The Long Memory

The Long Memory - 1952 | 96 mins | Drama, Thriller | B&W

The Production Team

Director: Robert Hamer.
Producer: Hugh Stewart.
Script: Robert Hamer and Frank Harvey. (from the novel by Howard Clewes)
Cinematography: Harry Waxman.
Editing: Gordon Hales.
Art Direction: Alex Vetchinsky.
Costume Design: Joan Ellacott.
Make-up Department: George Blackler.
Sound: Gordon K. McCallum, Winston Ryder and C.C. Stevens.
Original Music: William Alwyn.

The Cast

John Mills - Phillip Davidson
John McCallum - Superintendent Bob Lowther
Elizabeth Sellars - Fay Lowther
Eva Bergh - Ilse
Geoffrey Keen - Craig
Michael Martin - Harvey Jackson
John Chandos - Boyd
John Slater - Pewsey
Thora Hird - Mrs. Pewsley
Vida Hope - Alice Gedge

Plot Synopsis

Based on a novel by Howard Clewes, The Long Memory is concerned with the complexity of the European experience of war, but in this film it becomes a symbolic event that goes beyond politics. The story is set in Britain, partly in London and partly on the flat landscape of the Kent coast.

The plot involves Davidson (John Mills), an average man who is sentenced to life imprisonment for a murder he did not commit, he will not give in to the injustice of being betrayed by a woman, Faye (Elizabeth Sellars). When released from prison on parole, he is determined on revenge and pursues Faye, who during his time in prison has married a high-ranking police officer, Arthur Lowther (John McCallum). However, in the end, Davidson is reconciled to his past with the help of a refugee, Elsa (Eva Bergh), whom he meets in a rundown beach cafe.