Launder and Gilliat's I See A Dark Stranger (1946) from Odeon

[MarcDavidJacobs]

Yet another wonderful forthcoming release from the marvellous folks at Odeon Entertainment: one of the very earliest releases by Launder and Gilliat as Independent Producers, the comedy thriller I See A Dark Stranger (1946). Contrary to their 'first ever DVD release' publicity, it had been available in a rather decent edition on Region 1 from HVE, although even that has now been long out-of-print.

The directorial effort of Mr Launder the same year that Mr Gilliat was to make Green For Danger, I See A Dark Stranger is perhaps not the very best of their films, but it is certainly a wonderful bit of fun. Deborah Kerr easily steals the show and then some as the rabidly (and that is a bit of an understatement) anti-English colleen who leaves her provincial hometown to join the IRA on her 18th birthday but instead winds up accidentally becoming part of a Nazi cell (the sort of thing that could happen to anyone, really). Wonderful performances, too, by Trevor Howard and the rest of the ensemble, particularly Raymond Huntley playing his usual Raymond Huntley role to a tee, David Tomlinson in a great early performance as a somewhat wanting British intelligence officer, and the generally-underrated Irish actors Brefni O'Rorke and Liam Redmond, the latter of whom apparently wrote some of his own loquacious dialogue, with which the film opens.

Some of the film's tricks do make it seem as if the creative team was a bit on autopilot—particularly the introduction of the two transparently (and vastly inferior) Chartersandcaldicottian bumblers, Captain Goodhusband and Lieutenant Spanswick—but to my mind, the film is probably about the most outlandish and, at times, downright surreal that L&G ever got, with a plot incorporating a trip to the Isle Of Man's Tynwald, run-ins with alarm clock smugglers and a wonderful recurring joke about, of all people, Oliver Cromwell.

Well worth a viewing or two—if only to hear Kerr's delivery of 'I'm sitting on a thistle'.

I See A Dark Stranger.jpg

Available 9th May. £9.99.

(Also, perhaps worth noting that, contrary to the Odeon blurb, Howard's character in the film is actually named David Bayne, not 'David Byrne'. Although, come to think of it, Trevor Howard and Talking Heads do share the same initials....)

[dpgmel]

That is excellent news indeed

[HUGHJAMPTON]

That is excellent news indeed

Seconded

[CaptainWaggett]

Some of the film's tricks do make it seem as if the creative team was a bit on autopilot—particularly the introduction of the two transparently (and vastly inferior) Chartersandcaldicottian bumblers, Captain Goodhusband and Lieutenant Spanswick—but to my mind, the film is probably about the most outlandish and, at times, downright surreal that L&G ever got, with a plot incorporating a trip to the Isle Of Man's Tynwald, run-ins with alarm clock smugglers and a wonderful recurring joke about, of all people, Oliver Cromwell.

They aren't just Chartersandcaldicottian - they actually were Charters and Caldicott in the original script (which presumably went through a few changes as Messrs Goodhusband and Spanswick seem rather more interested in the ladees than the real Charters and Caldicott )

[HUGHJAMPTON]

They aren't just Chartersandcaldicottian - they actually were Charters and Caldicott in the original script (which presumably went through a few changes as Messrs Goodhusband and Spanswick seem rather more interested in the ladees than the real Charters and Caldicott )

Caldicott seemed to have quite an eye for the ladies in Crook's Tour,or did I miss a sub -text

[CaptainWaggett]

Caldicott seemed to have quite an eye for the ladies in Crook's Tour,or did I miss a sub -text

Well, that's true (though the suggesstion in Millions Like Us is that his wife has a bit of a thing for Czech soldiers ) but it's the Charters-lite in I See a Dark Stranger who seems most keen on the local dance-scene

[HUGHJAMPTON]

Well, that's true (though the suggesstion in Millions Like Us is that his wife has a bit of a thing for Czech soldiers ) but it's the Charters-lite in I See a Dark Stranger who seems most keen on the local dance-scene

Maybe C&C were a bit like Tarzan and swung both ways

[MarcDavidJacobs]

They aren't just Chartersandcaldicottian - they actually were Charters and Caldicott in the original script (which presumably went through a few changes as Messrs Goodhusband and Spanswick seem rather more interested in the ladees than the real Charters and Caldicott :lol:)

A-ha! I'd suspected as much! (Although one would probably have to have the forensic skills of a Goodhusband not to do so.) I take it that Messrs Radford and Wayne must have been otherwise engaged at the time—although not to each other, as Hugh seems to be implying. Perhaps busy with A Girl In A Million, which came out at around the same time...in which Fotheringay and Prendergast are incidentally equally interested in both sports and in the lighter pursuits of life as well, albeit in a sort of alternating fashion and not to the well-integrated extent as in their episode within Dead Of Night the year before.

But yes, the Manx pair do seem to be a bit more on the, shall we say, agressive side as compared to their more sporting (in every sense) counterparts. But then, when Launder and Gilliat decide to slap a name like 'Goodhusband' on one of their characters, you could well suspect what one of their most defining characteristics might be.... As I say, not exactly their subtlest film!

I'll admit that Garry Marsh does put up a good show, at least. But of course they're neither of them a patch on the authentic (un)dynamic duo—but then, who is?

[CaptainWaggett]

Radford and Wayne were offered the roles but, quite rightly, wanted larger parts to which L and G said no . Thus they lost the right to be C and C as L and G kept the copyright on the characters (though I assume they sold them to Hammer for the remake as they didn't seem to have any control over Keith Waterhouse's tv series).

Incidentally, they were Charters and Spanswick in the pre-Hitchcock script of The Lady Vanishes (Spanswick being the name of Gilliant's gardener) but producer Edward Black thought C and C sounded better. Gilliat must have liked the name Spanswick though, as it turns up in Crook's Tour

[dremble wedge]

Gilliat must have liked the name Spanswick though, as it turns up in Crook's Tour

Maybe he just liked his gardener...

[CaptainWaggett]

Maybe he just liked his gardener...

The subtext is never far away

[Grant]

Ah great news. I'll be snapping this one up cheers!