I have the greatest respect for Director Robert Hamer, one of the icons of the great Ealing studios in England in the 1950s. His KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS (UK, 1949) remains one of my all-time favorite movies and his best work bears an unforgettably clever, sardonic touch.
Sadly, not very much of his trademark dark humor transpires in THE LONG MEMORY. It is a sad movie from the outset, following the apparent murder of a man in rather odd circumstances, with Mills' girlfriend throwing him under the bus to protect her dad, who has a criminal past and a blackmailing present.
Even more oddly, Scotland Yard do not appear to be doing very much to get at the truth, and an innocent Mills rots for 12 years in jail for a crime he did not commit, with the concomitant result that he also loses his girlfriend... who compounds her betrayal by marrying a police inspector who suspects his wife of perjury.
Mills always delivers quality performances and this is no exception but he is not helped by the script or by love interest Eva Bergh, a not particularly convincing acrtress who plays a foreigner earning a living as a table waitress.
An old man carrying a gun is allowed to shoot someone dead with the police watching... the oddities do not stop, including the fact that Mills is given reprieve after 12 years, when his purported offence should have earned him the noose at the time but, most astonishingly of all, he is not bitter and accepts sportingly those lost 12 years.
Good photography helps but cannot shore up the script let alone save the movie. Still, John Mills fans - like me - should watch it at least once.
Sadly, not very much of his trademark dark humor transpires in THE LONG MEMORY. It is a sad movie from the outset, following the apparent murder of a man in rather odd circumstances, with Mills' girlfriend throwing him under the bus to protect her dad, who has a criminal past and a blackmailing present.
Even more oddly, Scotland Yard do not appear to be doing very much to get at the truth, and an innocent Mills rots for 12 years in jail for a crime he did not commit, with the concomitant result that he also loses his girlfriend... who compounds her betrayal by marrying a police inspector who suspects his wife of perjury.
Mills always delivers quality performances and this is no exception but he is not helped by the script or by love interest Eva Bergh, a not particularly convincing acrtress who plays a foreigner earning a living as a table waitress.
An old man carrying a gun is allowed to shoot someone dead with the police watching... the oddities do not stop, including the fact that Mills is given reprieve after 12 years, when his purported offence should have earned him the noose at the time but, most astonishingly of all, he is not bitter and accepts sportingly those lost 12 years.
Good photography helps but cannot shore up the script let alone save the movie. Still, John Mills fans - like me - should watch it at least once.