31 days of Horror: Day Twenty Two: Hangover Square & The Woman Who Came Back

Hangover Square (1945)

Directed By John Brahm 

This is getting on here a little late. I did watch both these films yesterday, but when I came home from work last night, I crashed, and didn't get the write ups done.

George Bone is a composer working in London. I'm not sure the exact date this is set, but horse drawn carriages are still common sights, and and everyone seems to have gas lights, or candles. George has a problem, he 's been having blackouts, and can't account for what he's been up to. As the movie begins he's afraid he may have been involved in the murder of a pawn shop owner. Like a dutiful young man he takes him self over to Scotland Yard, to turn in his bloody coat, and the dagger he found in the pocket. The resident psychiatrist played by George Sanders (Mr Freeze, in the 60's Batman) puts his mind as ease. All the blood on his jacket was his own, and the dagger appears to be clean. He does warn George however that he has put him self under too much stress, and should take a break from his music. This is difficult because he's almost finished his new concerto, and has been offered a place in the repertoire of a prominent conductor. This could open up the path to world wide acclaim. He does try to take it easy, heading out to a nightclub, he's quite taken with a singer who's performing there. He chats her up afterwards and ends up writing a new song for her. Soon he's traded in his obsession with his concerto for an obsession for the singer, who's only using him for the material he's writing. George continues to have the blackouts, and it becomes clear he is quite capable of violence. As the relationship with the singer sours, things come to a head.

This is slow moving film, but it builds toward two impressively dramatic scenes near the end. One scene involves an elaborate Guy Fawkes set up where a body is disposed of on a forty foot bonfire while costumed children dance and sing. The other scene happens at the performance of the finally finished concerto. The music is powerful and full of underlying menace. The concerto was actually written by Bernard Herrmann (most famous for his work on Psycho) who provided the music for the film, and sets the tone for a wonderful climax. 

This is a fantastic film that should be seen more often.

The Woman Who Came Back (1945)

Directed by Walter Colmes

The second movie I watched yesterday is another under appreciated gem.

Lorna Webster is returning to the small New England town where she grew up, but on the outskirts, the bus she's travelling on goes out of control and plummets into the lake. Lorna is the only survivor, and the accident only adds to the mistrust the towns folk have always had for her. Accidents seem to follow poor  Lorna around. Mysteriously, the body of the strange old lady who was siting  next to Lorna on the bus isn't recovered, and Dr. Adams (Dr. Love Interest) thinks she was all in Lorna's mind.

Soon Lorna is acting peculiarly, avoiding the Sun, and paranoid that The old lady was in fact  Jezebel Trister a notorious Witch who was burned at the stake, 300 years previous by Lorna's own ancestor Judge Elijah Webster. Lorna believes that the spirit of Jezebel Trister is trying to take possession of her as an act of revenge. Dr. Adams pats her arm reassuringly and dismisses every word she says.

Soon Lorna is sleepwalking into the crypt under the church where she finds Jezebel Trister's confession, as well as her promise to return from the grave, and has taken up with the mysterious old lady's mysterious dog. When a little girl becomes ill for no discernible reason the towns folk begin to really turn on Lorna, and we start to wonder if we're going to see a return to Witch burnings.

 This is a near perfect little Halloween flick. In face the first scene where the bus goes off the road takes place on Halloween night and feature kids in awesome old Halloween costumes. After that we have an Old Dark House, a creepy crypt, and ominous thunder storms. One place the movie falls down is the role of the dog. It's meant to be the potential familiar of the Witch, and is clearly meant to be menacing. Unfortunately the dog is played by a super cute German Shepard (a Doberman might have been a better choice) so it comes off more like the Littlest Hobo wandering in from another shoot. The other thing is that the end is a disappointment, though the film has built up so much good will at that point you just want to take it by the arm and pat it reassuringly.