NIGHT ALONE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 146, 10 April 1942, Page 14

NIGHT ALONE

(Pathe)

‘THE chief criticism I would make of Emlyn Williams as an actor is that we do not see nearly enough of him, and that when we do see him he

is usually trying to hide away in some minor part. I first saw him in a small part in Friday the Thirteenth, about eight years ago,_and he was still keeping pretty much in the background when The Citadel appeared. I had therefore no intention of missing Night Alone, in which he takes the leading part.

Though it has only recently been released, Night Alone — a matrimonial comedy not too original in patterngave me the impression that it had been snugly stowed away in the cans since before September, 1939. There is no hint of the war in it, nor is it one of those strident or crazy productions which are so obviously intended as escape mechanisms for the multitude. In fact, to me it resembled no other film so much as Quiet Wedding. Emlyn Williams is introduced as a little country solicitor who has, throughout his eight years of married life, been completely domesticated, who has no wish for any more interesting company than that of his wife, or anything more exciting to do than tend his garden, read his library book, and solve the daily crossword in The Times. When the story opens he and his ever-loving wife, as Damon Runyon would call her, are in London en route to the home of friends in another county. Then fate steps in and he is forced to stay behind in London to attend to some affidavits: it is the first time he and his wife have been apart since they married. . Unfortunately, after his wife has gone, the affidavits fail to turn up, he has solved the daily crossword, and his library book has not been changed. But Night Must Fall and, tempted by a snake in the grass wearing his old school tie, he goes to a night club without,-one feels, quite knowing what a night club is. Before long he finds out. He balks at paying ten shillings for a cigar, only to get charged five for cigarettes and twenty-five for chocolates for a. female s-in-the-g. Finally he passes out (to use the technical phrase) and comes to in the police cells next morning, having been picked up in-suspicious surroundings with a suitcase full of counterfeit notes. A trying, situation for a respectable solicitor and faithful husband, but one from which he finally extricates himself amid sighs of relief em the audience. ‘As I said, the comedy is not too original in pattern, but it provides the

star with plenty of scope for excellent characterisation, and the film is a little gem of its kind. How he portrays so photographically the ineffably boring, ultra-respectable life ‘of the little solicitor without boring the audience to death is a mystery which only Mr. Williams could explain, but he does it splendidly and, as his wife’s rather smart and stylish friend, Leonora Corbett is an appropriate foil. But though the latter has some of the best lines in the show, Night Alone is for all practical purposes Emlyn Williams alone, and no one who knows his calibre will quarrel with that.