Robert J. Maxwell There never was an actress like Joan Greenwood. She's the upper-middle-class girl friend of possible maniac John Mills here. And she looks demure as always, giving an impression of being about four feet tall. But she plays it straight as an upright woman, not a fey seductress. She uses a girlish voice instead of that throaty croak, full of implications, we've come to expect. The film demonstrates her range as an actress.And Mills' too. Despite his unprepossessing face, he can be the tortured officer of "Tunes of Glory" or the comic, dim-witted, working-class father of "The Family Way." In the post-war years the Brits produced a number of skilled performers who appeared in one fine movie after another, few duds among them.The movie starts off a bit sluggishly. Mills is released from a psychiatric hospital after suffering a brain injury during which a child in his care was killed. He holds himself responsible and has suicidal tendencies.He finds employment as an industrial chemist in a crummy city and lives in a somewhat shabby rooming house with half a dozen diverse neighbors. After several months of despair he more or less recovers and falls for Joan Greenwood. But one of his friends in a neighboring room, an honest and pretty young lady to whom he lends money, is murdered and suspicion falls on Mills -- the ex wreck.The pace picks up at this point, about a third of the way through, as the police enter the picture. It turns into a murder mystery instead of a melodrama. There are good people, there are wicked people, and there are wicked people who pretend to be good people. The investigations centers on Mills and in fact the film leaves some room for doubt. Hitchcock would have handled it all with aplomb.There is a furious chase towards the end, the solution is achieved, and the final few minutes are thrown away because evidently no one could think of any better ending.

kidboots ....so says Molly (Kay Walsh) to Jim Ackland (John Mills), trying to show some hospitality when he gallantly fixes a fuse. At that moment she couldn't be further from the truth - even though he is getting a second chance at life after spending time in a mental institution, he still blames himself for the death of a little girl (Mill's own daughter Juliette) in his care and life in a typical London boarding house isn't helping. On his first evening he instantly falls foul of a couple of elderly residents when he refuses to sit in for a rubber of bridge.At times he feels suicidal, but time, a steady job at a chemical plant and new friends, including sympathetic and understanding Jenny (beautiful Joan Greenwood) show him that life can be worth living. Even though Bosley Crowther called it "second rate" believe me he didn't know what he was talking about. This is a superlative movie and, I believe, shows John Mills in one of his best performances - he was always at his best depicting decent "everymen" who find circumstances around them spinning out of control. With a screenplay by Eric Ambler, based on his book, you can't expect anything else but excellence.One of the residents, Molly, has a complicated love life. She is in love with a married man, a complete bounder who has no intention of divorcing his wife and is also having to fend off unsavoury advances from a very creepy lodger, Mr. Peachy (Edward Chapman). When her body is found on the common, the movie's pace really picks up. She had turned to Jim for friendship - her confidant exterior masked a lonely girl away from her family. Jim finds through a series of circumstances (fixing the light in her room, giving her some money so she can return to her family) that someone has implicated him as the main suspect and of course the police don't believe him.It doesn't help that the cheque Jim gave her is found crumpled near her body and Jim admits to walking on the common that night. The cinematography is moody and atmospheric. It is always dark and foggy outside the boarding house, with vignettes of residents (helpful, though nosey landlady, querolous older guest, elderly lady forever wanting coal and helpful young man) giving the movie an edge. With no support from the police (they haven't believed him from the start) he finds he has to literally go on the run to prove the police wrong. From then on he is just one jump ahead of the law - there is one exciting scene when he is looking for some "left luggage" at the railway station and needs quick thinking to escape the claustrophobic compartment without bumping into an eager constable.Kay Walsh had already co-starred with John Mills in "This Happy Breed" and "In Which We Serve" and later with films like "Oliver Twist" and "Stage Fright" proved herself a superb character actress. If you ever get a chance to see Adrianne Allen (Joyce Carden) in "The Night of June 13th" (1932) you'll see a really fine performance and also see why she was such a success on the West End.

PudgyPandaMan I wasn't particularly impressed with this movie, other than the cinematography. I was unfamiliar with any of the actors, although I think I had hear John Mills name before. So I came into with no preconceived ideas of their acting abilities or talents. While the actors seemed to portray their characters reasonably, I think it was more the lack of pace and excitement in the plot itself that was this film's flaw. I'm a big fan of mystery films, so I was expecting to be held in suspense and on the edge of my seat, but there was none of that here for me.Even though John Mills I'm sure is a decent actor, he seemed a little milquetoast in personality. Perhaps it was just the character's personality, but it made it hard for me to root for him.But I did really love the cinematography. It was quite beautiful. And I love the time period and seeing the old house and sets.

MartinHafer The film begins with John Mills on a bus, trying to entertain a friend's daughter. Suddenly, as the bus nears a train, it loses control and slams into a wall--killing the girl and leaving Mills with a skull injury so severe he was hospitalized for a year. During that time, he became very depressed and tried to kill himself. However, now that the year has passed, he's discharged and the staff is concerned about his ability to make it on the outside.At first, Mills is very tentative around others and tends to keep to himself at the boarding house while working at a local chemical plant. However, over time he seemed to be coming out of his depression and began dating his boss' sister. Life certainly looks good for him when out of the blue, one of the fellow lodgers at the boarding house is murdered. Due to many coincidences he is accused of the crime. With his head injury and past emotional instability he's a natural suspect though he didn't have any reason for killing her.Much of the rest of the film concerns Mills trying in vain to prove his innocence. The problem is that the police think it's an open and shut case and they refuse to take him seriously--leaving him no choice but to go on the run to prove his innocence.There are many excellent twists and turns (particularly when he discovers who the murder is) and the acting is excellent (particularly that of John Mills). Because it didn't take cheap or easy ways out in the plot and kept me guessing, it really impressed me and is a film I'd heartily recommend.By the way, the little girl at the beginning of the film was Mills' real-life daughter, Juliet! Also, note the cinematography as Mills is on the railway bridge--it's quite a beautiful and impressive scene (especially the first time).