A deserved adaptation of one of literatures great 'lost' novels this is not. Whilst the performance of Laird Cregar as George Bone was good, the rest of the film was an entire mess. There was no characterisation, the acting was appalling, the plot was rushed and the conclusion lacked any urgency or tension. From the very start of the film it is clear this film is a dumbed down exercise for cheap thrills, though the thrills are absent, The device of using 'Hangover Square' as an actual road name is ridiculous, it is supposed to be a metaphor! Yet the whole concept of social drinking and alcoholism are absent, rendering the title completely redundant.The cast consists mainly of Americans without any attempt of an English accent, despite the film being set in London. Whilst the Guy Fawkes scene provided the only highlight of the film (a truly disturbing scene which must have brought the house down at the time), this was a rushed, watered down travesty of a thriller. The device of using loud sounds to trigger off murderous urges stank of avoiding the core of the novel, George's schizophrenia. Though it would seem pointless to make comparisons between the novel and the film because there are so few. This is why the film fails. It takes several random aspects of the novel to turn it into a trashy crime thriller. The problem with this is that there is no tension in George's murderous rampages, nor do we like (or even know) the victims. The presence of George Sanders dilutes this tension even further with Sanders playing his usual relaxed, dismissive character-type. This was a huge disappointment to me but it seems obvious why this film has remained dormant since it's original theatrical release. There just is not enough time in 77 minutes to achieve an effective story of this nature. For the love of god, read the book instead! This remains one of the most tragic pieces of modern English literature, whilst expanding on the anguish and suffering of the characters that are barely hinted at in this cheap cash-in of a film.
Review of Hangover Square
