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CS Weekly Archive> DVD > 8/08/08
From the Country That Brought You
The Master of Suspense
by scott castle
Classic British Thrillers
Red Ensign
By Jerome Jackson & Michael Powell (the latter directed)
Dialogue by L. du G. Peach
The Phantom Light
Adapted from the play The Haunted Light by Evadne Price and Joan Roy Byford
Scenario by Ralph Smart
Dialogue by J. Jefferson Farjeon & Austin Melford
The Upturned Glass
From the original story by Jno. P. Monaghan
Screenplay by Jno. P. Monaghan and Pamela Kellino
Red Ensign 
The Phantom Light 
The Upturned Glass 
 
Raiding the archives of the UK’s Granada International, MPI Home Video has assembled a trio of films that highlight the thrillers turned out in the UK throughout the 1930s and ‘40s. The industrial espionage of 1934’s Red Ensign finds influential UK filmmaker Michael Powell stepping behind both typewriter and camera to deliver a bittersweet tale of an industrialist (Leslie Banks) desperate to end his country’s economic slump with a fleet of ultra-modern ships. Leaving patriotic duty aside, The Phantom Light finds an Englishman (Gordon Harker) taking charge of a haunted Welsh lighthouse. Based on a stage play, the characterizations are quirky and the action never lets up as mysterious happenings lead up to an action-packed climax. Much the same can be said of 1947’s The Upturned Glass, which has much in common with the Emmy-winning House, M.D. episode “Three Stories.” Co-scripted by lead actress Pamela Kellino, the story finds surgeon Michael Joyce (James Mason) recounting a most interesting tale of murder. Though each thriller couches its tale in the trappings of a disparate genre, these offerings are a worthy reminder of the same genre quickies that spawned Alfred Hitchcock and taught Hollywood to regard English accents with wariness.
Classic British Thrillers
MPI Home Video
Unrated; 209 min.
$24.98
Buy it now
Scott Castle
is one thesis shy of a master’s degree in film. He’s written two short films, four television scripts, and a handful of short stories. He lives in Los Angeles.
Classic British Thrillers
courtesy MPI Home Video
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