In this 1958 British Lion release, Richard Attenborough stars as Peter Watson, a troubled man living in an old boarding house along with a motley collection of characters. Minus any incidental background music, the story throws the viewer straight in at the deep end from the beginning, as after a sudden violent outburst the desperate Watson locks himself away in his room. As the police and Dr. Sanderson (Donald Houston) descend on his door a stand-off develops, with the sympathetic and caring doctor seeking a peaceful, negotiated conclusion to the situation, as opposed to the more direct approach favoured by Inspector Thompson (Bernard Lee).
The disparate collection of generally unsocialising boarders gather together downstairs while deciding whether to intervene in the unfolding drama upstairs. The background and motives behind the distraught Watson's breakdown are gradually revealed. And that basically is that as far as the storyline is concerned, a character driven melodrama that IMO would have benefited from a little more character development, but it's not a bad movie by any means, with a good cast which includes Alfred Burke, Kenneth Griffith and Dorothy Alison all putting in decent performances.
The cast would mostly go on to better things, but as I've already said, this is not a bad film at all, an interesting enough story but with hindsight not a movie I would splash out more than a fiver for.
The black and white picture and sound quality on this Optimum release is good. There are no extras or subtitles.