source: Cloudburst

Moviecut—Cloudburst

Cloudburst

This is a 50s radio play shot on the cheap. One camera per scene, No setup shots. No reaction shots. Just people in dimly lit rooms talking to each other. They move a bit. The single camera moves a bit. If you close your eyes and just listen to the characters speaking, you'll get just as much out of it. Always nice to see Robert Preston. It's almost unfair how dashing that guy was. I'd watch him shop for groceries, to be honest.

To answer previous reviewer mollytinkers question: it's a noir for the first forty minutes or so and a pretty intense one at that. But then the folks at Hammer appear to lose confidence that a properly psycho Robert Preston can carry the picture so they decide to bring in a too laconic police inspector and for the rest of the way we get a rather standard Scotland Yard procedural. Somewhat dismaying, as the Brits might say. Give it a generous B minus for Preston and the well handled scenes of extremely brutal violence.

Interesting post-war British revenge tragedy which, surprisingly, casts Robert Preston as a Canadian anti-hero. Fine acting throughout with Harold Lang, who was to become a charismatic acting coach at RADA, as the bad guy. The Scottish actress, Elizabeth Sellars, is doe-eyed and lovely as the lead actress and Thomas Heathcote excels in a cameo performance. It's also good to see some post-war British film industry stalwarts such as Noel Howlett and George Woodbidge turning in their usual robust performances. The black and white photography is quite magical although the film score is overly dramatic. It's sad to see that this film is quite forgotten: the performances demand greater consideration. An English film noir.

This is a tightly-constructed mystery of the pre-Black Mask style, in which the solving of the crime -- here a potential serial killer -- must be tracked down, and the only clear clue is a bit of paper at the scene of the crime with a cypher code. The movie tries to add psychological drama by turning it from a "Whoodunnit" to a "Howcatchem" a style of mystery familiar to all fans of the old "Columbo" TV movie series, with the added punch that it is told from the viewpoint of the killer -- in this case, Robert Preston, who is an American who is somehow running a code-breaking division for the British government. Motivations are established early, but the whole thing is rendered a bit flat by the lack of details that surround the personnel. The result is a well-told story that is not, alas, particularly gripping.

The story in "Cloudburst" is not particularly believable...but that can also be said about MANY movies. However, the film has many unique story elements--and that's something that makes it worth seeing. This British film stars Robert Preston as a Canadian living in the UK. He and his wife are happily in love and life is looking up for them--until, out of the blue, she is fun over by a couple jerks who couldn't care less! Instead of giving the police a correct identification, the husband is determined to investigate the case on his own...and then kill the killers! What makes it really unusual is the savagery of his attacks. It's rather unflinching and brutal. Overall, the film is an interesting example of British film noir--and Preston was very good in the lead.

CLOUDBURST is one of the low budget thrillers that Hammer Films made in the 1950s before they became known for their horror efforts. It's also their first film shot at Bray Studios. The film is less focused on plot than most 1950s-era crime films and more interested in characterisation, with a real depth to the protagonists here. The unknown-to-me Robert Preston plays a codebreaker working in the post-war era who is expecting a baby with his wife Elizabeth Sellars (a real stalwart of the genre during this era). When sh'es run down and killed in the road by a murderous couple, he decides to exact his own brand of revenge, one which takes place outside of the law. The film is low budget in scope and feel, and Francis Searle's direction is merely pedestrian, but the script really sparkles and offers intriguing insight into the mindsets of those involved. Preston is excellent and the strong supporting cast includes dependables like Colin Tapley, George Woodbridge, and Noel Howlett.