The Long Memory

Infobox Film | name =The Long Memory


caption =movie poster
director = Robert Hamer
producer = Hugh Stewart
writer = Howard Clewes (novel)
Robert Hamer
Frank Harvey
starring =John Mills
John McCallum
cinematography = Harry Waxman
music =
editing =
distributor = General Film Distributors
released = 1952
runtime = 96 min
country = UK
language = English
budget =
imdb_id = 0044849

"The Long Memory" is a 1952 film directed by Robert Hamer and based on the 1951 novel of the same name by Howard Clewes. A crime thriller filmed on the North Kent Marshes on the Thames Estuary and the dingy backstreets of Gravesend (now long since demolished) its bleak setting and grim atmosphere have led to its acclaim as a British example of film noir. ["European Film Noir", Andrew Spicer, Manchester University Press, 2008, ISBN:0719067901]

ynopsis

The protagonist, Davidson (Mills), visits the boat of Captain Driver to ask permission to marry his daughter Fay. Aboard, he finds himself involved in a fight over the criminal activities of Boyd, a people trafficker with whom the Drivers are associated. The boat catches fire, and subsequent investigation finds aboard a charred corpse, Boyd having gone missing. The corpse is actually a client Boyd killed, but to cover up their involvement, the Drivers and another associate, Tim Pewsey, perjure themselves by claiming there was no other man present. This leads to the identification of the corpse as Boyd and to Davidson's conviction for his murder. He spends 12 years in prison.

Upon his release, he sets out to get even with the three witnesses. Living rough in a beached barge on the Kent Marshes, he returns to the scene of the crime and begins gathering clues as to the whereabouts of the witnesses. He finds that Captain Driver has drunk himself to death, Pewsey is a confused wreck, and Fay is now married to a policeman, Inspector Lowther (John McCallum), who has spent the past dozen years mulling over the case, wondering if Davidson might indeed be innocent.

Three people attempt unsuccessfully to befriend Davidson: Jackson, a kindly old hermit from whom he rents the barge; Ilse, a traumatised refugee who falls in love with him after he rescues her from being raped by a sailor and allows her to stay overnight on his barge; and Craig, a journalist who is interested in his case and also suspects him to be innocent.

Shadowed by Lowther, whose own marriage is coming under increasing tension with the possibility of his wife's perjury, Davidson stalks Pewsey to frighten him into confessing to the police, and also discovers that the alleged murder victim, Boyd, is alive and well. He visits Boyd's office and confronts him, but is shot and finds himself pursued by Boyd and his criminal chauffeur. He flees to the Kent Marshes, where he is saved during a final confrontation when Boyd, about to kill him, is shot by Jackson. The film concludes with Ilse and Davidson refusing further help, leaving to deal with their pasts together.

Cast

*John Mills as Phillip Davidson
*John McCallum as Supt. Bob Lowther
*Elizabeth Sellars as Fay Lowther
*Eva Bergh as Ilse
*Geoffrey Keen as Craig
*John Slater as Pewsey
*Thora Hird as Mrs Pewsey
*Christopher Beeny as Mickey

References

* [http://www.britmovie.co.uk/genres/drama/filmography/096.html The Long Memory] , Britmovie.co.uk
* [http://ferdyonfilms.com/2008/03/the-long-memory-1952.php The Long Memory] , Ferdy on Films