Hangover Square
Directed by John Brahm
1945/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing
George Harvey Bone: All my life I’ve had black little moods.
The story is set in London, Laird Cregar plays George Harvey Bone, a gifted young composer who is subject to strange blackouts when he hears discordant sounds. He has no memory of what occurs during these episodes but the viewer knows that he becomes a vicious murderer. When he consults a Scotland Yard psychiatrist (George Sanders) about his problem, the psychiatrist advises him to relax and take a break from his hard work on a piano concerto. Unfortunately, during his first night on the town George meets a beautiful but devious music hall singer (Linda Darnell) who manipulates him to get songs for her act.
This was Laird Cregar’s last performance. He is fine in the role though he might mug a bit much. The movie is otherwise chiefly notable for its fantastic high-contrast cinematography, the score by Bernard Hermann, and a couple of impressive set pieces – a Guy Fawkes Day bonfire and the concluding concerto performance.
The DVD I rented was packed with extras. There were two full-length commentaries and a documentary on Cregar. Cregar certainly had a sad story. He was a big and heavy man who went on a drastic weight loss regime in hopes of winning leading man roles. He lost over 100 pounds for this film and had bariatric surgery shortly after it wrapped. Five days later he died of a massive heart attack. He was 31 years old. One of the interviewees in the documentary speculated that Cregar probably never would have been a leading man no matter what he weighed but that he could have had a career similar to that of Vincent Price.
Trailer
