The Small Back Room

David Farrar’s portrayal of embittered bomb-disposal expert who turns to drink Sammy Rice could well be his best ever role, captured in scintillating black-and-white. The shadowy, surrealistic film noir-style scenes reflect the mental anguish of the alcoholic. Sammy’s life has become meaningless to him after he loses a leg. He is then recalled to the front line to advise the government on an ominous new German weapon. A lighter side to Sammy is revealed by his emotional, highly charged romantic relationship with Susan (Kathleen Byron).

Following a series of Technicolor extravaganzas such as The Red Shoes (1948), Powell and Pressburger made this modest film, more appropriate to the dark post-war atmosphere. Signalling a return to the more realist style of their earlier work, it nevertheless contains some fantastical sequences, notably the expressionistic whisky bottle scene. In this most famous scene from the film Sammy waits, fearful and huddled, for his love Susan while surrounded by loudly ticking clocks and the looming presence of a gigantic bottle of whisky.