Just a terrific little movie - a variation of "Lady on a Train"(1945) and then some!! Instead of a dotty Deanna Durbin addicted to detective stories, you have a young Michael Redgrave as Peter, a sleep deprived mechanic who, as befits wartime austerity, is juggling shifts with his telephonist wife Pat (a young and very pretty Patricia Roc) - they only see each other over breakfast tea and toast!! Then disaster strikes - Pat is sacked but Peter is having an adventure that day that will top hers!! While on the train to work Peter thinks he sees a murder but when he fronts up to the flat with a policeman in hand, it is to find he has only witnessed a rehearsal from the Great Zoltini (Paul Lukas) and his rather nervous assistant Vivian (Sally Grey) - it was all an illusion!!
But the reality is different - Zoltini is volatile and insanely jealous, Viv, though loving him, is frightened and fed up!! When Peter is cornered by a roving reporter for a "hero of the hour" interview, the hard luck story the Zoltini's tell him about their once great success evaporating due to a fickle public, makes front page news and they find theatre managers clamouring for their act!! But only because of the admiration and liking for Vivian - as soon as they get to the theatre Zoltini throws tantrum after tantrum!! He is so impossible Vivian does the unforgivable and walks out before the finish leaving Zoltini a laughing stock on the stage. She runs into Peter and through his confidence and support she finds the strength to leave Zoltini.
For just over an hour, it packs plenty of wallop, once Peter leaves Viv with the man who's always loved her and can make her a success, life becomes more simple. Pat has now got her old job back with an added bonus that she is now on day shift, but the ending has a gruesome twist of which Peter is blissfully unaware of.
By 1940 Sally Grey had already been in films for 10 years but as this film showed she was very capable of tackling characters of many dimensions. First billed Paul Lukas had already spent the 1930s as a dependable Hollywood star. This movie was made just before his return to America where he found his greatest triumph as the sympathetic German in both the stage and film versions of "Watch on the Rhine".
Highly Recommended.
But the reality is different - Zoltini is volatile and insanely jealous, Viv, though loving him, is frightened and fed up!! When Peter is cornered by a roving reporter for a "hero of the hour" interview, the hard luck story the Zoltini's tell him about their once great success evaporating due to a fickle public, makes front page news and they find theatre managers clamouring for their act!! But only because of the admiration and liking for Vivian - as soon as they get to the theatre Zoltini throws tantrum after tantrum!! He is so impossible Vivian does the unforgivable and walks out before the finish leaving Zoltini a laughing stock on the stage. She runs into Peter and through his confidence and support she finds the strength to leave Zoltini.
For just over an hour, it packs plenty of wallop, once Peter leaves Viv with the man who's always loved her and can make her a success, life becomes more simple. Pat has now got her old job back with an added bonus that she is now on day shift, but the ending has a gruesome twist of which Peter is blissfully unaware of.
By 1940 Sally Grey had already been in films for 10 years but as this film showed she was very capable of tackling characters of many dimensions. First billed Paul Lukas had already spent the 1930s as a dependable Hollywood star. This movie was made just before his return to America where he found his greatest triumph as the sympathetic German in both the stage and film versions of "Watch on the Rhine".
Highly Recommended.