Small Back Room, The: The Criterion Collection (DVD)

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Farrar delivers a quiet, grounded performance that avoids the usual mawkishness of stories about alcoholics. There is one distinct exception, however. Following in the tradition of the famous ballet sequence in "Red Shoes," Powell indulges his penchant for whimsy by plunging Sammy into a surreal alcoholic fantasia complete with oversized whisky bottles and the booming tick-tocks of mammoth alarm clocks. It worked beautifully in "Red Shoes" but, to my taste, sticks out like a sore thumb in this otherwise sedate character study.

As simple as the basic story is, it rambles quite a bit on the way to its conclusion. You would expect Captain Stuart´s appearance to launch Sammy headlong into the quest to stop the evil Germans but he really doesn´t get around to it for quite some time. He´s got some drinking to do, after all. Once he finally does, though, the film concludes with a taut and brilliantly staged set-piece that is no loses none of its effectiveness simply because we have a pretty good idea of how it´s going to turn out.

Aside from Farrar, Gough also stands out in a limited role. Byron, who dazzled as the deranged Sister Ruth in "Black Narcissus," has a fairly thankless role as the loving and supportive girlfriend. Leslie Banks is memorable as Colonel Holland.

"The Small Black Room" is not one of Powell and Pressburger´s greatest achievements. It still succeeds as a finely calibrated character study and, to a lesser degree, as a thriller.

Video

The film is presented in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio: the image is picture-boxed, like most recent Criterion full-screen releases. This restored transfer shows a little more evidence of damage from the source print than most Criterion editions, but that´s a minor complaint. The image quality is very sharp, and the black-and-white contrast is simply gorgeous.

Audio

The DVD is presented in Dolby Digital Mono. Optional English subtitles support the English audio.

Extras

The film is accompanied by a feature length commentary track by film scholar Charles Barr.

A new (2008) interview with cinematographer Chris Challis (21 min) is a very welcome extra. Challis, looking incredibly spry at 89, recounts his experiences with the Archers (the name Powell and Pressburger adopted) from "Red Shoes" through "Tales of Hoffman."

Criterion has also included another excerpt from Michael Powell´s dictation for his autobiography "Million Dollar Movie." The audio excerpt is 48 minutes long. It´s interesting as archival material, but I don´t expect too many people will listen to it in its entirety.

The relatively slim insert booklet features an essay by "Sight & Sound" editor Nick James.

Film Value

I hesitate to relegate this film to the category of "minor Powell and Pressburger." Rather, it occupies a space somewhere between their masterpieces of the 40s and their disappointing work in the 50s ("Tales of Hoffman" excepted.) It´s a quiet and engaging film which presents a very memorable and authentic protagonist, and tacks on a tense and ingenious denouement as a cherry to top off the sundae.

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