Review of 21 Days Together

What happens when you kill your lover's estranged husband? Three weeks to party during the trial of the wrongfully accused man before you fess up I guess. That's what happens when Larry (played by Laurence Olivier), gets into a tussle with the estranged husband of her lover Wanda (played by Vivien Leigh) and ends up killing him in self defense after the husband pulls out a knife. Worried that his status as a homewrecker would prejudice a jury against him, he stashes the body in an alley hoping that the murder will be deemed unsolvable. When a homeless man he meets on the way back is given his gloves, the police finger him for the murder. Larry becomes torn between the ensuing guilt and wanting to continue his relationship with Wanda. Encouraging him to let the homeless man take the fall is his attorney brother Keith, (played by Leslie Banks) who doesn't want a family scandal interfering with his plans to become a judge. While the moral quandry is played out over the average 21 days that the trial is estimated to take, Larry and Wanda decide to live their lives to the fullest in London until Larry reluctantly swoops in at the last minute to save the man before he goes to jail and take his place. Kind of a queasy concept, although it is worth the watch to see an early Vivien Leigh, who filmed the movie three years earlier than the release date in 1940. She looks radiant in every scene and is worth the price of admission just to watch her do her thing, even if it is a supporting role to Olivier. As other reviewers have stated, Olivier unfortunately is not quite used to the differences in movie acting versus stage acting yet, and tends to shout his lines and overemote as if he's projecting to the back row. The plot is serving to it's 72 minute runtime, as I didn't really feel cheated that it ended soon. It didn't need to be longer. The movie is mostly the two of them going on dates until the final decision is made. Not a bad movie but Olivier and Leigh definitely have their best work ahead of them.