The Small Back Room
Encyclopedia
The Small Back Room is a film by the British
producer-writer-director team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
starring David Farrar and Kathleen Byron
and featuring Jack Hawkins
and Cyril Cusack
. It was based on the novel of the same name by Nigel Balchin
. In the United States, the film was released as Hour of Glory.
in London during World War II
. Rice is embittered because he feels military scientific research is being incompetently managed. He is also enduring unremitting pain from his artificial foot. The painkillers he has been prescribed are ineffective, and his use of alcohol as an analgesic
has led to his alcoholism. His girlfriend Susan (Kathleen Byron
) puts up with his self-pitying, self-destructive behaviour as long as she can, but finally breaks up with him, telling him that he lacks the ambition to better himself.
Rice is brought in by Captain Stuart (Michael Gough
) to help solve the problem of small booby-trapped
explosive devices being dropped by Nazi
bombers, which have killed four people, including three children. They receive some useful information from a critically wounded young soldier (Bryan Forbes
in his debut). Two further bombs are found at Chesil Beach
: they look like thermos flasks. Stuart is first on the scene but has difficulty getting Rice on the telephone in his flat because Rice is angry, drunk and destructive (Susan has left him, taking with her their pet cat). Rice quickly sobers up, but despite his advice to wait for him, Stuart goes ahead by himself and is blown up. Rice arrives later that day and sets to work on the second bomb after listening to the transcription taken by his ATS
corporal (Renée Asherson
). He discovers that the device has two booby traps, not one, and manages to defuse them both.
When Rice returns to London, his self-esteem somewhat restored by his success, he is offered the position of head of the Army's new research unit. He accepts. Susan returns to him and they go back to his once wrecked flat to find everything has been restored.
Cast notes:
to Alexander Korda
after a profitable but somewhat contentious time at The Rank Organisation. The film was shot at a number of studios: London Film Studios in Isleworth, Middlesex
; Worton Hall Studios
, also in Isleworth; and Shepperton Studios
in Shepperton
, Surrey
. Location shooting took place at Chesil Bank and St. Catherine's Chapel in Dorset
; Stonehenge
on Salisbury Plain
; and on the Victoria Embankment
in London
.
was released in May 2004 by Studio Canal
/ Warner Home Video
. In Region 1, The Criterion Collection
released the film in August 2008. The release included an essay, an interview with cinematographer Christopher Challis, an audio commentary and excerpts from Michael Powell's audio dictations for his autobiography.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
producer-writer-director team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Powell and Pressburger
The British film-making partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, also known as The Archers, made a series of influential films in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1981 they were recognized for their contributions to British cinema with the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, the most prestigious...
starring David Farrar and Kathleen Byron
Kathleen Byron
Kathleen Byron was a British actress of stage, screen and television.-Early life:Byron was born Kathleen Elizabeth Fell in West Ham – now in the London Borough of Newham...
and featuring Jack Hawkins
Jack Hawkins
Colonel John Edward "Jack" Hawkins CBE was an English actor of the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s.-Career:Hawkins was born at Lyndhurst Road, Wood Green, Middlesex, the son of master builder Thomas George Hawkins and his wife, Phoebe née Goodman. The youngest of four children in a close-knit family,...
and Cyril Cusack
Cyril Cusack
Cyril James Cusack was an Irish actor, who appeared in more than 90 films.-Early life:Cusack was born in Durban, Natal, South Africa, the son of Alice Violet , an actress, and James Walter Cusack, a sergeant in the Natal mounted police. His parents separated when he was young and his mother took...
. It was based on the novel of the same name by Nigel Balchin
Nigel Balchin
Nigel Balchin was an English novelist and screenwriter particularly known for his novels written during and immediately after World War II: Darkness Falls From the Air, The Small Back Room and Mine Own Executioner.-Life:He was born Nigel Marlin Balchin in Potterne, Wiltshire to...
. In the United States, the film was released as Hour of Glory.
Plot
Sammy Rice (David Farrar) is a British scientist working with a specialist "back room" teamBoffin
In the slang of the United Kingdom, boffins are scientists, medical doctors, engineers, and other people engaged in technical or scientific research.-Origin:...
in London during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Rice is embittered because he feels military scientific research is being incompetently managed. He is also enduring unremitting pain from his artificial foot. The painkillers he has been prescribed are ineffective, and his use of alcohol as an analgesic
Analgesic
An analgesic is any member of the group of drugs used to relieve pain . The word analgesic derives from Greek an- and algos ....
has led to his alcoholism. His girlfriend Susan (Kathleen Byron
Kathleen Byron
Kathleen Byron was a British actress of stage, screen and television.-Early life:Byron was born Kathleen Elizabeth Fell in West Ham – now in the London Borough of Newham...
) puts up with his self-pitying, self-destructive behaviour as long as she can, but finally breaks up with him, telling him that he lacks the ambition to better himself.
Rice is brought in by Captain Stuart (Michael Gough
Michael Gough
Michael Gough was an English character actor who appeared in over 150 films. He is perhaps best known to international audiences for his roles in the Hammer Horror films from 1958, and for his recurring role as Alfred Pennyworth in all four movies of the Burton/Schumacher Batman franchise,...
) to help solve the problem of small booby-trapped
Booby trap
A booby trap is a device designed to harm or surprise a person, unknowingly triggered by the presence or actions of the victim. As the word trap implies, they often have some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. However, in other cases the device is placed on busy roads or is...
explosive devices being dropped by Nazi
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
bombers, which have killed four people, including three children. They receive some useful information from a critically wounded young soldier (Bryan Forbes
Bryan Forbes
Bryan Forbes, CBE is an English film director, actor and writer.-Career:Bryan Forbes was born John Theobald Clarke on 22 July 1926 in Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford, West Ham, Essex , and grew up at 43 Cranmer Road, Forest Gate, West Ham, Essex .Forbes trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of...
in his debut). Two further bombs are found at Chesil Beach
Chesil Beach
Chesil Beach, sometimes called Chesil Bank, in Dorset, southern England is one of three major shingle structures in Britain. Its toponym is derived from the Old English ceosel or cisel, meaning "gravel" or "shingle"....
: they look like thermos flasks. Stuart is first on the scene but has difficulty getting Rice on the telephone in his flat because Rice is angry, drunk and destructive (Susan has left him, taking with her their pet cat). Rice quickly sobers up, but despite his advice to wait for him, Stuart goes ahead by himself and is blown up. Rice arrives later that day and sets to work on the second bomb after listening to the transcription taken by his ATS
Auxiliary Territorial Service
The Auxiliary Territorial Service was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War...
corporal (Renée Asherson
Renee Asherson
Renée Asherson , born Dorothy Renée Ascherson, is an English actress of stage, film and television.Much of Asherson's theatrical career was spent in Shakespearean plays, appearing at such venues as the Old Vic, the Liverpool Playhouse and the Westminster Theatre...
). He discovers that the device has two booby traps, not one, and manages to defuse them both.
When Rice returns to London, his self-esteem somewhat restored by his success, he is offered the position of head of the Army's new research unit. He accepts. Susan returns to him and they go back to his once wrecked flat to find everything has been restored.
Cast
- David Farrar as Sammy Rice
- Kathleen ByronKathleen ByronKathleen Byron was a British actress of stage, screen and television.-Early life:Byron was born Kathleen Elizabeth Fell in West Ham – now in the London Borough of Newham...
as Susan - Jack HawkinsJack HawkinsColonel John Edward "Jack" Hawkins CBE was an English actor of the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s.-Career:Hawkins was born at Lyndhurst Road, Wood Green, Middlesex, the son of master builder Thomas George Hawkins and his wife, Phoebe née Goodman. The youngest of four children in a close-knit family,...
as R.B. Waring - Leslie BanksLeslie BanksLeslie Banks, CBE was an English theatre and cinema actor, director and producer, now best remembered playing gruff, menacing characters in black and white movies of the 1930s and 1940s.-Early life:...
as Colonel A.K. Holland - Michael GoughMichael GoughMichael Gough was an English character actor who appeared in over 150 films. He is perhaps best known to international audiences for his roles in the Hammer Horror films from 1958, and for his recurring role as Alfred Pennyworth in all four movies of the Burton/Schumacher Batman franchise,...
as Captain Dick Stuart - Cyril CusackCyril CusackCyril James Cusack was an Irish actor, who appeared in more than 90 films.-Early life:Cusack was born in Durban, Natal, South Africa, the son of Alice Violet , an actress, and James Walter Cusack, a sergeant in the Natal mounted police. His parents separated when he was young and his mother took...
as Corporal Taylor - Milton RosmerMilton RosmerMilton Rosmer was a British actor, film director and screenwriter. He was born in Southport, Lancashire on 4 November 1881. He made his screen debut in the 1916 film The Mystery of a Hansom Cab and continued to act in film and television until 1956...
as Professor Mair - Walter FitzgeraldWalter FitzgeraldWalter Fitzgerald was an English character actor.Born Walter Fitzgerald Bond in Keyham, Devon. Married 1st Rosalie Constance Grey in 1924.1s .2nd Angela Kirk in 1938. 3 sons 1 daughter....
as Brine - Emrys JonesEmrys Jones (actor)Emrys Jones was an English actor.Making his film debut in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's One of Our Aircraft Is Missing , he developed a career in the British cinema of the 1940s...
as Joe - Michael GoodliffeMichael GoodliffeLawrence Michael Andrew Goodliffe was an English actor best known for playing suave roles such as doctors, lawyers and army officers. He was also sometimes cast in working class parts....
as Till - Renée AshersonRenee AshersonRenée Asherson , born Dorothy Renée Ascherson, is an English actress of stage, film and television.Much of Asherson's theatrical career was spent in Shakespearean plays, appearing at such venues as the Old Vic, the Liverpool Playhouse and the Westminster Theatre...
as A.T.S. corporal - Anthony BushellAnthony BushellAnthony Bushell was an English film actor and director, who appeared in 56 films between 1929 and 1961. He also appeared on and directed various British TV series such as Danger Man.-Early life:...
as Colonel Strang - Henry CaineHenry Caine-Selected filmography:* The Temporary Widow * Dreyfus * The Shadow Between * The Ghost Train * Number Seventeen * Red Ensign * The Price of a Song * Three Maxims...
as Sergeant Major Rose - Elwyn Brook-JonesElwyn Brook-JonesElwyn Brook-Jones was a British film and television actor.-Life:Brook-Jones was born in Sarawak on the island of Borneo. After a private education, he attended Jesus College, Oxford. His public debut was in Australia, aged 11, as a concert pianist; he later made cabaret appearances in America...
as Gladwin - Sid JamesSid JamesSid James was an English-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona...
as "Knucksie" Moran, barkeeper - Geoffrey KeenGeoffrey KeenGeoffrey Keen was an English actor who appeared in supporting roles in many famous films.-Early life:Keen was born in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England, the son of stage actor Malcolm Keen. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School. He then joined the Little Repertory Theatre in Bristol for whom...
as Pinker
Cast notes:
- Bryan ForbesBryan ForbesBryan Forbes, CBE is an English film director, actor and writer.-Career:Bryan Forbes was born John Theobald Clarke on 22 July 1926 in Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford, West Ham, Essex , and grew up at 43 Cranmer Road, Forest Gate, West Ham, Essex .Forbes trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of...
, the noted screenwriter, director and actor, made his screen debut in The Small Back Room playing "Peterson", a dying gunner. - Robert MorleyRobert MorleyRobert Adolph Wilton Morley, CBE was an English actor who, often in supporting roles, was usually cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment...
appears as a minister, billed as "A Guest". - Patrick MacneePatrick MacneePatrick Macnee is an English actor, best known for his role as the secret agent John Steed in the series The Avengers.-Early life:...
, who became well-known playing "John Steed" on The AvengersThe Avengers (TV series)The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
, plays the uncredited role of a man at a committee meeting, his fourth film appearance. - Bandleader Ted HeathTed Heath (bandleader)Ted Heath, musician and big band leader, led Britain's greatest post-war big band recording more than 100 albums and selling over 20 million records...
appears, uncredited, as a bandleader.
Production
The Small Back Room marked the return of Powell and PressburgerPowell and Pressburger
The British film-making partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, also known as The Archers, made a series of influential films in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1981 they were recognized for their contributions to British cinema with the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, the most prestigious...
to Alexander Korda
Alexander Korda
Sir Alexander Korda was a Hungarian-born British producer and film director. He was a leading figure in the British film industry, the founder of London Films and the owner of British Lion Films, a film distributing company.-Life and career:The elder brother of filmmakers Zoltán Korda and Vincent...
after a profitable but somewhat contentious time at The Rank Organisation. The film was shot at a number of studios: London Film Studios in Isleworth, Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
; Worton Hall Studios
Worton Hall Studios
Isleworth Studios, also known as Worton Hall Studios were located in Worton Road, Isleworth in the London Borough of Hounslow and this film studio mainly concentrated on commercial advertising films but was also the studio for a few noteworthy films, for example The African Queen. After closing...
, also in Isleworth; and Shepperton Studios
Shepperton Studios
Shepperton Studios is a film studio in Shepperton, Surrey, England with a history dating back to 1931 since when many notable films have been made there...
in Shepperton
Shepperton
Shepperton is a town in the borough of Spelthorne, Surrey, England. To the south it is bounded by the river Thames at Desborough Island and is bisected by the M3 motorway...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
. Location shooting took place at Chesil Bank and St. Catherine's Chapel in Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
; Stonehenge
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
on Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in central southern England covering . It is part of the Southern England Chalk Formation and largely lies within the county of Wiltshire, with a little in Hampshire. The plain is famous for its rich archaeology, including Stonehenge, one of England's best known...
; and on the Victoria Embankment
Victoria Embankment
The Victoria Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment, a road and river walk along the north bank of the River Thames in London. Victoria Embankment extends from the City of Westminster into the City of London.-Construction:...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Awards and honors
The Small Back Room was nominated for a 1950 BAFTA Award as "Best British Film".DVD
The Region 2 DVDDVD region code
DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
was released in May 2004 by Studio Canal
StudioCanal
StudioCanal is a French-based production and distribution company that owns the third-largest film library in the world...
/ Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
. In Region 1, The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection is a video-distribution company selling "important classic and contemporary films" to film aficionados. The Criterion series is noted for helping to standardize the letterbox format for home video, bonus features, and special editions...
released the film in August 2008. The release included an essay, an interview with cinematographer Christopher Challis, an audio commentary and excerpts from Michael Powell's audio dictations for his autobiography.
See also
- Danger UXBDanger UXBDanger UXB is a 1979 British ITV television series developed by John Hawkesworth and starring Anthony Andrews as Lieutenant Brian Ash, a new direct commission officer in World War II....
, a British television series about a Second World War bomb disposal officer played by Anthony AndrewsAnthony Andrews-Life and career:Andrews was born in London, the son of Geraldine Agnes , a dancer, and Stanley Thomas Andrews, a musical arranger and musical conductor. He grew up in the North Finchley district of London...
External links
. Full synopsis and film stills (and clips viewable from UK libraries).- The Small Back Room reviews and articles at the Powell & Pressburger Pages