Starring Ray Milland in an Academy award winning performance portraying an alcoholic who is pretending to be on the mend only to skip out on a trip with his brother and girlfriend to intoxicate himself in a four day binge.
It is not dated despite what some may say, the topic is obviously pretty relevant even today and when it was actually out, I'm pretty sure it was quite shocking to people to have witnessed a full blown portrait of an alcoholic struggling with his addiction. Milland was greatly casted, this to me is kind of a precursor to his 1952 film (my little known masterpiece) Something to Live For with Joan Fontaine where he plays a recovering alcoholic, as does she, note the differences? 9/10.
An atheist widow in WWII occupied France challenges a young priest and they converse in several dialogues about their religious beliefs. She begins to fall in love with him.
I found out about this film from the blog Criterion Confessions in which I follow (thanks!). I was going into it not expecting much and ended up with a fine film with fine performances. I have to admit I kinda find it intriguing that a woman would challenge a priest about God and faith and thus in turn her complete turn-a-round (largely due IMO to her attraction to him). I can't really tell if he was feeling anything towards her himself; it's nothing near a Thorn Birds sort of thing but it's a great little known French film that's need checking out. 10/10.
Instead of making my own summary, here's an IMDb plot overview:
When the Germans march into Prague, armour-plating inventor Dr Bomasch flees to England. His daughter Anna escapes from arrest to join him, but the Gestapo manage to kidnap them both back to Berlin. As war looms, British secret service agent Gus Bennet follows disguised as a senior German army officer. His ploy is the not unpleasant one of pretending to woo Anna to the German cause.
I have heard of this film before despite it being little known as I've read in some places (on the Criterion DVD particularly). I will not lie, the semi-love triangle is more intriguing to me than the overall plot itself, I mean that in itself still makes for a great film, the one between Margaret, Rex and Paul, the thing is it's completely unknown to all three of them that they are in one. Anyway THIS IS NOT a sequel to The Lady Vanishes, I do not care what anyone says about that, Charters and Caldicott notwithstanding. 10/10.
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