The Small Back Room
Director: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Year Released: 1949
Rating: 2.0
Drink-besotted weapons expert (David Farrar) gets commissioned to figure out how to disarm bombs those mean old Nazis keep dropping and killing kids with; meanwhile, his relationship with his girlfriend (Kathleen Byron) is shaky, he has a bum leg and no matter how much he drinks, he just can't get enough. Doesn't really move with much urgency (for a war picture) and is entirely too fussy: it's safe to gripe about political red tape and out-to-lunch politicians with the war safely over and won. Farrar's "despair" over his missing limb isn't all that convincing: the camera can move in on his sweating face all it wants, but it isn't easy to empathize. There's a terribly literal 'nightmare' sequence in this where Farrar imagines himself being crushed by a bottle of booze; I'd argue that it's a wet dream and there's no sweeter way to go.
