_reign · 3/10 · 22 December 2017]

This was a full decade before The Servant made a section of the cinema-going public aware of Robin Maugham as a novelist and although he was by no means the first writer to address the problem of long-serving servicemen adjusting to civilian life (arguably Hemingway was the first to do so in his 1925 short story 'Soldier's Home' and 20 years later Robert Sherwood's screenplay 'The Best Years Of Our Lives' explored the same theme) he made a half-decent fist of it. Jack Hawkins as Wolf Merton the ex-tank commander virtually phones it in and the movie, helmed by Guy Hamilton, is rich in supporting actors like Edward Chapman, George Cole, Duncan Lamont with Michael Medwin as Ginger (Maugham's novel was entitled 'Line On Ginger', much more evocative than the insipid The Intruder) Edwards possibly hoping the film would kick-start a more successful career than it in fact did.

The Intruder

[henry8-3 · 4/10 · 13 March 2019]

Retired Colonel Jack Hawkins is burgled by one of his old army troop so he investigates why this has happened by visiting his old troop members. Cue, lots of wartime flashbacks.

Competent but unremarkable fifties drama with the usual stiff upper lip performances, albeit Hawkins always has presence and Medwin is good as the one Hawkins is investigating.