Four Days ** (1951, Hugh McDermott, Kathleen Byron, Peter Reynolds) – Classic Movie Review 12,911

Peter Reynolds and Kathleen Byron in Four Days.

John Guillermin’s very short and fairly sweet 1951 British black and white B-movie melodrama/ crime thriller film Four Days features Hugh McDermott, Kathleen Byron and Peter Reynolds, and is based on a 1945 play by Mockton Hoffe.

Director John Guillermin’s very short and fairly sweet 1951 British black and white B-movie melodrama/ crime thriller film Four Days features Hugh McDermott, Kathleen Byron, Peter Reynolds, and Gordon McLeod. It is based on a 1945 play by Mockton Hoffe.

Kathleen Byron stars as Lucienne Templar, the bored, neglected wife of financially troubled businessman Francis Templar (Hugh McDermott), who suspects she is having an affair with his embezzling employee, Johnny (Peter Reynolds), the ne’er-do-well son of his demanding business partner Mr Keylin (Gordon McLeod).

Templar keeps sniffing around to get to the truth, but when the affair is out in the open, he refuses to give Lucienne a divorce and she tries to poison him.

Four Days is creaky and melodramatic if it’s meant to be a thriller, and it is none too persuasive with its sudden changes of moods and motives, but there are flashes of style in Guillermin’s pacy direction, and the performances are good enough. The story is totally unbelievable but the film is still entirely amusing enough, and very watchable. It runs only 55 minutes and it could do with a fair bit more running time and development as there is plenty going on.

It is always nice to see Kathleen Byron, and she is given plenty to do, though her character is a shade abrasive and borderline annoying. Peter Reynolds is entertaining, and surprisingly actually quite credible, as the dodgily devious employee/ lover. Kathleen Byron has plenty of appeal and allure, but Reynolds gives the best of the three star performances.

Ah the days when middle-class English folk had servants! H G Stoker is a lot of fun as the canny old butler Baxter, and so is Petra Davies as the maid Helen. Both could have more to do, but they make their mark anyway.

The cast are Hugh McDermott as Francis Templar, Kathleen Byron as Lucienne Templar, Peter Reynolds as Johnny Keylin, Gordon McLeod as Mr Keylin, H G Stoker as Baxter,  John Harvey as Hammond Stubbs, and Petra Davies as Helen.

Four Days is made by Vandyke Productions, a short-lived production company founded by brothers Roger and Nigel Proudlock that specialised in low-budget films. It was shot at Nettlefold Studios, Walton-on-Thames in Surrey. It was filmed back to back with Two on the Tiles (1951) and Smart Alec (1951), all directed by John Guillermin.

English actor Peter Reynolds (born Peter Gordon Horrocks; 16 August 1921 – 22 April 1975) also stars in Smart Alec (1951).

Four Days is directed by John Guillermin, runs 55 minutes, is made by Vandyke Productions [Roger Proudlock Productions], is distributed by Grand National Pictures (UK), is written by Lindsay Galloway and J MacLaren Ross, based on the play Four Days by Monckton Hoffe, is shot in black and white by Ray Elton, is produced by Roger Proudlock, and is scored by Peter D Barker (musical adviser).

Release date: October 1951 (UK).

The digitally restored print is in lovely, pristine condition, apart from three of four jumps with several frames missing.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,911

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