The Long Memory (1953) User Reviews

This epic of good and evil is a gem of post-war British cinema.

[Neil-117 · 8/10 · 4 August 2000]

Crime, punishment, revenge, love and redemption are the big themes of this short movie. The moral bleakness surrounding John Mills, as a man unjustly jailed and now seeking revenge, is reflected in the powerfully stark black and white landscape images which accompany the action. But the issues are far from black and white - the guilty, the innocent and even the investigating policeman are all caught up in the moral dilemmas explored by this clever and thoughtful script. Ultimately all the characters learn that punishment can take many forms, in a conclusion which is both gripping and surprising.

It's not light entertainment, but don't be put off by its serious tone and gritty subject matter. Once seen, this movie will live long in your memory.

The police do not carry pistols

[chorima75 · 8/10 · 19 July 2006]

This is not Chicago…this is postwar London. This is not Bogart…this is John Mills. This is film noir…the English way. I discovered this little known gem on TV the other day, while swapping between channels. I spent the next hour and a half glued to the screen. At first, John Mills would seem an unlikely choice for the leading role, but the film would not work without him. He perfectly portrays Davidson, a common man framed by his own girlfriend for a murder he did not commit. He is released after twelve years in prison and finds his girlfriend Fay now married to Lowthers, the policeman who investigated the case. Will Davidson seek vengeance? Or will he start a new life with Ilsa, a refugee girl he has just met? I cannot even imagine Humphrey Bogart or Robert Mitchum questioning if revenge is worthy. However, Mills possesses the innocence and fragility required to make his doubts believable. His tender relation with Ilsa is the best thing in the film. Both characters work as reflections of each other: Ilsa has been made orphan and destitute by the war, while Davidson's parents died while he was in jail. Ilsa works in a bar in the docks, where she suffers constant humiliations and abuse by the male customers. She falls for Davidson when he saves her from a rapist, and literally offers herself to him (no prizes for guessing: he is unable to resist her). We could be cynical about their motives for getting together…or we could see them as two human beings who desperately need to feel loved.

One of the comments wonders why the Lowthers sleep in separate beds. The answer is censorship. Till the late 50s (this film was released in 1953), not even married couples were allowed to share a bed on screen. Davidson and Ilsa also sleep in twin beds in his tiny shack, even when a previous scene clearly suggests that they have become lovers. However, the film turns censorship to its advantage. One sequence alternatively shows both couples talking in bed. Davidson and Ilsa, the couple who are falling in love, have their beds joined at the headboard, so the camera can show them together in the same shot. Lowthers and Fay, the couple who are falling apart, have their beds separated by a bedside table, so their conversation is shown by means of alternate shots of one or the other. I totally agree that the title could not be more appropriate: this film will stay in your memory for a long time.

The days are long and the nights are longer.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 29 April 2011]

The Long Memory is directed by Robert Hamer who co-adapts for the screen with Frank Harvey from Howard Clewes' novel of the same name. It stars John Mills, John McCallum, Elizabeth Sellars, Eva Bergh and Geoffrey Keen. William Alwyn scores the music and Harry Waxman is the cinematographer. Plot sees Mills as Phillip Davidson, a man released from prison after serving 12 years for a murder he didn't commit. Finding a base home on a dilapidated barge in a boggy Thames inlet, Davidson sets about finding the liars who were responsible for his incarceration.

Moody and often downbeat, The Long Memory is a well directed and acted British crime thriller. Met with much negativity from the critics upon its release, it's a film that has since been re-evaluated and garnered better critical praise. Seen as a forerunner to Get Carter, it's also been mentioned in the same breath as They Made Me a Fugitive and Carol Reed's excellent Odd Man Out. However, a decent film it is for sure, but it's not in the same class as the three film's mentioned. The focus of the novel was the cop Bob Lowther (played by McCallum), but here it's rightly shifted to Davidson and his pursuit of those that wronged him. A good move that, even if the big culmination of the movie is a touch too contrived and not the moody high point it could have been.

John Mills was already established as an actor of note due to his fine work in the 40's, so this off the cuff film was, in his own words, merely a "job" for him, a means to pay some bills, and at first glance it looks an odd casting decision. John Mills as a vengeful ex convict stalking the dank London and Gravesend streets in search of revenge-hanging around in a run down coffee shop-living in a slum boat, doesn't sound right. Yet he cuts a surprisingly rugged figure, with stubbled chin and greasy kiss curl hair, he slots in nicely to the grungy backdrop painted by Hamer and Waxman. It's only really these two elements that make the film worth seeking out by fans of noirish British crime movies. There's the constant thought nagging away while watching it that it's a missed opportunity, a chance wasted to make a really bleak and potent thriller. What remains is decent in tone and narrative, if ultimately it's a watch once only movie. 7/10

A Little Gem from the early 50's

[roger-simmons1942 · 7/10 · 3 November 2006]

When I first saw this film about 5 yrs ago I was excited because I was unaware of the film and I read a preview in the TV listings that said some was filmed in Gravesend,my home town. The location filming was excellent but certain things grated on me like the tea shop in the middle of nowhere on the marshes down river from Gravesend where any passing trade could not have supported a business also the detective in regulation raincoat and hat who followed John Mills into the tea shop.I have now watched the film again today and enjoyed it much more and would say it is a little gem of the time and genre. I am still thrilled by the location scenes in Gravesend,not quite Carol Reed's Third Man but very atmospheric, the street near the river is much changed today but the small church like structure clearly seen in background shots was a seaman's mission and is still there today also in one shot you can see the spire of St Georges,Gravesend's parish church which is where Princess Pocohontas is buried.I feel John Mills really conveys the feeling of a man with a 12 year grudge and the scenes with Ilse where the grudge melts are beautifully portrayed.In his autobiography John Mills describes the film as "an extremely good thriller" but infers that director Bob Hamer had a drink problem and describes him as twice while filming night shots he fell into the Thames while walking backwards looking through a viewfinder!

Interesting Film

[smithbplancs · 1 November 2008]

I caught this on film four a couple of weeks ago and thought it was excellent. It is a painful story at times, watching John mill's former lover grappling with her guilt, often physically is portrayed with undignified desperation. Her husband, the investigating officer quietly torn apart by the realisation of his own hand in a miscarriage of justice and his subsequently crumbling home and professional life. John Mills' constant struggle to realise a revenge that has torn him throughout his years in prison and an inability to exact that revenge. He shows, without being sanctimonious, how damaging and unfulfilled revenge is and the characters around him prove that redemption is always hard won.

Worth remembering

[eddie-83 · 7/10 · 3 August 2000]

I am a fan of British cinema but I must admit that there a couple of genres that Hollywood does much better, particularly musicals but also film noir. In fact I didn't know that the British had attempted noir until I saw Robert Hamer's `The Long Memory' which makes a fair fist of it while perhaps finally lacking the courage of it's convictions. The doomed characters, the shadowy, desolate streetscapes and of course the femme fatale are all there and John Mills convinces as a broken man at liberty after serving 12 years for a crime he didn't commit.

John McCallum and Elizabeth Sellars are perhaps a little too restrained in the English way (I know McCallum is Australian) but John Slater makes an impression as a punch-drunk ex-boxer. Incidentally, Slater's make-up reminded me irresistibly of Mills' Oscar-winning turn in ` Ryan's Daughter' years later.

In this solid, involving drama Mills has revenge in mind, Geoffrey Keene is an ethical reporter (an oxymoron?) looking for a story and nothing turns out as expected.

Well worth seeing.

This would probably be a 7/10 if not for...

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 22 November 2021]

... that annoying cloying dame that takes up way too much space in this film. I'll get back to her later. John Mills plays Philip Davidson, a man wrongly convicted of manslaughter who spends twelve years in prison after three people give false testimony against him. Since one of the people who lied was his fiancee he is understandably bitter. She lied to cover up for her father who was helping a criminal escape, the other two false witnesses lied to save their own hides.

After he gets out, Davidson occupies an abandoned barge where he wants to be alone to plot his revenge. But people keep bothering him. First there is some old man who claims the barge is his and wants Davidson to pay rent. He agrees. But if he paid rent the old man would have to leave him alone and he'd rather pop in on a regular basis and annoy him with cups of tea. Then there is a reporter trying to get a story. And finally, what I mentioned initially, there is this dizzy annoying woman who speaks with some kind of continental accent who tries to be philosophical but is just shrill and grating, claiming she loves Davidson when she barely knows him. She drags down the entire film with her nonsense. Davidson asks her to leave but she keeps finding reasons to prolong out her stay. If Garbo had this much trouble being alone she would have jumped off a bridge at some point. I realize the film is conveying the message of how revenge destroys the humanity of the avenger, but in this inadequate actress they found a poor messenger.

The complicating factor is that Davidson's treacherous former fiancee is married to a police superintendent, and if it is revealed his wife is a perjurer it would mean his career. And there is one final twist I will save for you to discover.

Close match between film and book

[jugh · 9/10 · 30 January 2006]

I have seen "The Long Memory" twice, and was sufficiently impressed (and like John Mills) that I bought the book when I found it. After seeing the film a second time I then started reading the book. To my delight (that's how I like films) it was close to the film, and I realized that much of the quality of the film, beyond its strong visual imagery of London dockside slums, damaged by the Blitz (you have to know this: there is no sign saying "house flattened by bomb"), and post- war austerity (rationing continued in Britain into the early 1950s!), is directly due to the book author Howard Clewes (about whom little is available on the internet).

Despite not LOOKING like the author described him, John Mills acts the character described by the author, as do the rest of the cast.

The post-World-War-II setting is crucial to appreciating the bleakness of the film. Life was tough then, for many British, and even more so for Displaced People -- war survivors and immigrants from Europe. Petty crime was rife. In fact things were probably tougher than during the flashback sequence to the Depression, when the young Mills character is accidentally drawn into cross-Channel smuggling of wanted criminals, and contraband.

The old "beachcomber's" singing of a traditional English folksong is a haunting addition to the film that does not appear in the book.

British noir

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 15 October 2013]

A pretty good little British thriller which I happened to catch, unexpectedly, on television late one morning. John Mills (slightly miscast as a rough type) plays a guy fresh from doing a 12-year-stretch who decides to get revenge on those who were responsible for him being locked up for all those years. Yes, it's an overly-familiar story still being utilised even today (in the likes of OLDBOY), but it does well with the set-up.

Mills sets up a kind of temporary home or shelter on some rotting hulks out on the mudflats and it's a highly effective place to build atmosphere. Sadly, the thriller aspects of the story are slightly less compelling than I was hoping for, although the characterisation is strong. Mills is the consummate professional and the supporting cast give some choice performances, including an early turn for James Bond's M, Geoffrey Keen. There are some great slices of action and chase scenes towards the climax which help to build excitement and make this a solid effort for the British studios of the era.

Before setting out on revenge first dig two graves.

[ianlouisiana · 8/10 · 25 November 2006]

Clearly Mr John Mills either was not aware of that piece of Eastern wisdom or he chose to ignore it.In view of his incarceration for 12 years for a murder he did not commit he would be less than human if he did not at least contemplate bloody vengeance against those who conspired to put him away.In this brilliant little Hitchcockian noir director Mr Robert Hamer makes full use of the wind - scoured mudbanks of the Thames Estuary and peoples them with an almost Dickensian selection of semi - grotesques living in barges,wooden huts and railway carriages on the riverside scrubland. Mr Mills,having fallen on hard times,lives in a timber shack conveniently close to a ramshackle cafe occupied by more sinister characters than you could shake a stick at. His former girl - friend - one of his persecutors - has now married the senior police officer involved in his case and ,by contrast lives a life of almost sybaritic luxury in a big 1930s villa.She and her husband are determinedly middle - class and have a little boy who wears a quartered school cap.They use linen napkins with silver rings for breakfast.She is played by Miss Elizabeth Sellars in typical "1950s repressed English Housewife" mode with plenty of clutching hands and pleading glances.Her husband,Mr John Mcallum,is that almost extinct movie species a detective with a conscience.He runs his hands round his jaw in moments of great emotion,but he doesn't have those too often. Mr John Slater and Miss Thora Hird provide some amusement as an ill - matched couple but the film is mainly a triumph for Mr Mills,whether stalking the mean streets of Gravesend or bearding the villain in his den at the Pool of London.Incidentally,watch out for the great Mr Harold Lang making the most of a small part as viciously camp blond-rinsed minder at the bad guy's HQ. The Thameside chase is reminiscent of M.Jules Dassin's largely forgotten "Night and the City",but the overall feel is most definitely that of Mr. Hitchcock.I doubt if Mr Hamer was consciously constructing a "hommage", but The Master's imprint can be seen in many of the exteriors and in the relationship between the detective and his wife. Mr Mills has one exquisite faux pas near the end.Up till then his character has been resolutely genteel,but,as he lies bleeding from a bullet wound,the detective asks how he is."It's only me arm",he grits, reverting in extremis to the Lower Deck. "The Long Memory" deserves a place alongside "The Blue Lamp" and "It always rains on Sundays" in the pantheon of British noirs which,with the passing of time,are being recognised as the seminal works that have hugely influenced the TV and movie industry in the second half of the 20th century and beyond.

Mills in a 12 year jackpot

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 6 November 2015]

The Long Memory has John Mills getting out of prison after serving 12 years for a crime he didn't commit. Murder no less and the "victim" framed Mills for his own death.

Despite the advice he's given that he should just chalk it up and go on with his life, that advice is hard to take. No, Mills is going to find out the truth and settle things with the folks that perjured themselves in court and put him in this jackpot.

Fascinating though that Scotland Yard who apparently might have had some doubts about the case or at least paying attention to his public threats about these people put a tail on Mills. But he's too clever for that.

There's not much you can do about perjured testimony though. Any number of wrong people in jail in any legal system can tell you that.

One should also note the presence of John Chandos the man who is supposed to be dead and living high on the hog now and John McCallum as the Scotland Yard Inspector. Mostly Eva Bergh as one of the false witnesses whose guilt is too much to bear.

The Long Memory is a nicely done British noir.

Great British Noir

[JamesHitchcock · 9/10 · 31 July 2012]

Robert Hamer was not a prolific director; only around a dozen films are credited to him, and because of his serious alcohol problem there is some doubt as to the extent to which he was responsible for some of those, especially his final film, "School for Scoundrels". His career has been described as "the most serious miscarriage of talent in the postwar British cinema", yet during that relatively brief career he was responsible for some of the best British films of the forties and fifties. He is today best remembered for that brilliant Ealing comedy, "Kind Hearts and Coronets", but was capable of producing serious movies as well as comedies; his "It Always Rains on Sunday", for example, is a crime thriller showing the influence of the film noir style.

With "The Long Memory" from 1952, Hamer moves even closer in the direction of noir. The plot, based on a novel by Howard Clewes, owes something to Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo". A young man is sentenced to imprisonment for a crime he did not commit. Upon his release, he sets out to get revenge upon those responsible for his wrongful conviction, including his treacherous fiancée. The hero, Philip Davidson spends 12 years in prison after being wrongly convicted for murder, a conviction procured by perjured evidence given by his fiancée Fay, her father Captain Driver and a man named Tim Pewsey. Fay's motive for perjuring herself was to protect her elderly father, who had become mixed up in a criminal enterprise with Pewsey and another man named Boyd, the actual murderer.

Some purists maintain that film noir was an exclusively American genre, but I have never concurred with that opinion, as there were also a number of British films (and indeed French ones such as "Les Diaboliques") which share the characteristics of noir, and this is one of them. One of the classic noir features is the morally ambiguous lone male hero, and John Mills' Davidson is certainly a character of that type; had this been a Hollywood film he could have been played by Bogart or Mitchum. Although he has been the victim of a grave injustice, and in that sense has a claim on our sympathy, his experiences have made him, in many ways, an unsympathetic character, vindictive and unsociable. After his release he goes to live in a disused barge on the marshes, a dwelling reminiscent of Richard Widmark's wooden shack by the riverside in a great American noir, "Pickup on South Street". Davidson's closest friend is another of life's victims, wartime refugee named Ilse, and he has other allies in his fight to clear his name, including Craig, a journalist, and Superintendent Bob Lowther, a policeman who believes that a miscarriage of justice may have occurred. Lowther's position, however, is made difficult by the fact that he is married to Fay, the woman whose lies were responsible for Davidson's conviction.

Other noir characteristics present in this film include dramatic, expressionistic black-and-white photography and a gritty urban setting, with the dingy backstreets of Gravesend (a riverside port east of London and not normally regarded as an important cinematic location) here fulfilling the role which in an American noir would played by Los Angeles or New York. The setting is not, however, exclusively urban; many scenes were shot on the North Kent Marshes, the area around Gravesend and Rochester immortalised by Dickens in "Great Expectations". This marshland landscape around the Thames and Medway Estuaries, an area which I know well, is not conventionally beautiful in the way in which, say, the Lake District or the Cotswolds are beautiful. Indeed, it can often be bleak and forbidding, but it is also powerfully atmospheric. It makes a fitting setting for this tale of crime and revenge and gives the film has a strong sense of place. The film ends with justice being done, but here too there is a note of doubt and uncertainty; it is not, for example, clear whether Lowther's marriage to Fay can survive the revelations about her past.

The most famous British noir is probably "The Third Man", a British-made film even though it is set in Vienna. "The Long Memory" is less well-known, but with a strong performance from Mills in the leading role, its powerful storyline and Hamer's atmospheric direction I would place it in the same class as Carol Reed's masterpiece. 9/10

Vengeful memories

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 11 February 2020]

'The Long Memory' is one of those films that intrigued me on paper. It is very much my kind of film, with it fitting under one of my favourite film genres. The story was very much familiar territory but still had good potential. The title was appetising and there is a good deal of talent involved, one of the most interesting things being seeing an amiable actor like John Mills in a very different and more intense role, well at the time of his career it was, for him.

While not my definition of a great film as such, 'The Long Memory' deserves to be better known and is worth watching. If you are a Mills fan but haven't come across this film yet, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised by his performance here. Despite having my reservations, my opinion leans towards the generally positive reviews here from those remembering it fondly than the not as favourable critical reception it got at the time.

Its story is familiar ground as has been said and too often the predictability works against the film, it did at times get excessive and a large part of me wanted more suspense and surprises in the middle act. After a promising build up, the climax was a little contrived and rushed.

Elizabeth Sellars and John McCallum are too restrained in their roles, while Sellars came over as too detached it was McCallum who fared worse. Lowther is also the film's most frustrating character in my view, with the film going well over the top on his cluelessness to the point of incompetence which makes McCallum look permanently bewildered.

Visually though, 'The Long Memory' looks great with the gritty atmosphere nailed. As stylish and suitably gritty the photography is, what is even better is the use of locations. Very cleverly done and captures the murkiness of what it was like in London's marshlands to truly atmospheric and authentic effect. The score by William Alwyn is hauntingly moody (Alwyn was always good at that) and the film is competently directed, especially towards the end where the tension mounts up.

Script is intelligent and taut enough and while the story is not perfectly done it is compelling and keeps one on their toes on the most part. Mills acquits himself more than adequately, in no way too lightweight for this more intense role despite not being sure when first hearing of it through my godparents as to whether he would be well suited or miscast. In support, the best faring are sinister John Chandos and John Slater.

On the whole, worth watching. 7/10

Forget It

[writers_reign · 3/10 · 1 April 2009]

This is a prime example of Lead Soufflé School Of Light Entertainment. How dire is it? Let me count the ways. On second thought better not, wed be here all day. It's from that school of Realism where scrap metal dealers wear bow ties and carnations in the lapel whilst presiding over huge totally empty warehouses that would, in a film boasting even a scintilla of realism, be bursting with scrap metal. There's only one employee on view, Harold Lang, who trebles as receptionist, switchboard operator and chauffeur to say nothing of purveyor of smart, sophisticated dialogue. Sample: John McCallum to Lang. 'How does this (indicating switchboard) work? Lang: 'Find out'. This sets up an intriguing question. Was this film ghost-written by 1)Geoge Kaufman and Moss Hart, 2)Joseph L. Mankiewicz, or 3) Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett. Answers on a postcard, please, to: Do I Look As Though I Give A Big Rat's Ass. Amongst other delights this movie boasts one of the most improbable menage a trois on record with Thora Hird and Vida Hope vying for the attentions of a punch-drunk John Slater, proud owner of a bashed-in face that makes Lon Chaney look like Tom Cruise. The plot? It is to laugh.

British Hitchcock film Noir

[handbagshoes · 6/10 · 1 December 2006]

Well this gloomy doomey looking film, really set of my miserable day which was just as gloomy and miserable outside. This bleak film set mostly in marsh land added a certain slash wrist genre to this film.

Davidson (John Mills) is a man who has just been released from doing a 12 year stint in prison for a crime he did not commit. Seething with revenge, he starts out looking for the people who set him up so he can administer his revenge.

I must say, after a while this film was engaging, and I sat through and watched to the end. At times is was slow and wordy but also came over as a bit of early Hitchcock film noir.

Talented Director Hamer can't save jagged script, blurry character motivations

[adrianovasconcelos · 6/10 · 25 November 2021]

I have the greatest respect for Director Robert Hamer, one of the icons of the great Ealing studios in England in the 1950s. His KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS (UK, 1949) remains one of my all-time favorite movies and his best work bears an unforgettably clever, sardonic touch.

Sadly, not very much of his trademark dark humor transpires in THE LONG MEMORY. It is a sad movie from the outset, following the apparent murder of a man in rather odd circumstances, with Mills' girlfriend throwing him under the bus to protect her dad, who has a criminal past and a blackmailing present.

Even more oddly, Scotland Yard do not appear to be doing very much to get at the truth, and an innocent Mills rots for 12 years in jail for a crime he did not commit, with the concomitant result that he also loses his girlfriend... who compounds her betrayal by marrying a police inspector who suspects his wife of perjury.

Mills always delivers quality performances and this is no exception but he is not helped by the script or by love interest Eva Bergh, a not particularly convincing acrtress who plays a foreigner earning a living as a table waitress.

An old man carrying a gun is allowed to shoot someone dead with the police watching... the oddities do not stop, including the fact that Mills is given reprieve after 12 years, when his purported offence should have earned him the noose at the time but, most astonishingly of all, he is not bitter and accepts sportingly those lost 12 years.

Good photography helps but cannot shore up the script let alone save the movie. Still, John Mills fans - like me - should watch it at least once.

Enjoyable but...

[d-73056 · 7/10 · 15 February 2024]

Overall an enjoyable watch, but with a strange element of the children's books that I used to read, and sometimes still do. Like this film, it was never revealed, or commented on, how toilet matters, in the widest sense, were attended too. To simply make camp in an old boat that had absolutely no facilities was ridiculous. Our man must have had some money before his spell inside, so there was no reason to make these pieces of wood his new abode. There seems to be an unnecessary element of masochism here, somewhat over emphasising the anger he felt. That, and ignoring the charms offered by an attractive women after spending twelve years without!

And, it was never explained where the beds, tables, curtains (!) came from either. Love the way the beds were arranged, just like School Camp!

As I said at the start, kids stuff.

An outsider film with bags of atmosphere

[wes-139 · 9/10 · 14 March 2009]

John Mills tracks down the real culprit of the murder he was sent to jail for in this tense British drama of exile and return. The real murderer is now a comfortable businessman, and the visual contrasts between his dubious offices in the London docks and Mills' derelict boat far out on the river estuary gives a resonance to the film it would be hard to find in a modern setting. Freed from jail but still imprisoned by the past, Mills' character spurns the touching companionship of another refugee on the Kent marshes (Eva Bergh) about whose past we know nothing, but it seems to be destiny that has brought them together. This is one of the few films that resolves a labyrinthine revenge-story without the plot becoming mechanical, and the bleak monochrome visuals are part of its emotional power.

Excellent British film noir.

[ronevickers · 9/10 · 7 March 2007]

This is an excellent British film, which has managed to pass the test of time, and still stands today as an absorbing & well executed piece of work. The story line is strong, and the locations are particularly memorable, especially the bleak & foreboding Kent coastline which adds significantly to the brooding atmosphere. The performances are uniformly excellent, with the sole exception of Elizabeth Sellars who barely changes expression throughout. John Mills gives one of his most intense performances in the lead role, and demonstrates once again what an extremely fine actor he always was. The direction & editing are first class, and the film never falters in holding the attention. For fans of the genre, this is not to be missed.

Superb British revenge thriller, a noir with a message

[robert-temple-1 · 9/10 · 16 January 2008]

This is a highly superior British film directed by Robert Hamer. All of the cast give splendid performances, and there are some truly wonderful character roles, the best such performance coming from John Slater, who is amazingly bizarre and original. The film features a man let out of prison after twelve years for a murder he did not commit, and his search for the people who gave false witness and put him there. John Mills delivers one of his first rate performances as a grimly determined, sombre and brooding man who is obsessed with the injustice done to him. With him at the centre of the story, the entire film then becomes wholly convincing. There are some wonderful location shots, and the row of abandoned barges rotting in the mudflats of the Thames Estuary is an eerie main setting for much of the action. Elizabeth Sellars is particularly effective in making this film work. She plays a despicable coward, whose cowardice runs so deep it effects every aspect of her existence. In order to portray something as profound as this, it was essential that she do so with understatement and restraint, occasionally veering near to immobility as the fear freezes her up inside. The fact that Elizabeth Sellars does this successfully and never gives way to the temptation to overact or settle a scene with some easy broad stroke is a tribute to her professionalism. Eva Bergh is a bit too young and pretty for her part as the Eastern European refugee girl, but that is the only slightly false note. Thora Hird is marvellous, as always. John McCallum underplays his police inspector-married-to-a-dodgy witness role very satisfactorily. The story culminates in the main characters having to face moral choices, so that this powerful, gripping and effective thriller is not only well made, but has a worthy purpose.

Adequate drama

[mharrison-17627 · 5/10 · 23 May 2020]

An interesting look back at Gravesend when the film was made in 1952. However the story is very far-fetched and John Mills isn't believable playing a hardened criminal.

Saved by great location shooting

[ichapman · 9/10 · 18 January 2005]

With its clunky dialogue, dodgy acting and funereal pace, this revenge 'thriller' would appear to have little going for it. What drags it out of the ordinary is its wonderful sense of location. This is way ahead of its time - it would be another 7 years before 'Room at the Top' ushered in that brief period of gritty social-realist dramas that would make the inner city landscape so familiar to cinema audiences. In 'The Long Memory', the desolate mudflats of the Thames estuary are used to brilliant effect to convey the spiritual desolation of Davidson, while the run-down streets and shabby domestic interiors of Gravesend vividly conjure up the dreariness of 1950s Britain.

Estuary half-world

[Goingbegging · 8/10 · 29 November 2013]

John Mills himself rated this one as a minor potboiler. Two things seem to deny this. One is the quality of the cast, which includes John McCallum, Geoffrey Keen, Thora Hird and Laurence Naismith, all seen at their best. The other is the quality of the IMDb reviews, a sure sign of discerning viewers either remembering this film all the way from the Fifties, or at least hearing about it.

Whether or not it strictly qualifies as Film Noir, it is certainly a minor-key production, set against the grey half-world of the Thames estuary, so near and so far from metropolitan life. We linger for long minutes on the sheer barrenness of the landscape, which becomes the film's haunting theme. These were the North Kent marshes where, perhaps significantly, Dickens could often be seen walking at night, unable to sleep. A wasteland dotted with neglected little cottages, tumbledown cafés, scrap metal yards and sombre mudbanks lined with the eternal barges.

It is on one of these barges, empty and abandoned beyond repair, that the Mills character has made his home after serving twelve years for a crime he didn't commit. Bent on revenge, he rejects all friendly overtures that might soften his resolve, and systematically sets out to stalk his prey.

As others have commented, Mills was a less-obvious choice for this role. His sudden appearance at the front-door is supposed to paralyse his enemies with fear. Unfortunately he tries to cut a threatening figure by straining to stand as tall as he can. Being quite a small fellow, he simply looks silly in this posture, and should have learned to stare up at them menacingly from below.

Then there was the matter of his accent. By this date, his wartime films were starting to be ridiculed for their unconvincing Shepperton cockney, so he wisely sticks to acting a hardened jailbird, without trying to impersonate one. Yet curiously, some other cast-members have not learned this lesson, and the falsity of the speech can sound jarringly dated.

A wonderfully sinister performance by John Chandos. Also a touching scene on the barge, where Mills and a beautiful young refugee (Eva Bergh) start to compare their very different kinds of psychological baggage. Michael Martin Harvey provides the appropriate Greek chorus - and something more, as you will see - as the local ragamuffin, only slightly contrived, with a sea-shanty permanently on his lips.

haunting, lyrical Britsh film noir with memorable performances

[stowner-479-360153 · 10/10 · 22 May 2019]

So much to like about this beautifully photographed film which is a credit to its talented cast and production team. John Mills leads with his convincing portrayal of a tortured soul and is supported by character actors of the highest calibre. In particular, John Slater, John Chandos and Harold Lang all put in dark, unnerving performances which will live long in the memory. The bleak, slightly eerie setting and scenery is the other star of this great movie. A must see for any film fan.

As I went down one May morning

[fillherupjacko · 8/10 · 23 December 2008]

Mudflats of Kent's barren landscape (the suitably named Gravesend, to be precise) – and then John Mills at Waterloo Station. He's carrying a brown paper parcel – the tell-tale sign of a man just out of clink – and he's being tailed by John Horsley (Doc Morrissey – "the wizard of the aspirin" - from Reggie Perrin, Perrin fans).

Back at the mudflats, Mills pipes aboard a stationary barge. An oddball tries to befriend him - "Nice to have a friend down here. It's a bit lonely sometimes. Would you like a cup of tea?" – but Mills is having none of it. He's so hell bent on revenge that he's probably going to Hell.

Here, Hell is a memory you can't let go of.

In flashback, we see his fiancé's (Elizabeth Sellars) father who's helping to ship someone on the run to Rotterdam. Mills gets involved with a rampaging Boyd (John Chandos) and the boat goes down in flames. He's convicted of murder when his fiancé and Pewsey (John Slater), a bronchial moron, lie in court that there was no "other man" on the boat.

Twelve years later, Mills' fiancé is married to the police officer involved in the original case (John McCallum). . . . . .

Mills is superb in this. He doesn't do very much – just simmers away. His emotions are reflected in the bleak and desolate landscape. Characters are monosyllabic; strange derelicts peopling a landscape of riverside scrublands that almost anticipates Beckett. The dirt and decay of Mill's home is contrasted with his former fiancé's family show home. It's like looking at the negative of a photograph.

All the main characters face a moral dilemma. Elizabeth Sellars lied in court to protect her father. Her decision to lie means that her husband will have to resign – they'll lose their home – she'll go to prison. She decides to leave the country (if only her old man was still around to help her!) A few hours later and she's trying to jump under a train. Her life is quite literally unravelling because of her original decision.

Most interesting of all is when the "dead" Boyd reappears. We are now watching a film about a man wrongfully convicted of murdering someone he didn't murder – who isn't actually dead – about to murder the man he was wrongfully convicted of killing.