Early film from Britain's Boulting brothers (producer John and director Roy) shows an uncanny grasp of technical assurance, yet their combined talents, and those of the sterling cast, cannot eradicate the stultified air of theatricality which comes via this material, taken from the play by Robert Ardrey. Anti-fascist journalist in England, upset over the hypocrisy of the newspaper business and the silencing of free speech, takes a job at a lonesome lighthouse in Lake Michigan; his superiors question his need for complete isolation, though he confesses he's not alone. Seems the ghosts of a one hundred-year-old shipwreck reenact their lives for the lighthouse keeper, all in an attempt to bring him back to civilization. Portends to be a heady mix of political strife and the human condition, however the central character's history is much more interesting than those who were aboard the ill-fated ship, and activity in the main set (the lighthouse) becomes tiresomely stagy. One professional critic compared the film to "Citizen Kane"; however, while it is polished and professionally assembled (and moodily photographed), the falseness of the picture's conception keeps the fantastic aspects firmly grounded. ** from ****
Review of Thunder Rock
