About

A deliberately modest production, Powell and Pressburger’s adaptation of Nigel Balchin’s psychological drama is among the most celebrated of British noir cinema. It also marked a new phase in their career as they parted with J Arthur Rank and embarked on a five-picture deal with Alexander Korda.

Disabled from military service, explosive expert Sammy Rice (David Farrar) grimly battles alcoholism and PTSD, and a sexually charged, yet muted relationship with his girlfriend Susan (Kathleen Byron). A chance for redemption arrives when he is called upon to investigate a new type of German booby-trap bombs, and his dark, haunted world is forced open. An examination of damaged masculinity and re-assimilation anxiety manifested in the expressionistic representation of claustrophobic spaces, tense social interactions, and surreal and disturbing imagery of substance abuse.

Ages 15+