小后屋

Powell and Pressburger’s HOUR OF GLORY is a patriotic paean to the unsung heroes during WWII, namely, the boffins evaluating new weapons in London, referred to as “the back room boys”, borne out by its original UK title “THE SMALL BACK ROOM”. Things start a tad cloak-and-dagger as Captain Dick Stuart (Gough, uncharacteristically zippy) seeks professional help from scientist Sammy Rice (Farrar) about newly discovered lethal mines dropped by Nazi bombers. And this will lead to a nail-biting finale where Sammy must defuse a thermal flask with a double booby trap at Chesil Beach, whose tautly educed suspense well predates Kathryn Bigelow’s THE HURT LOCKER (2008).Sammy is something of a wreck, drowning in self-pity because of his disability (he lost a leg) and booze, though he is high-functioning but has neither gumption nor zeal for life, which becomes his obliging girlfriend Susan’s (Byron) cause for concern. It only takes the dangerous mission near the end, looking death in its deadly eyes and overcoming his mortal dread to resurrect his self-worth and rebirth as a good fellow. For once, Farrar painstakingly maps out Sammy’s benevolent but tormented psyche with commendable reserve and commitment. The supporting cast is also quite game. As Susan, Byron is assigned a stereotyped role as a secretary and a helpmate, whose sole purpose is to put Sammy back on his mettle. Still, she betrays sophistication and her shadowy mien and earnest solicitude make Susan a blue-chip foil. For the sterner sex, Jack Hawkins plays a bureaucrat superior with almost oleaginous caprices and Cyril Cusack’s Corporal Taylor evokes appreciable compassion for that precious gentleness ingrown inside a human being out of his diffident shell. Forfeiting the stupendous, ravishing Technicolor of their prior chefs-d’oeuvre (such as THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP, 1943, BLACK NARCISSUS, 1947 and THE RED SHOES, 1948), Powell and Pressburger return to monochrome and strut their stuff to build a world of war-time severity and immediacy with amazing shadow play, prioritizing resilience and defiance over oppression and terror. Meantime, their visual artifice of psychologizing Sammy’s dipsomania instantaneously harks back to Hitchcock’s Daliesque sequences in SPELLBOUND (1945) and foreshadows the Kafkaesque distortion in Orson Welles’ THE TRIAL (1962). Part THE LOST WEEKEND, part THE HURT LOCKER, part a sobering romance, part jingoistic boosterism, HOUR OF GLORY is not Powell and Pressburger's strongest effort as it loses some stream in its multi-headed directions, but it is also better than most UK productions of its time, supplanting the stuffiness with some wondrously constructed shots that is what makes a Powell and Pressburger's picture a must-see for cinephiles. referential entries: Powell and Pressburger's THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP (1943, 8.2/10);"I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING" (1945, 7.5/10); Billy Wilder’s THE LOST WEEKEND (1945, 7.9/10); Alfred Hitchcock’s SPELLBOUND (1945, 8.2/10); Orson Welles’ THE TRIAL (1962, 7.7/10).

《夜夜春宵》《小后屋》：道德罪案之侦破与职业危机之化解 @笑独行[编评] 【《夜夜春宵》笑独行解题】 《夜夜春宵》（A Canterbury Tale，英国，1944） 战时拍摄二战后方与犯罪题材经典。英国导演迈克尔·鲍威尔（Michael Powell）、艾默里克·普雷斯伯格（Emeric Pressburger）联合执导。1943年的肯特郡小镇火车站，美军中士和英军中士深夜巧遇来自伦敦的“田园女郎”，途经树林进入小镇时，姑娘头上被泼了胶粘剂……据说受害人都是与士兵约会的姑娘，她已是第11个。不忿之余，姑娘让两位大兵帮忙追查“泼胶人”……最后，变态缺德的“泼胶人”现形了，但查案人却已迷失在古代朝圣者的车马谈笑声中……“朝圣之路”的道德罪行，永远空灵的古老风情。神秘悬疑，诗意奇特，寓言象征，耐人寻味。埃里克·波特曼（Eric Portman）、希拉·西姆（Sheila Sim）、丹尼斯·普莱斯（Dennis Price）、萨金特·斯威特（Sergeant John Sweet）等主演。 笑独行补注：该影片未明确交代故事发生时间，但由DVD影碟所带CC字幕文章可知为1943年8月。影片中最警策的道白出自英军中尉之口——“自打‘珍珠港’之后，你们美国人就加入了‘喝茶者’的光荣队伍，纳粹和日本人想灭的国家都被灭了，除了那些喝茶的，中国、俄国和英国。喝茶万岁！”而美军中尉哄一群玩“联合军事行动”游戏的小儿帮助缉查“胶水人”的情节也相当精彩。“田园女郎”（Land Girl）特指受雇于战时农委会的农事服务女，或译“农家女”，不确切，故自行改译。该影片有片长不同的两个版本：124分钟的剧场版，95分钟的美国版。在下所见D9为剧场版，中文字幕将两名中士的军衔误作中尉。IMDb该影片评分为7.7分。 《夜夜春宵》DVD影碟封面与海报 【《小后屋》笑独行解题】 《小后屋》（The Small Back Room, or Experten aus dem Hinterzimmer, or Hour of Glory, or La Mort Apprivoisée, or Osasto X-43，英国，1949） 早期二战后方题材经典黑色电影。英国导演迈克尔·鲍威尔（Michael Powell）、艾默里克·普雷斯伯格（Emeric Pressburger）联合执导。根据英国作家同名小说改编。1943年的伦敦，由于新式火炮成果遭军方否定，研究室教授随时可能被解职，右脚伤残、参与新式火炮研制的化学家面临被迫走人危机。危机与伤痛叠加所致焦虑和自我怀疑使他近乎发狂，同时危及他与研究室美女秘书的深情厚爱……结局是主人公在冒死拆弹后受到军方赏识，成了战事办公室少校。战争背景下职业危机之化解。黑白醒目，悬疑惊悚，对白精警，智慧幽默。大卫·法拉利（David Farrar）、凯瑟琳·拜伦（Kathleen Byron）、杰克·霍金斯（Jack Hawkins）、莱斯利·班克斯（Leslie Banks）、迈克尔·高夫（Michael Gough）等主演。 笑独行补注：英国电影学院奖最佳影片提名。该影片需要认真看，否则可能不知所云。该影片法语片名La Mort Apprivoisée意为“死亡驯服”。女一号主演拜伦为英国影坛一代美女和常青树，生于1923年1月11日，15岁出道，从影60余年，演艺作品超百部。中文网络上的该影片剧情梗概多取自DVD影碟，谓“纳粹德国和大英帝国都希望得到”炸弹装置专家的加盟，炸弹装置专家“不得不在战云密布的时代背景下作出人生艰难的选择”，误也。在下所见D9影碟有两条中文字幕。IMDb该影片评分为7.4分。 【《小后屋》DVD影碟封面】