I think that most people will admit that Claude Rains was one of those character actors who transcended their lack of handsome features (or likable features) to be a real movie star - even though most of their roles were types involved in the plot for better or ill. He is in that select group with Basil Rathbone, Charles Laughton, Sidney Greenstreet, Laird Cregar, Vincent Price, George Sanders, Boris Karloff who dominate films they pop up in even though they are not the hero. When they are the hero, when Rathbone is Holmes or Sanders Uncle Harry or Laughton is Sir Wilfred in WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION we are especially happy. Rains too occasionally played nice guys, although with an edge. In the late 1940s he twice appeared as a wronged husband, first in Mitchell Leisin's SONG OF SURRENDER (1946) and once in David Lean's THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS. SONG OF SURRENDER (with Wanda Hendrix and MacDonald Carey) is the weaker of the two films, but has some good touches by Leisin's direction and due to Rains' acting. THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS has a better, more brittle screenplay, and David Lean's direction complements Rains' performance.
Rains is the husband of Todd, who on a vacation meets Howard. In a sense this film is a kind of inverse version of BRIEF ENCOUNTER (which also was directed by Lean, and starred Howard), but that film concentrated on the sad, inevitably doomed love of the two middle aged people who cannot marry each other. Here we are seeing the triangle from the point of view of the husband - in the earlier film, Celia Johnson's husband was a cypher who only seemed to come alive at the tail end of the film. Rains is not immediately seen, but he is in the center of events from the start.
For Rains quickly learns of the affair. British people are supposed to be quiet about their private lives, and they don't like the snooping of others in hearing about their problems. So when he first appears to confront Howard and Todd it is in the flat he and Todd live in. He is polite but quietly outlines what he knows, and Howard at the tail end suggests that possibly he (Howard should leave). Very effectively we hear Rains marvelous speaking voice spitting out (one can imagine him shaking with anger) "GET OUT OF HERE!" The film follows the relations of the trio. Try as she does to avoid Howard, Todd keeps returning to him. Rains ignores the facts as much as possible, but finally when he is to meet Todd at a vacation hotel, he realizes that the behavior of everyone on the staff is proof that she has been seen there with Howard. There is again an explosion, and the marriage seems doomed.
I saw THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS only once in the early 1980s, and it amazed me for telling about a sexual triangle simply and with dignity - and for giving the husband (finally) equal time to present his case - for the highpoint is a speech near the end when the depth of the real emotions of Rains pours out - when his care for Todd is fully expressed. Rains had many great moments on screen, but in all honesty this was his most human moment. For that alone the film is worth remembering.
Rains is the husband of Todd, who on a vacation meets Howard. In a sense this film is a kind of inverse version of BRIEF ENCOUNTER (which also was directed by Lean, and starred Howard), but that film concentrated on the sad, inevitably doomed love of the two middle aged people who cannot marry each other. Here we are seeing the triangle from the point of view of the husband - in the earlier film, Celia Johnson's husband was a cypher who only seemed to come alive at the tail end of the film. Rains is not immediately seen, but he is in the center of events from the start.
For Rains quickly learns of the affair. British people are supposed to be quiet about their private lives, and they don't like the snooping of others in hearing about their problems. So when he first appears to confront Howard and Todd it is in the flat he and Todd live in. He is polite but quietly outlines what he knows, and Howard at the tail end suggests that possibly he (Howard should leave). Very effectively we hear Rains marvelous speaking voice spitting out (one can imagine him shaking with anger) "GET OUT OF HERE!" The film follows the relations of the trio. Try as she does to avoid Howard, Todd keeps returning to him. Rains ignores the facts as much as possible, but finally when he is to meet Todd at a vacation hotel, he realizes that the behavior of everyone on the staff is proof that she has been seen there with Howard. There is again an explosion, and the marriage seems doomed.
I saw THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS only once in the early 1980s, and it amazed me for telling about a sexual triangle simply and with dignity - and for giving the husband (finally) equal time to present his case - for the highpoint is a speech near the end when the depth of the real emotions of Rains pours out - when his care for Todd is fully expressed. Rains had many great moments on screen, but in all honesty this was his most human moment. For that alone the film is worth remembering.