THE SMALL BACK ROOM

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This is one of those quirky small scale films that Powell and Pressburger seemed to excel in.  .

It’s 1943 and we’re among an odd collection of scientist types who are beavering away somewhere in the bowels of Whitehall, working on weapons research or who knows what, one of whom is Sammy, the main protagonist.    

He's in constant pain from an artificial foot, which makes him prone to grumpiness and to self-pity.  It also means he is often tempted to resort to alcohol.

It's not a film that is overly full of dramatic incident, but there are two story arcs to follow.

One concerns a dastardly new German weapon dropped from the sky: a small cylinder which contains a booby-trap bomb which goes off if anyone is foolish enough to handle it clumsily.

The climax of the film is an eerie and suspenseful sequence on Chesil Beach where Sammy has the unenviable task of defusing one of these bombs.  

The other, more interesting, story arc concerns Sammy and Susan, the unit's secretary.  Little attempt is made to hide the fact that they are lovers, and I appreciated that the dynamics of their relationship are quite believable.  He is forever lashing out at her and pushing her away, as a kind of test of whether she sticks with him just out of pity.  

They reach a crisis point during the film when she seems to have had enough of him, leading to a memorably surreal scene in which he is trying to resist going on a bender, complete with a giant whisky bottle that dwarfs him.  Thankfully though they are able to resolve their differences by the end.

Sammy and Susan are played by David Farrar and Kathleen Byron respectively, two names new to me, since neither of them had extensive film careers.  They both give excellent performances, and I was totally invested in what would happen to them.

Besides these two story arcs there are assorted pleasures along the way to do with the politics and bureaucracy surrounding the unit, including an amusing visit by the relevant government minister (Robert Morley) and a meeting involving assorted scientists and military men to discuss a prototype weapon which nicely illustrates the role of rivalries and career ambitions.

RATING: ✓ Cheers

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