Cinematography:
Christopher ChallisComposer:
Brian EasdaleCast:
David Farrar, Kathleen Byron, Jack Hawkins, Leslie Banks, Michael Gough, Cyril Cusack, Emrys Jones, Michael Goodliffe, Renée Asherson, Anthony Bushell (more)Plots(1)
From the legendary filmmaking duo Powell and Pressburger, The Small Back Room is the story of the troubled love affair between a tormented back-room scientist and a secretary, told against a background of ministerial intrigue and Empire building. Sammy Rice (David Farrar) was the army's finest bomb disposal officer until he was injured in the war. Now part of a specialist 'back room' team, he dismantles the boobytrapped devices being dropped by Nazi bombers. He falls in love with Susan (Kathleen Byron), a colleague, and the two begin a secret affair. However, embittered by life, he feels inferior: inferior as a lover, inferior as a man unable to wear uniform, inferior in his work. Although a brilliant scientist, he allows himself to be exploited by his power-hungry boss and haunted by his past, he drowns his sorrows in whiskey. Sammy's life is descending into disarray when the news comes; a bomb has exploded with catastrophic consequences, and another has been found. Faced with the biggest challenge of his career, Sammy must face his demons and take his own life in his hands to solve the mystery of the bomb's lethal mechanism. (StudioCanal UK)
(more)Cast
David Farrar
UK
Best movies:
Black Narcissus (1947)
The Sea Chase (1955)
Solomon and Sheba (1959)
Kathleen Byron
UK
Best movies:
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
The Elephant Man (1980)
Perfect Strangers (2001) (series)
Jack Hawkins
UK
Best movies:
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Ben-Hur (1959)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Leslie Banks
UK
Best movies:
Michael Gough
Malaysia
Best movies:
Corpse Bride (2005)
Out of Africa (1985)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Cyril Cusack
South Africa
Best movies:
The Day of the Jackal (1973)
My Left Foot (1989)
Harold and Maude (1971)
Emrys Jones
UK
Best movies:
One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942)
The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960)
The Small Back Room (1949)
Michael Goodliffe
UK
Best movies:
Von Ryan's Express (1965)
The One That Got Away (1957)
Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951)
Renée Asherson
UK
Best movies:
The Others (2001)
Miss Marple: A Murder Is Announced (1985) (TV movie)
The Magic Box (1951)
Anthony Bushell
UK
Best movies:
Hamlet (1948)
A Night to Remember (1958)
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)
Elwyn Brook-Jones
UK
Best movies:
Odd Man Out (1947)
The Small Back Room (1949)
Sidney James
South Africa
Best movies:
Father Brown (1954)
The Smallest Show on Earth (1957)
The Silent Enemy (1958)
Geoffrey Keen
UK
Best movies:
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Born Free (1966)
The Third Man (1949)
Robert Morley
UK
Best movies:
Bryan Forbes
UK
Best movies:
The Million Pound Note (1954)
King Rat (1965)
A Shot in the Dark (1964)
Roddy Hughes
UK
Best movies:
Scrooge (1951)
The Man in the White Suit (1951)
In Which We Serve (1942)
David Hutcheson
UK
Best movies:
John Stratton
UK
Best movies:
The Cruel Sea (1953)
The Long Arm (1956)
Seven Days to Noon (1950)
Richard Neilson
UK
Best movies:
A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
Some Mother's Son (1996)
I Was a Male War Bride (1949)