FACES IN THE DARK
UK, 1960, 84 minutes, Black and white.
John Gregson, Mai Zetterling, John Ireland, Michael Denison, Tony Wright, Nanette Newman.
Directed by David Eady.
This is a thriller based on a novel by Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac, prolific writers with many screen adaptations in English, French, German. They are best known for the film versions of Diabolique, Eyes without a Face, Vertigo.
This is a British film about an ambitious industrialist, played with uncharacteristic gruffness and haughtiness by John Gregson, usually in more genial roles. Mai Zetterling, who had appeared in a number of British films (as well as with Danny Kaye in Knock on Wood) plays his wife. American John Ireland plays his brother while Michael Denison (in a very stolid British stiff-upper-lip manner) plays his partner. Tony Wright is the chauffeur. Nanette Newman in an early role plays the servant. The director, David Eady, was best known for children’s films in the 1970s.
The meaning of the title comes from the industrialist pushing an experiment beyond its capacity and being disfigured and blinded, depending on his wife, putting down his partner, relying on his chauffeur. He has a long recovery, is determined to cope for himself, relying on his memory – which begins to falter and he wonders about his mental health.
By the end, the audience can see that there are quite a number of twists and time is needed to reflect on the credibility of the plot, including the wife and partner and the servants taking the industrialist to a mansion in France rather than where he was expecting to go in Cornwall. The climax is rather more intense than might have been expected and the film suddenly ends, leaving the audience to ponder the characters and what has happened.
1. Thriller, psychological drama, obsession and paranoia?
2. The authors of the novel, French, the final scenes of the film in France, mansion, countryside, railway crossing, hospital, lake? The musical score?
3. The title, the issue of blindness, coping with blindness, physically, mentally, emotionally?
4. The ordinary plot at the opening, the factory, Richard and his ambitions, David and his assistance but being looked down on, Richard and his haughtiness, impatience, refusing to go into partnership, the confidence in his bulb, Christiane wanting to talk to him, his neglecting her, the laboratory, the explosion, the disfigurement, his blindness?
5. Richard, continuing impatient, six months in hospital, yet wanting to be busy, his ambitions? His gruff treatment of everyone? Relying on his memory, wanting to cope, to manage? Leaving hospital, going to the office, the clashes with David, the phone calls? His reliance on Clem as his chauffeur? His flight to Cornwall?
6. Christiane, going to the factory, deciding to leave Richard? The explosion, her staying with him? Her care? His wanting the truth from her always? Her continued reassurances? The going away to the mansion, his sleeping all the way, the familiarity, the indications of difference, the extra step, the arrangement of the roses, his smelling of the pines, the ringing of church bells…?
7. Life in Cornwall, his managing to cope, reliance on Clem? The significance of Max, his brother, playing the piano, not having a job, flirtatious, always borrowing money? The visits? Out on the town, with Jeanette? The final clash with Richard? His disappearance, the news of his death? The story of his funeral?
8. Richard, anxious, getting more suspicious, the smelling of the pines, overhearing conversations, the bells, Jeanette and Christiane, the arrangements? Going to the cemetery, fingering the headstone for Max, finding that it was his own?
9. Continuing to be more anxious, David and his visits? The comments from the doctor about his mental health? His becoming more obsessive, paranoia? The meals, the mayonnaise and his refusal to eat, suspicious of the coffee?
10. His hearing David with his tablets? Suspicious? The audience discovering the relationship between Christiane and David?
11. Richard, his escape, on the road, on the railway line, the collapse, in the French hospital, his bewilderment? The doctors and the nuns? David and Christiane visiting? Taking him away?
12. Driving, taking the wheel, the crash, the car in the water, David and hitting his head, Christiane trying to get out, Richard throwing the life buoy the rescue, her drowning? His being left stranded?
13. Audience reflection on Christiane and David and their motivations, using Clem and Jeanette, Max knowing the deception? The sudden climax, ending, the audience sorting out what had happened?
