The Small Back Room

The Small Back Room, released in the United States as Hour of Glory, is a 1949 film by the British producer-writer-director team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger starring David Farrar and Kathleen Byron and featuring Jack Hawkins and Cyril Cusack. It was based on the 1943 novel of the same name by Nigel Balchin.

The Small Back Room
(Hour of Glory)
DVD cover
Directed byMichael Powell
Emeric Pressburger
Produced byMichael Powell
Emeric Pressburger
Written byMichael Powell
Emeric Pressburger
Based onThe Small Back Room
by Nigel Balchin
StarringDavid Farrar
Kathleen Byron
Jack Hawkins
Leslie Banks
Cyril Cusack
Music byBrian Easdale
CinematographyChristopher Challis
Edited byClifford Turner
Distributed byBritish Lion Films
Release date
  • 21 February 1949 (1949-02-21) (United Kingdom)
  • 1 February 1952 (1952-02-01) (New York City)
  • 23 February 1952 (1952-02-23) (United States)
Running time
106 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office£129,732 (UK)[1]

Plot

Sammy Rice (David Farrar) is a British scientist working with a specialist "back room" team in London as a bomb disposal expert during the Second World War. Rice is embittered because he feels military scientific research is being incompetently managed. He is also enduring unremitting pain from his artificial foot. The painkillers he has been prescribed are ineffective, and his use of alcohol as an analgesic has led to his alcoholism. His girlfriend Susan (Kathleen Byron) puts up with his self-pitying, self-destructive behaviour as long as she can, but finally breaks up with him, telling him that he lacks the ambition to better himself.

Rice is brought in by Captain Stuart (Michael Gough) to help solve the problem of small booby-trapped explosive devices (mines) being dropped by Nazi bombers, which have killed four people, including three children. They receive some useful information from a critically wounded young soldier (Bryan Forbes in his debut). Two further mines are found at Chesil Beach: they look like common thermos flasks. Stuart is first on the scene but has difficulty getting Rice on the telephone in his flat because Rice is alone following his break-up with Susan, angry, drunk and destructive. Rice quickly sobers up and travels to Chesil Beach, only to find that Stuart tried to defuse one of the mines and has been blown up. Rice sets to work on the second mine after listening to the notes Stuart dictated to an ATS corporal (Renée Asherson) during his attempt earlier in the day. He discovers that the mine has in fact two booby traps, not one, and manages to defuse them both.

When Rice returns to London, his self-esteem somewhat restored by his success, he is offered an officer commission as head of the Army's new scientific research unit. He accepts. Susan returns to him and they go back to his flat to find she has repaired and reinstated everything he damaged while drunk.

Cast

Production

The Small Back Room marked the return of Powell and Pressburger to Alexander Korda after a profitable but somewhat contentious time at The Rank Organisation. The film was shot at a number of studios: Denham Film Studios in Buckinghamshire; Worton Hall Studios in Isleworth, Middlesex; and Shepperton Studios in Shepperton, Surrey. Location shooting took place at Chesil Bank and St. Catherine's Chapel in Dorset; Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain; on the Victoria Embankment in London; and at Abbotsbury station.

In his autobiography, A Life in Movies, Michael Powell acknowledged the influence of German expressionist films such as Nosferatu in leading him towards making films such as The Red Shoes, Tales of Hoffman and The Small Back Room.[2]

Critical reception

The review for Variety said that although the film lacked "the production tricks usually associated with [Powell and Pressburger]" it was nevertheless "a craftsmanlike job". It praised the performance of David Farrar as "his best role", and lauded the careful casting of the "lesser roles."[3]

The Small Back Room was nominated for a 1950 BAFTA Award as "Best British Film".[4]

DVD

The Region 2 DVD was released in May 2004 by Studio Canal / Warner Home Video. In Region 1, The Criterion Collection released the film in August 2008. The release included an essay, an interview with cinematographer Christopher Challis, an audio commentary and excerpts from Michael Powell's audio dictations for his autobiography.

References
  1. Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000
  2. Powell, Michael (1986) A Life in Movies New York: Knopf. p.158. ISBN 0394559355
  3. Staff (January 26, 1949) "Film Reviews: The Small Back Room" Variety p.22
  4. "Film in 1950 - BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org.
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