Fans of Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier will be the only ones who'll appreciate this very ordinary courtroom drama, which plods along despite a relatively-brief 75 minute running-time.
Based on a story by John Galsworthy, TWENTY ONE DAYS revolves around the reckless younger brother of an esteemed court barrister, who accidentally kills the ex-husband of his girlfriend and dumps the body in a back-alley. A harmless tramp later gets arrested for the crime, leaving the young man to have a total conflict of conscience, aware of the consequences in store for his brother's reputation.
This was released in 1940, a year after Vivien Leigh's worldwide triumph in GONE WITH THE WIND. Her performance is very mannered and stage-bound, you'd never believe this girl would also provide (within the space of 12 months) the most amazing flesh-and-blood performance ever seen on the screen with Scarlett O'Hara. Similarly, Laurence Olivier rarely registers with the kind of screen magnetism he'd later exude with such latter-day movies as THE ENTERTAINER.
TWENTY ONE DAYS is hardly a classic of the genre, but for fans and admirers of Leigh and Olivier, it will be a fine title.